THE HIT HAMMER: Cher's "Half-Breed"

(The Hit Hammer is where I'm reviewing each #1 song on the Billboard Hot 100. Starting from when the chart started in 1958 and eventually working my way to the present. To see my inspiration and more information about this blog, please CLICK HERE)

Cher - "Half-Breed"

Hit Number 1: October 6, 1973

Stay at Number 1: 2 Weeks

"Half-Breed" has all kinds of drama tied to it. One of those things is Sonny & Cher's marriage, which was failing. Sonny Bono was starting to become a dick to those in the music industry, and Snuff Garrett, someone who often worked with the duo, was starting to get fed up with him. Garrett's said before that the main problem he was having with Bono was that Bono was becoming obsessive over what material Cher should do, and the two often disagreed on songs for her. "Half-Breed" was one song that Garrett did like for Cher, and it was brought to him by lyricist Mary Dean. In fact, Garrett loved "Half-Breed", but only if it was recorded by Cher. He would go on to say that he believed the only one that could make that song a hit was Cher. By all accounts, it seems as if no one cared at all what Bono thought of that song. It makes you wonder if maybe the song played a factor in Sonny and Cher's eventual divorce in 1975.

It's pretty easy to see why Garrett didn't think many artists could make a hit out of "Half-Breed", because the song is ridiculous. It's about a girl who was born to a Cherokee mother and a white father. Because of that, she gets ridiculed by everyone on those sides, and neither side will accept her. In actuality, it's when your mother is white and your father is Native American where you'd end up in the situation as the narrator in the song. Half-breed is the term used as an insult to those who are in that boat. But when your mother is the one with the Native American ties, you're deemed as being "legally native," so really the narrator in "Half-Breed" should have been okay. But that would make for a far less interesting song if that was the case. (Don't ask me why the Native American rules are the way they are. I have no Native American ties, I'm just typing out the stuff I'm finding on the internet)

If you're like me, you maybe thought that Cher was singing about some real life stuff. After all, she always struck me as someone who might have Cherokee ties, but she barely does. She claims that she has 1/16th Cherokee from her mother's side, but that's it. Of course, the fact that Cher had little to no Cherokee blood in her, people were outraged that she would perform a song like "Half-Breed". Despite the song's popularity, Cher would quit performing it live in 1974 likely because of that reason, and she wouldn't start doing it again until 1999, when she found sudden popularity again with her song "Believe". (That song even hit #1 that year, so it will eventually appear in this blog) Quite frankly, Cher is just weird. She sang hauntingly dark songs like "Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves", wore ridiculous outfits such as the one in the "Half-Breed" video above, and overall just didn't seem to care at all what anyone thought of her and her music. To her credit, it worked, and she was a star. People weren't too happy about the whole "Half-Breed" thing though.

More drama stemmed from "Half-Breed" a few years ago when Pussycat Dolls member Kaya Jones used it as an anthem when she joined the National Diversity Coalition for Donald Trump. Apparently she had some questionable claims of Apache heritage, which pissed people off and they started blasting Cher's song for cultural appropriation. That then pissed Cher off, and she posted some colorful tweets on Twitter defending the song. Like I said, if you like drama, which I don't, "Half-Breed" supplies plenty of it.

Lastly, I've said before in the "Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves" review that I just don't get Cher's solo music. "Half-Breed" is a strange song, and not exactly the kind of thing you'll catch me listening to in my free time, but it's okay. It's got enough interesting instrumentation, such as prominent strings and a steady drum beat, and Cher hits some pretty incredible range towards the end. I'm not one that cares too much about political drama, so all that stuff flies right over my head with the song. I don't think "Half-Breed" is some evil racist song, and I don't think there's enough good reason for her to quit performing it live. If anything, it's just a forgettable piece of generic '70s music. The song doesn't impress me too much, but it also doesn't piss me off. Overall, I'm indifferent to it. But I'll also say if Cher still wants to perform her song live, for crying out loud, just let her perform her damn song.

GRADE: 5/10

JUST MISSED:

Paul Simon's bouncy, good-time song "Loves Me Like a Rock" peaked at #2 behind "Half-Breed". It's an 8.

ALSO JUST MISSED:

The Allman Brothers' classic folk-rockish banger "Ramblin' Man" also peaked at #2 behind "Half-Breed". It's a 9.