United Breaks Guitars - Northwest Breaks Dulcimers (Song Only)

[Short Version: Song Only - a remix of the tune can be found here http://tinyurl.com/songnw ] On June 14th, 2009 - Northwest Airlines baggage handlers damaged Bing's Folkcraft double-neck mountain dulcimer on flight 2363 from Detroit, MI to Ft. Wayne, IN. Many people requested that Bing write a song about the situation, much like Tom Paxton did in his tune "Thank You Republic Airlines."

When Dave Carroll released the video for "United Breaks Guitars", Bing saw an opportunity for even more awareness in the area of baggage handling guidelines for airlines, not to mention perhaps an opportunity to have Northwest finally hear his story out and pay for the damages inflicted by their ground crew. "Only A Northwest Song" was written and recorded on Friday, July 10th with the video following later that night.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• mountain
• dulcimer
• Bing
• Futch
• Folkcraft
• airline
• baggage
• handlers
• United
• Breaks
• Guitars
• David
• Carroll
• Tom
• Paxton
• unsigned

[CindySweetwater]

This is Brilliant!!! Sorry about your instrument, but without the mishap, this song wouldn't have been born!

[dread66mon]

@CindySweetwater Ha-ha, thanks! : )

[Salindil]

Sorry to hear about the dulcimer, Bing, you and J should come up the Nash Vegas some time.

[dread66mon]

@Salindil We'll be up there in June! Hoping to jam on Broadway again somewhere.

[lightlyone]

Who would put their fine instrument of carry-on size in the belly of the plane?

[oscarscheepstra]

@dread66mon I always bring my guitar with me inside the plane when I travel, with no problems at all, in europe, at least.

[chipfire]

@violinista53 point taken, but is anyone really surprised that baggage gets treated this way?...really? and where does it end ? What if you want to travel with a precious birds egg collection ? If you have some hugely fragile object you have to ask if it's wise to travel with it in an airplane? Its too big to carry on, unless you want to buy it its own seat. So stump up and pay. Maybe travelling across the country with a precious, fragile guitar just aint such a great idea.

[violinista53]

@chipfire: It's not all about the cost of the instrument. My violin is pretty cheap by professional standards, but I would still be devastated if it was damaged -- not only because of lost work and lost value, but because it truly is unique and irreplaceable. It would be a lot like if you trusted someone to care for a beloved family pet of yours (fragile, duh!) and they tossed it out a window, breaking its legs; I wouldn't have the chutzpah to make this sort of callous remark to you. 

[violinista53]

Well done!

[hardscissors]

Very, very clever lyrics!

[rlwalker2]

Whoa - very good tune. Sad to hear that baggage gorillas still live to "care less." Most baggage is pretty good and a baggage handler has to intentionally do some damage for it to occur. Too bad those goons are simply tossed in the clink. They must have pretty good union protection that cares nothing for passengers.

[CelticLady44]

When I think of my beloved dulcimers being treated like this.....Ooooo, I'm gonna have to go by car if I travel with them, I see. MY car.