These Flag-Waving Hits Fly With DreamWorks

The colors of choice at DreamWorks SKG these days are red, white, blue -- and green.

The entertainment boutique owned by famously liberal Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg and David Geffen is suddenly riding high on a pair of surprise patriotic hits from Bush-backing country artists Darryl Worley and Toby Keith.

Worley’s anthem “Have You Forgotten?” pushed his new album to the top of the country chart and to No. 4 on the pop chart with 213,728 sales, according to Nielsen Soundscan.

Meanwhile, Keith’s 2002 album, “Unleashed,” has been powered back to No. 2 on the country charts by the single “Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue (The Angry American).” It is DreamWorks’ biggest music hit to date, with more than 2.4 million records sold.

“We’re all just so surprised. It happened so fast,” DreamWorks Nashville chief James Stroud said of Worley’s third album.

With the onset of the war in Iraq, Worley and Keith became Bush administration favorites. They opened for the president last month when he addressed MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Fla. And Worley was introduced by Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld at a Pentagon concert last week.

When Keith won a top country music video award this month, he dedicated the prize to Rumsfeld and Army Gen. Tommy Franks, the military’s Iraq war architect. A DreamWorks Web site shows an American tank in Iraq with “Courtesy of the Red, White & Blue” written on the gun barrel.

The DreamWorks troika declined to comment on the patriotic surge currently powering their music operation.

The three are among the liberal Democratic wing’s most powerful fund-raisers, and all were especially close to President Clinton.

They have been auditioning virtually every Democratic presidential contender for the 2004 election, but have yet to choose one as their favorite.

The co-owners have been publicly quiet on the Iraqi conflict, save for a comment Spielberg made that he quickly clarified in September during a European press junket. One report said he endorsed a war with Iraq. But Spielberg said his comments were taken out of context.

Worely’s “Have You Forgotten?” was written after the singer returned from entertaining troops in Afghanistan several months ago. It was hurriedly recorded after radio stations began playing a tape of an impromptu performance at the Grand Ole Opry.

The lyrics include: “Some say this country’s just out looking for a fight, after 9/11 man I’d have to say that’s right.” Fans range from shock jock Howard Stern to conservative Sean Hannity.

Keith’s hit has evoked memories of such polarizing country songs as Merle Haggard’s “Okie from Muskogee,” released during the Vietnam war. Among Keith’s lyrics: “Soon as we could see clearly through our big black eye, Man we lit up your world like the Fourth of July.”

The Atlantic Journal-Constitution called it a “jingoistic chest thumper” and the Dixie Chicks’ Natalie Maines, who set off a boycott when she criticized President Bush, called it “ignorant.”

Keith became a hero to conservatives last year after ABC rescinded an invitation to perform the song on a Fourth of July special. Keith’s camp blamed objections from anchor Peter Jennings. ABC said it couldn’t accommodate Keith’s demand to perform at the top of the show.

Jennings was quoted as saying he didn’t think it was the right song to open the broadcast. Keith was quoted as calling Jennings “weak-minded.”

Politics aside, the DreamWorks principals are thrilled by the success of their flag-waving artists, particularly the debut of Worley’s album.

“On Friday night, I got a great phone call from David Geffen congratulating me. He was just over the top,” Stroud said. “On Saturday, Jeffrey called, saying the same thing.”