"Autobiographies of great nations are written in three manuscripts – a book of deeds, a book of words, and a book of art. Of the three, I would choose the latter as truest testimony." - Sir Kenneth Smith, Great Civilisations

"I must write each day without fail, not so much for the success of the work, as in order not to get out of my routine." - Leo Tolstoy

I have never believed that one should wait until one is inspired because I think the pleasures of not writing are so great that if you ever start indulging them you will never write again. - John Updike

"The life of every man is a diary in which he means to write one story, and writes another; and his humblest hour is when he compares the volume as it is with what he vowed to make it." - J.M. Barrie, Peter Pan

Poetry is the shadow cast by our streetlight imaginations." - Lawrence Ferlinghetti


[Note - If any article requires updating or correction please notate this in the comment section. Thank you. - res]

Thursday, August 18, 2022

A Tribute: "So God Made A Farmer"




MY FAV VIDEO: FB LINK
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So God Made a Farmer
by Paul Harvey 

 

“And on the 8th day God looked down on his planned paradise and said, “I need a caretaker!” So, God made a farmer!
God said I need somebody to get up before dawn and milk cows and work all day in the fields, milk cows again, eat supper and then go to town and stay past midnight at a meeting of the school board. So, God made a farmer!

I need somebody with strong arms. Strong enough to rustle a calf, yet gentle enough to deliver his own grandchild. Somebody to call hogs, tame cantankerous machinery, come home hungry and have to wait for lunch until his wife is done feeding and visiting with the ladies and telling them to be sure to come back real soon…and mean it. So, God made a farmer!

God said “I need somebody that can shape an ax handle, shoe a horse with a hunk of car tire make a harness out of hay wire, feed sacks and shoe scraps. And…who, at planting time and harvest season, will finish his forty hour week by Tuesday noon. Then, pain’n from “tractor back” put in another seventy two hours. So, God made a farmer!

God had to have somebody willing to ride the ruts at double speed to get the hay in ahead of the rain clouds and yet stop on mid-field and race to help when he sees the first smoke from a neighbor’s place. So, God made a farmer!

God said, “I need somebody strong enough to clear trees, heave bails and yet gentle enough to tame lambs and wean pigs and tend the pink combed pullets…and who will stop his mower for an hour to mend the broken leg of a meadow lark. So, God made a farmer!

It had to be somebody who’d plow deep and straight…and not cut corners. Somebody to seed and weed, feed and breed…and rake and disc and plow and plant and tie the fleece and strain the milk. Somebody to replenish the self-feeder and then finish a hard days work with a five mile drive to church. Somebody who’d bale a family together with the soft strong bonds of sharing, who’d laugh and then sigh…and then respond with smiling eyes, when his son says he wants to spend his life doing what dad does. So, God made a farmer!”



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So God Made a Farmer
Apr 25, 2013
I wanted to take a collection of pictures that would tell the Full story of Paul Harvey's speech "So God Made a Farmer. I was inspired by the Dodge commercial played at the SuperBowl. I really wanted to make it my own so I found some local farmers who were more than willing to help. Thank you so much guys for helping make the tribute to the farmers of America.



Paul Harvey - So God Made A Farmer
Superbowl Commercial
Feb 13, 2013
I started to feel they left out the deep roots of farming in this country, but perhaps I was reflecting on the love of my own Grandpa and time spent with him hours on end, year after year working the fields. Thinking about it today, working the dirt today, I just felt like we, the farmers, needed a better understanding of what we do.


I grew up as the sixth and last generation of farmers. The farmhouse and barns I came to know were hand-axed by my second generation of homesteaders; he being 16 at the time, having moved with his mother as the oldest of the six children who came by oxen team. There is more to the story which someday I may write up but across America can be found similar stories of startings and endings.
Some of my poems on this site may tell a portion of that story as I remember it from childhood. I have many others I haven't posted but maybe should in a publication of short poems. Though distant in day the memories made on our long ago dairy & haying farm were rich and tender; filled with living moments both heartbreaking and hysterically funny. To those whose hands have worked the ground or cared for livestock we give you our daily prayers, blessings, and honor.
R.E. Slater 







So God Made a Farmer

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Paul Harvey, the deliverer of the "So God Made a Farmer" speech

"So God Made a Farmer" was a speech given by radio broadcaster Paul Harvey at the 1978 Future Farmers of America convention. The speech was first published in 1986 in Harvey's syndicated column. The speech borrowed a few phrases from a 1975 article written by Harvey in the Gadsden Times, which was itself inspired by parts of a 1940 definition of a dirt farmer published in The Farmer-Stockman. The 1940 article was copied verbatim by Tex Smith in a letter to the editor in the Ellensburg Daily Record in 1949. The speech was given as an extension of the Genesis creation narrative referring to God's actions on the 8th day of creation. Harvey described the characteristics of a farmer in each phrase, ending them with the recurring "So God Made a Farmer".

The speech was used in a commercial by Ram Trucks during the fourth quarter of Super Bowl XLVII. The ad featured photographs of rural America set to a narration of a portion of Harvey's speech. In a collaboration with the FFA, Dodge agreed to donate $100,000 for every 1,000,000 views that the YouTube video of the ad received up to $1,000,000. This goal was reached in less than five days. There were eight photographers who participated and photographed the images in this commercial Andy Anderson, Matt Turley, Olaf Veltman, Andy Mahr, Kurt Markus, David Beltra, David Spielman, Mark Gooch, Jim Arndt, William Allard, and Kurt Markus.

The speech

0:18
Paul Harvey, delivering the quoted portion of the speech not in the Ram ad

Paul Harvey delivered the speech at an FFA convention in 1978.[1] His speech began as a continuation of the Genesis creation narrative referring to the actions God took on the eighth day. In it, Harvey stated that God needed a caretaker for the land he created. The speech continues with God expressing the characteristics needed by the person he is creating:

"I need somebody with arms strong enough to wrestle a calf and yet gentle enough to deliver his own grandchild; somebody to call hogs, tame cantankerous machinery, come home hungry, have to await lunch until his wife's done feeding visiting ladies, then tell the ladies to be sure and come back real soon, and mean it."[Note 1]

— Paul Harvey, [2]

Multiple passages setting out characteristics of the sort end with the same refrain, by which the speech is now known: "So God made a farmer."

Harvey's "So God Made a Farmer" speech was characterized, according to The Atlantic, by its "folksy timbre".[3] The New York Times spoke further on elements of his speaking style in its 2009 obituary: "his style was stop-and-go, with superb pacing and silences that rivaled Jack Benny’s. He spoke directly to the listener, with punchy sentences, occasional exclamations of “Good heavens!” or “Oh, my goodness!” and pauses that squeezed out the last drop of suspense: the radio broadcaster’s equivalent of the raised eyebrow or the knowing grin."[4] Bob Greene described the opening phrase of the speech as "seemingly simple, and devastatingly direct".[5]

The speech also ran in Paul Harvey's syndicated newspaper column in 1986.[6] Both the sound recording of the speech and the text of the article have been federally registered with the U.S. Copyright Office by Paulynne, Inc., Paul Harvey's company that is now owned by his son.[7][8] In an introduction, Harvey claimed, in a typical rhetorical flourish, that he had found the essay in his mailbag. :[6]

"This next arrived unsigned in my mailbag. I've tried but cannot trace its source. A farmer, perhaps; more likely a farmer's wife. I've embellished the essay in places and cropped it in others but I hope the sense of it remains intact."

— Paul Harvey, 1986[6]

Prior versions

Paul Harvey ran a similar article in the column "A Point of View" for the Gadsden Times on August 26, 1975.[9] Entitled "What it is to be a farmer", the article did not contain the concept of God creating the farmer seen in his 1978 speech, but he still described the characteristics of a farmer.[9] Many of the same phrases made their way into his 1978 speech. The 1975 column was largely similar to a definition of a dirt farmer given by Boston B. Blackwood from Hartshorne, Oklahoma in a 1940 copy of The Farmer-Stockman.[10] This was copied verbatim in a September 10, 1949 letter to the editor of the Ellensburg Daily Record written by Tex Smith from Ellensburg, Washington.[11] Both the 1940 and 1975 columns share elements not included in the speech such as the statement that a farmer's wife won't let him starve.[9][10] In the "So God Made a Farmer" speech and Harvey's 1986 column, only two phrases and a few words remain from Blackwood's 1940 piece including the phrase, "can shape an axe handle from a persimmon sprout".[2][9][10]

Super Bowl XLVII commercial

The speech was used in a two-minute Ram Trucks Super Bowl commercial entitled "Farmer" in Super Bowl XLVII.[12] The ad featured a voiceover of Harvey's speech set to still photographs taken by ten photographers including William Albert Allard[13] and Kurt Markus.[14] Created by The Richards Group, the ad ran during the fourth quarter.[15] It was noted for its religious imagery.[3] The ad, like another Chrysler Super Bowl XLVII ad featuring Oprah Winfrey, advertised the brand without focusing on the vehicle.[12] This was similar to ads run by Chrysler in Super Bowl XLVI and Super Bowl XLV.[12]

The ad was made in collaboration with the National FFA Organization and the National FFA Foundation and with permission from Harvey's company, Paulynne, Inc., and Ram agreed to donate up to $1,000,000 to the foundation based on the views received by the YouTube video.[16] The goal, which was based on $100,000 for every 1,000,000 views, was reached in less than 5 days.[17]

Reception

The ad received mostly positive reviews. Slate called it the "most striking Super Bowl ad" but also criticized it for being similar in concept to a 2011 YouTube video by Farms.com.[1] While the Slate review was criticizing its originality, Farms.com released a statement reflecting their approval of the ad.[18] While liveblogging the Super Bowl commercials for the Wall Street Journal, Cindy Gallop referred to it as the "Great American Super Bowl Commercial".[19] Dale Buss, of Forbes, wrote "Chrysler managed to insert just enough of its vehicles and brands in each spot so as to make their inclusion seem part of the fabric of the paean, not at all intrusive, thereby lending the kind of authenticity to Ram and Jeep that fuels long-term brand success".[12] The ad ranked third in the USA Today Super Bowl Ad Meter.[20] Critics noted that the ad focused on the family farm despite the industrialization of agriculture in America.[21] A Latino nonprofit organization called Cuéntame uploaded a remake to its Facebook page that featured more Latinos.[22]

Country music singer James Wesley's 2013 single "Thank a Farmer" was inspired by the ad.[23]

Notes

  1. ^ This section of the speech was not included in the Ram full-size pickup ad.

References

  1. ^ Jump up to:a b Haglund, David (February 3, 2013). "The Best Super Bowl Ad So Far Was Based on a YouTube Video". Slate. Retrieved February 4, 2013.
  2. ^ Jump up to:a b Seidle, Jonathon (February 3, 2013). "Wow, Did That Dodge Ad With Paul Harvey Talking About Farmers Rock the Super Bowl". The Blaze. Retrieved February 4, 2013.
  3. ^ Jump up to:a b Franke-Ruta, Garance (February 3, 2013). "Paul Harvey's 1978 'So God Made a Farmer Speech'". The Atlantic. Retrieved February 4, 2013.
  4. ^ McFadden, Robert D. (March 2, 2009). "Paul Harvey, Homespun Radio Voice of Middle America, Is Dead at 90". New York Times. Retrieved February 6, 2013.
  5. ^ Greene, Bob (February 6, 2013). "Super Bowl ad revives iconic American voice - CNN.com". CNN. Retrieved February 8, 2013.
  6. ^ Jump up to:a b c Harvey, Paul (May 19, 1986). "On the eight day God made a farmer". Altus (OK) Times. Retrieved February 4, 2013.
  7. ^ "WebVoyage Record View 1". Cocatalog.loc.gov. Retrieved February 2, 2017.
  8. ^ "WebVoyage Record View 1". Cocatalog.loc.gov. Retrieved February 2, 2017.
  9. ^ Jump up to:a b c d Harvey, Paul (August 26, 1975). "What it is to be a farmer". Gadsden Times. Retrieved February 6, 2013.
  10. ^ Jump up to:a b c "Dirt Farmers Gave All For Someone Else's Land". The Oklahoman. November 14, 1982. Retrieved February 6, 2013.
  11. ^ Smith, Tex (September 10, 1949). "Letter to the Editor". Ellensburg Daily Record. Retrieved February 6, 2013.
  12. ^ Jump up to:a b c d Buss, Dale (February 4, 2013). "Chrysler Scores Big -- Twice -- With Surprise Super Bowl Ads". Forbes. Retrieved February 4, 2013.
  13. ^ Lisa Provence (February 7, 2013). "Ram tough: Allard made a Super Bowl commercial". The Hook. Charlottesville. Retrieved February 8, 2013.
  14. ^ Wayland, Michael (February 3, 2013). "Chrysler airs photographic Super Bowl ad for Ram trucks". MLive.com. Retrieved February 4, 2013.
  15. ^ Stampler, Laura. "You Will Either Love Or Hate Dodge's 'God Made A Farmer' Super Bowl Ad". Business Insider. Retrieved February 4, 2013.
  16. ^ "Views of RAM's Paul Harvey Commercial to Benefit FFA Foundation". USAgNet. February 4, 2013. Retrieved February 4, 2013.
  17. ^ Shepardson, David (February 7, 2013). "Chrysler's Super Bowl ad seen, shared more than 10 million times". The Detroit News. Archived from the original on February 21, 2013. Retrieved February 8, 2013.
  18. ^ Faguy, Denise (February 3, 2013). "Ram Trucks Super Bowl Commercial "Farmer" recognizes contribution of Farmers!". Farms.com. Retrieved February 4, 2013.
  19. ^ "Super Bowl XLVII: Live Blogging the Ads". Wall Street Journal. February 3, 2013. Retrieved February 4, 2013.
  20. ^ Horovitz, Bruce (February 4, 2013). "Budweiser's Clydesdale wins Ad Meter by a nose". USA Today. Retrieved February 4, 2013.
  21. ^ Godoy, Maria (February 4, 2013). "'God Made A Farmer' And The Super Bowl Made Him A Star". NPR. Retrieved February 6, 2013.
  22. ^ Hinckley, David. "Latino group Cuéntame makes its own 'remix' of Dodge's 'So God Made a Farmer' Super Bowl ad - NY Daily News". Daily News. pp. NYDaily News. Retrieved February 8, 2013.
  23. ^ Dauphin, Chuck (May 27, 2013). "James Wesley Sets Up Debut Album With 'Thank a Farmer'". Billboard. Retrieved February 23, 2014.

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