Rock on: Disability in popular song

Anthony Tusler, who writes the AboutDisability web site, has long researched disability themes in American popular music. For example, Tusler says the song "Save the Last Dance for Me," originally sung by Sam Cooke, was written by a wheelchair user, songwriter Doc Pomus, for his fun-loving, able-bodied wife.

The Santa Rosa (Calif.) Press Democrat wrote a column about Tusler's work last fall, and Tusler has published several articles about his findings about the numerous songs with disability themes, as well as about singers and musicians who have disabilities. At e-bility.com, he writes about the first song he heard with a disability theme, "There's a Star Spangled Banner Waving Somewhere."

He says it was a top-selling song of World War II and the lyrics ask "Can the U.S. use a mountain boy like me?" because "Though I realize I'm crippled, that is true, sir, please don't judge my courage by my twisted leg." Tusler writes that "hearing the tune as America was drafting my friends to go to Vietnam, I marveled that someone with a disability exemption would want to go to war."

Tusler also created two radio shows of songs by and about people with disabilities: Disability_Songs_Part1.mp3 and Disability_Songs_Part2.mp3. The play list is on the AboutDisability site.

I can attest that Tusler has put together a wonderful collection of songs. The Society for Disability Studies, of which I am a member, has a dance at its annual conference, and in 2003, the dance featured a number of songs from his collection.