One person’s view: “Even my grandparents, who are Ray Stevens’ target audience, would think this is terrible.” – 1Chops @ Rate Your Music
The public’s view: 1.74 / 5.00
After listening to some of the novelty hits from the early 1960s, I’m convinced that very few Americans of that era ever traveled more than a hundred miles from home or met someone who spoke a different language. Any foreigner who wore an unfamiliar head covering or who used spices in their food was viewed as an amusing oddity who belonged in a traveling carnival. That’s the only way I can explain the public’s fascination with songs like “Speedy Gonzales” and “Ahab, the Arab”. And another example is still to come.
We’re covering “Ahab” today, and I want to get the track’s positive features out of the way first. It won’t take long. Ray Stevens describes the characters in “Ahab, the Arab” vividly, based on his childhood memories of reading Arabian Nights. He does a couple of OK sound effects. And, as with “Speedy Gonzales”, there is nothing malicious about any of the ethnic generalizations. One writer says that “Ahab” is “more ignorant than racist,” which is about the highest praise that any serious commentator or critic has given the tune.
Accuracy and consistency are not strong points of “Ahab”. Ray tells us that the title character sneaks “silently through the night” on his camel to Fatima’s tent, yet we can hear a noisy clop-clop the whole time. Clyde the Camel walking on sand sounds like Secretariat’s grandson trotting across my upstairs neighbor’s hardwood floor (which happens more frequently than I would prefer). I guess Stevens didn’t know that camels have padding on their feet. Then there’s the matter of Fatima wearing a bone through her pierced nose. The lyrics tell us of her fondness for American culture, so why is she emulating a custom from the South Pacific? I’m pretty sure she didn’t get this fashion idea from Jackie Kennedy.
I’ve already written about two Ray Stevens songs on my #1 hits blog. Though I was kinder to them than most reviewers have been, I complained about the annoying laugh track in “The Streak”. “Ahab” might benefit from a laugh track, however, because I have trouble finding the jokes. I guess the big punch line is that Fatima likes Hershey bars and Mad Magazine and the Grand Ole Opry. It’s an attempt to create humor from a surprising incongruity, and this can often be effective. For example, it would be amusing if the baby in “Baby Sittin’ Boogie” suddenly started talking clearly and told Buzz Clifford to shut the fuck up. Fatima’s incongruity is that she has abruptly transitioned from an unconvincing Arab stereotype to an unconvincing American stereotype. It isn’t exactly a har-de-har-har moment of hilarity. You know what would really be incongruous? If Ray Stevens researched a topic before writing a song about it.
So the plot of “Ahab” isn’t funny, but at least there’s nothing else interesting about it either. Ahab isn’t an underdog character, and we aren’t motivated to root for him. He’s a wealthy sheik who wears jewelry that is literally worth as much as a house. He escapes his precarious situation not through any skill or cunning, but because he owns the fastest (albeit loudest) transportation device in the region. Essentially, this is just a story about a rich douchebag sleeping with another rich douchebag’s wife. And it takes place in a foreign country where people are weird. The end.
My rating: 1 / 10
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