Doc Shoe's Music Blog

“I’d already lived in exile for 10 years, and the world is free, even if some of the countries in it aren’t, so I packed my bags and left.” —Miriam Makeba

Some people, you read about their lives and you kinda hate them a little for hogging all the Sheer Badassery.  Miriam Makeba was booted out of South Africa for protesting apartheid.  Her response?  Keep protesting apartheid.  Oh, and meanwhile she recorded some great records and toured all around the world, even taking part in the Rumble In The Jungle show in Zaire.  She’d appeared on the Steve Allen Show and the Ed Sullivan Show and even had a hit record in America after touring with Paul Simon but all her American shows and record deals were cancelled when she married a Black Panther, an incident which led to Miriam breaking the world record for Fucks Not Given Per Second.  She became a UN delegate, a goodwill ambassador, and was personally invited back to her homeland by the newly elected President Nelson Mandela.  She was involved in enough charitable work to make Bono jealous, raising her voice to fight AIDS, child labor, world hunger, and the recruitment of child soldiers.  She continued touring, singing, and generally just being awesome until she died at the ripe old age of 76. 

And meanwhile, impressionable American girls are told to respect Taylor fucking Swift because she (gasp!) writes her own lyrics.  Way to lower the bar, folks.  If I ever have a daughter, Ms. Makeba is the kind of role model I’d like for her.