Guy Drake (original) (raw)
Guy Drake (June 24, 1904 – June 17, 1984) was an American country music singer and comedian, best known for his 1970 hit "Welfare Cadillac". Born in Weir, Kentucky, Drake worked as a painter in the 1960s when he composed his only single, "Welfare Cadilac". According to him, he wrote the song in 1964 after seeing a rundown shack with a billboard on either side and ten children living inside, with a new Cadillac car sitting out front. The song is a satirical account of an impoverished parent living on welfare. After being rejected by several other record labels, it was released in 1970 as the first single from the independent Royal American Records label. It was a subject of controversy when Richard Nixon, then the President of the United States, asked Johnny Cash to perform the song at the
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| dbo:abstract | Guy Drake (June 24, 1904 – June 17, 1984) was an American country music singer and comedian, best known for his 1970 hit "Welfare Cadillac". Born in Weir, Kentucky, Drake worked as a painter in the 1960s when he composed his only single, "Welfare Cadilac". According to him, he wrote the song in 1964 after seeing a rundown shack with a billboard on either side and ten children living inside, with a new Cadillac car sitting out front. The song is a satirical account of an impoverished parent living on welfare. After being rejected by several other record labels, it was released in 1970 as the first single from the independent Royal American Records label. It was a subject of controversy when Richard Nixon, then the President of the United States, asked Johnny Cash to perform the song at the White House, but Cash refused because he felt the song was degrading to recipients of welfare. The book Welfare in the United States: A History with Documents, 1935–1996 described "Welfare Cadillac" as "premised on stereotypes of welfare recipients as undeserving" and "contrast[ing] hard-working people who pay taxes with welfare recipients who get free commodities and drive brand-new Cadillacs". "Welfare Cadillac" was commercially successful in both the United States and Canada. The song reached the number 53 position on Billboard Hot 100, as well as the number six position on the same publication's Hot Country Songs charts. It was also commercially successful in Canada, reaching number 68 on the RPM Top Singles charts and number one on the same publication's Country Tracks charts. "Welfare Cadillac" was also issued on an LP of the same name. The album got a review from Record World magazine which stated "Toothless and grinning like a mule eating briars in the middle of December, Drake recites his way through five self-penned tunes and various other biggies." Drake released no other singles, and died of unknown causes in 1984. (en) |
| dbo:activeYearsEndYear | 1970-01-01 (xsd:gYear) |
| dbo:activeYearsStartYear | 1970-01-01 (xsd:gYear) |
| dbo:birthDate | 1904-06-24 (xsd:date) |
| dbo:deathDate | 1984-06-17 (xsd:date) |
| dbo:genre | dbr:Comedy_music dbr:Country_music |
| dbo:hometown | dbr:Weir,_Kentucky |
| dbo:wikiPageID | 64671703 (xsd:integer) |
| dbo:wikiPageLength | 4781 (xsd:nonNegativeInteger) |
| dbo:wikiPageRevisionID | 1099663556 (xsd:integer) |
| dbo:wikiPageWikiLink | dbr:Cadillac dbr:President_of_the_United_States dbr:Billboard_(magazine) dbc:People_from_Muhlenberg_County,_Kentucky dbr:Johnny_Cash dbr:Richard_Nixon dbc:American_stand-up_comedians dbr:Comedy_music dbr:Hot_Country_Songs dbc:1904_births dbc:1984_deaths dbr:Weir,_Kentucky dbr:Welfare dbr:White_House dbc:Country_musicians_from_Kentucky dbr:RPM_(magazine) dbr:Country_music dbc:American_country_singers dbr:Billboard dbr:Billboard_Hot_100 dbr:Record_World |
| dbp:birthDate | 1904-06-24 (xsd:date) |
| dbp:deathDate | 1984-06-17 (xsd:date) |
| dbp:genre | dbr:Comedy_music dbr:Country_music |
| dbp:label | Royal American (en) |
| dbp:origin | Weir, Kentucky, U.S. (en) |
| dbp:wikiPageUsesTemplate | dbt:Birth_date dbt:Infobox_musical_artist dbt:Reflist dbt:Death_date_and_age |
| dbp:yearsActive | 1970 (xsd:integer) |
| dcterms:subject | dbc:People_from_Muhlenberg_County,_Kentucky dbc:American_stand-up_comedians dbc:1904_births dbc:1984_deaths dbc:Country_musicians_from_Kentucky dbc:American_country_singers |
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| rdfs:comment | Guy Drake (June 24, 1904 – June 17, 1984) was an American country music singer and comedian, best known for his 1970 hit "Welfare Cadillac". Born in Weir, Kentucky, Drake worked as a painter in the 1960s when he composed his only single, "Welfare Cadilac". According to him, he wrote the song in 1964 after seeing a rundown shack with a billboard on either side and ten children living inside, with a new Cadillac car sitting out front. The song is a satirical account of an impoverished parent living on welfare. After being rejected by several other record labels, it was released in 1970 as the first single from the independent Royal American Records label. It was a subject of controversy when Richard Nixon, then the President of the United States, asked Johnny Cash to perform the song at the (en) |
| rdfs:label | Guy Drake (en) |
| owl:sameAs | wikidata:Guy Drake https://global.dbpedia.org/id/DhZDx |
| prov:wasDerivedFrom | wikipedia-en:Guy_Drake?oldid=1099663556&ns=0 |
| foaf:isPrimaryTopicOf | wikipedia-en:Guy_Drake |
| is dbo:wikiPageRedirects of | dbr:Welfare_Cadillac |
| is dbo:wikiPageWikiLink of | dbr:Welfare_Cadillac dbr:1970_in_country_music dbr:Weir,_Kentucky dbr:Drake_(surname) dbr:List_of_RPM_number-one_country_singles_of_1970 dbr:Guy_(given_name) |
| is foaf:primaryTopic of | wikipedia-en:Guy_Drake |