“Shut up and sing/dance/act” (entertainers taking political positions)

“Shut up and dance!” or “Shut up and sing!” has been said to many entertainers—simple advice from a director or the audience to do what the entertainer does best. ““Shut up and dance” is a lyric in the 1959 Broadway musical Gypsy. 
 
In March 2003, Natalie Maines of the Dixie Chicks was quoted in The Guardian after a London concert: “Just so you know, we’re ashamed the president of the United States is from Texas.” Conservative talk show host Laura Ingraham wrote a book about entertainers who preach liberal politics, Shut up & sing: How elites from Hollywood, politics, and the UN are subverting America (2003). The Natalie Maines remark became the subject of a documentary, Dixie Chicks: Shut up and sing (2006).
 
“Shut up and sing” has had a strong political use since 2003.
 
     
Wikipedia: Dixie Chicks: Shut Up and Sing
Dixie Chicks: Shut Up and Sing (also known simply as Shut Up and Sing) is a 2006 documentary film produced and directed by Academy Award-winning director Barbara Kopple and Cecilia Peck (daughter of famed actor Gregory Peck).
 
The film follows the Dixie Chicks, an extremely successful all-woman Texas-based country music trio, over a three year period of intense public scrutiny, fan backlash, physical threats, and pressure from both corporate and conservative political elements in the United States after lead singer Natalie Maines publicly criticised then President of the United States George W. Bush during a live 2003 concert in London as part of their Top of the World Tour.
(...)
The film then cuts to a scene from the Dixie Chicks March 10, 2003 concert at the Shepherd’s Bush Empire Theatre in London, England. The atmosphere in the European audience is of dramatic opposition to the announcement from United States President George W. Bush’s authorization of the invasion of Iraq. Earlier that day, approximately 1 million people had collected at a public demonstration in London against the war. During the introduction to their song “Travelin’ Soldier”, Natalie Maines, a Texas native, says:
 
“ Just so you know, we’re on the good side with y’all. We do not want this war, this violence, and we’re ashamed that the President of the United States is from Texas. ”
—Natalie Maines,
 
The Guardian, a major English Newspaper, published Maines’ statement as simply “Just so you know, we’re ashamed the president of the United States is from Texas.” Shortly thereafter, the U.S. media picked up the story and controversy erupted. Conservative groups in the U.S. rallied against the Dixie Chicks and a firestorm of anger and criticism followed.
   
“You’ll Never Get Away From Me” lyrics from Gypsy (Broadway, 1959)
Rose
Oh, no you don’t. No, not a chance.
No arguments, shut up and dance.
 
19 July 1967, Southern Illinoisan (Carbondale, IL), “Eek and Meek” cartoon, pg. 25, col. 3:
“OH, SHUT UP AND SING A SONG OR SOMETHING!”
(Directed to a person on the television who’s telling people that there are better things to do than watch television—ed.)
   
30 January 1976, Seattle (WA) Daily Times, Tempo, pg. 17, col. 1:
Donny and Marie; Shut up and sing!
by John Voorhees
Television editor
 
OCLC WorldCat record
Shut up and dance
Author: Lise Uyanik; Mobile City Band.
Publisher: Durham, N.C. : Siren, 1981.
Edition/Format: Musical LP : Rock music : English
   
Google Books
10 December 1984, New York magazine, pg. 85, col. 1:
I want, say, Liza Minnelli and Shirley MacLaine to shut up and sing or dance. But when Lena Home patters, I listen.
   
18 July 1994, Winnipeg (Manitoba) Free Press, “(Ted—ed.) Nugent rants ‘n’ rolls,” pg. C4, col. 6:
“It’s like Paul and Linda McCartney, who say they won’t eat anything with a face on it. What? They have a better idea than God? Humans can’t be omnivores? Hey, Paul, shut up and sing! Hey, Linda, just shut up!”
 
14 March 1996, Chicago (IL) Daily Herald, Liz Smith entertainment column, sec. 4, pg. 5, col. 1:
I think it’s time for (Courtney—ed.) Love, mother of an adorable child, Frances Bean, to simply shut up and sing. (Advice that was once given to Frank Sinatra—and Frank took it!)
 
30 September 1997, Chicago (IL) Daily Herald, Liz Smith entertainment column, sec. 3, pg. 5, col. 2:
Long ago, Frank Sinatra had a beef with us. He went on stage at Carnegie Hall and other spots and said savage things. In fact, it was during one of these diatribes that the famous remark was screamed from the audience, “Shut up and sing!”
     
OCLC WorldCat record
Shut up & sing : how elites from Hollywood, politics, and the UN are subverting America
Author: Laura Ingraham
Publisher: Washington, D.C. : Regnery Publishing, Inc., ©2003, 2006.
Edition/Format: Braille book : English
 
OCLC WorldCat record
Dixie Chicks : shut up and sing
Author: Barbara Kopple; Cecilia Peck; David Cassidy; Cabin Creek Films.; Weinstein Company.; All authors
Publisher: United States : Weinstein Co., 2006.
Edition/Format: Film : English
Summary: A documentary on the Dixie Chicks in the wake of singer Natalie Maines’ anti-George W. Bush statement at a 2003 concert.
 
Monroerising.com
Paul McCartney Just Shut up And Sing
Published in June 4th, 2010
Posted by MissManners in Barack Obama, Liberal Arrogance
Paul McCartney performed for President Obama after receiving a Gershwin award from the Library of Congress. Mr. McCartney should have accepted the award with grace.  Instead he had to take a cheap shot at former President Bush commenting that Mr. Bush did not know what a library was. It appears the ignorant one is Mr. McCartney, President Bush is a Harvard MBA graduate with an undergraduate degree in history from Yale University.  Both schools have excellent libraries and would be impossible to graduate from not knowing what one is.  Laura Bush the former first lady was herself Librarian. (Mr. McCartney that means she worked in a library)  On the other hand Sir Paul has no University Degree at all and came off sounding pretty stupid.
 
The Glenn Beck Program
Dear Paul McCartney: Shut up and sing
June 4, 2010 - 12:31 ET