United Breaks Guitars

Busted Regular readers know that one of my commitments for Lent is to blog something every day (except Sundays). Well, last week I wasn't able to do that because . . . I forgot.

I had company over, and by the time the evening ended it was getting late, and I realized the next morning that blogging had slipped my mind.

Since Lenten resolutions of this sort are free-will commitments and don't bind under pain of sin, I could just say, "Oh, well," and move on.

But I thought I'd make it up anyway by doing a double-post today.

Herewith are some videos that you might find amusing. I like the lighthearted way that Dave Carroll treats the issue. The lightheartedness is even more on display in Songs 2 and 3. 

The whole affair also gave his career a nice boost–a way of taking lemons and making lemonade.

Basically, here's what happened: United Airlines baggage handlers recklessly damaged his $3,500 Taylor guitar and then the company refused to pay for repairs. After exhausting his options with United, he told them he would write three songs and put them on YouTube. Reportedly, he was told, "Good luck with that one, pal."

The first has eight million views, one million of which happened in the first week of release. He was quickly contacted by United with an offer of compensation in hopes of his pulling the video. Reportedly, he replied, "Good luck with that one, pal."

He did say that he wasn't interested in compensation any longer and suggested that they donate the money to the charity of their choosing. They did. It went to the Thelonious Monk Jazz School.

So what's the Catholic Answers connection to this?

It turns out that Catholic Answers is housed in the same business complex in El Cajon, California as Taylor Guitars. Some of the guys from work play basketball at lunch with the guys from Taylor, so we're neighbors, and neighborly.

That made the videos a topic of discussion at work when Song 3 was released recently.

I'm not sure what stereotypical Mariachi singers, stereotypical Germans, and stereotypical hillbillies have to do with anything, but . . . enjoy!

SONG 2 

SONG 3 

A WORD FROM TAYLOR GUITARS (video)

AN INTERVIEW WITH DAVE CARROLL (text)

Author: Jimmy Akin

Jimmy was born in Texas, grew up nominally Protestant, but at age 20 experienced a profound conversion to Christ. Planning on becoming a Protestant seminary professor, he started an intensive study of the Bible. But the more he immersed himself in Scripture the more he found to support the Catholic faith, and in 1992 he entered the Catholic Church. His conversion story, "A Triumph and a Tragedy," is published in Surprised by Truth. Besides being an author, Jimmy is the Senior Apologist at Catholic Answers, a contributing editor to Catholic Answers Magazine, and a weekly guest on "Catholic Answers Live."

10 thoughts on “United Breaks Guitars”

  1. I am sorry they treated him that way but I think he handled that VERY well!
    Those songs are funny.
    I especially like the second one.
    They are talented.

  2. I had seen the first video a while back, but at that point the second and third videos hadn’t yet been completed. I’m very impressed that he got Jerry Douglas to do a guest appearance on song #3!

  3. “Since Lenten resolutions of this sort are free-will commitments and don’t bind under pain of sin, I could just say, “Oh, well,” and move on.”
    I actually have wondered this. To what extent are we bound to make and engage in Lenten resolutions?

  4. Oh, what a sweet discovery: a great treasure of formative resources, Catholic Answers, is located right near my favorite guitar maker. There’s much about the way Taylor does business that I admire. When we visited friends in San Diego a few years ago, the ONE thing I had to do while we were there was drive to El Cajon and take the factory tour.

  6. I have always been told to carry the guitar on the plane (this was back before the carry-on restrictions) but you can still have them tag it and it can sit up by the cock pit like strollers do.

  7. If country music sounded more like this and less like coon hounds on the chase I’d listen to country music more. Rock has become so banal (to quote a famous theologian), you either have singers screaming and grunting to 7 string guitars detuned a whole step or the same song that Nickelback has been putting out over and over again for the last 10 years. I guess I’m stuck with classical music and Gregorian Chant.

  8. You could always give jazz a try, Dr. Eric. That’s what I did once I figured out rock was dead.

  9. Airlines have a real skill for breaking wheelchairs as well. It’s a rare trip when I don’t end up with a damaged, sometimes unusable chair.

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