“The Lone Ranger” (1974) – Oscar Brown, Jr. * Written by Oscar Brown, Jr. * Produced by Joel Dorn * 45: “The Lone Ranger” / “Feel the Fire” * LP: Brother Where Are You? * Label: Atlantic * Charts: Billboard Hot 100 #69, Billboard Soul #27
Referring to Oscar Brown, Jr. as an influential Chicago musician doesn’t quite do the trick because he was such a hyphenate (playwright-activist-actor, etc.). Before recording his first album in his early thirties, though, he’d written lyrics for familiar tunes (“Dat Dere,” “Afro Blue”) and was interpreted by the likes of Mahalia Jackson and Nina Simone. By his late forties, in 1974, Brown finally looked poised to find a commercial groove of his own, but “The Lone Ranger” ended up as a one-off, peaking at #69 in Billboard as his only pop chart appearance. It’s a memorable timepiece that stands on the borderline of novelty and topical, riffing on the scenario of the masked TV hero, with sidekick Tonto, surrounded by Navajos. “We’re in trouble,” says the Lone Ranger. “What do you mean we?” answers Tonto. Even those only half-listening will inevitably get the hook of “we, white man?” stuck in their heads, as sung by Cissy Houston and Tender Loving Care. Billboard referred to this as a take on an “old joke,” while Mad magazine readers likely remembered it from a March 1958 issue in “TV Scenes We’d Like to See” by E. Nelson Bridwell. (Blogger Mark Evanier recently asked if that was the first appearance of the joke, so I’ll second that.) The record surely stung in its context, with the Wounded Knee Incident of 1973 still fresh in public memory.