A little late, Randy.
Okay, so I'm a little late in posting about Randy Newman's 2-3 years-too-late song about how the current administration sucks. So sue me. The only reason I even looked it up was because the song, "A Few Words in Defense of our Country," is being sold on iTunes. How fitting. I thought at first the song would be like one of those crazy Neil Young "i love america, you haters better leave" freak outs that he goes through every other decade. Instead, it's an anti-war song. In 2007. After the war has been going on since I was born, if not sooner. (I jest). But I'm disturbed that Randy Newman's anti-war music is posted in the NYT and that it took me 20 minutes to come up with the list of bands I know of that have bashed the president and/or the war:
Neil Young
System of a Down
Bruce Springsteen
Radiohead
eminem
Green Day (sorta)
Tom Waits (sorta)
Beck (sorta)
Tupac (from the grave! just kidding.)
Part of the issue is that I'm just not as hip as I like to think. there are probably a ton of under-the-radar bands that Rob can point out that have written entire CDs about Bush and how he sucks.
But I want to know -- where are the so-called political bands? Is it that U2 really does suck this much? I mean, is How to Drop an Atomic Bomb anything more than a metaphor about how love can save us all? (Seriously, does U2 suck my ass, or what.) Is REM really that irrelevant after all? Leaving New York's never easy? Fuck new york! Exhuming McCarthy, you bastards! EXHUMING FUCKING MCCARTHY!
I don't even know why I'm outraged. perhaps I just expected that at this point more bands would blatantly denounce shit. And we wouldn't have randy newman to thank for pointing out that
'"The only thing we have to fear is fear itself”
Now it seems like we’re supposed to be afraid
It’s patriotic in fact and color coded'
Gee, isn't mocking the color-coded fear factor, like, 2 years too late???? ugh. Someone help me out here. I think I'm suffering from outrage fatigue -- but i'm outraged that there's very little anti-war music written by people who are under 30 (eminem? is he our Dylan?). I thought people were supposed to start liberal and get conservative? Rob? Buddy? Mike? Vicki? (I'm leaving out Rama since he doesn't listen to anything after 1980, and even when he does it's usually just on karaoke night). Someone help me out here. Give me a reason to believe!
A Few Words in Defense of Our Country
By Randy Newman
I’d like to say a few words
In defense of our country
Whose people aren’t bad nor are they mean
Now the leaders we have
While they’re the worst that we’ve had
Are hardly the worst this poor world has seen
Let’s turn history’s pages, shall we?
Take the Caesars for example
Why within the first few of them
They had split Gaul into three parts
Fed the Christians to the lions
And burned down the City
And one of ’em
Appointed his own horse Consul of the Empire
That’s like vice president or something
That’s not a very good example, is it?
But wait, here’s one, the Spanish Inquisition
They put people in a terrible position
I don’t even like to think about it
Well, sometimes I like to think about it
Just a few words in defense of our country
Whose time at the top
Could be coming to an end
Now we don’t want their love
And respect at this point is pretty much out of the question
But in times like these
We sure could use a friend
Hitler. Stalin.
Men who need no introduction
King Leopold of Belgium. That’s right.
Everyone thinks he’s so great
Well he owned The Congo
He tore it up too
He took the diamonds, he took the gold
He took the silver
Know what he left them with?
Malaria
A president once said,
“The only thing we have to fear is fear itself”
Now it seems like we’re supposed to be afraid
It’s patriotic in fact and color coded
And what are we supposed to be afraid of?
Why, of being afraid
That’s what terror means, doesn’t it?
That’s what it used to mean
The end of an empire is messy at best
And this empire is ending
Like all the rest
Like the Spanish Armada adrift on the sea
We’re adrift in the land of the brave
And the home of the free
Goodbye. Goodbye. Goodbye.
Comments
Well, you can check out Depeche Mode's 'John the Revelator' and the new TV on the Radio has a political bent to it. I would say that the music scene is very, very boring right now. I think musicians are afraid to write anything overtly political in fear of getting dropped by thier record company. Hopefully the new Massive Attack will have some political overtones to it, since 3D cannot stand the current administration.
But hey, there's always Christina Aguliera.
Oh, on a serious note, check out P!NK's 'Dear Me. President.' It's not a bad song. Also, if you are a fan of John Cougar Mellencamp, his album is supposed to be very anti-Bush.
As for me, I'm listening to Marvin Gaye's 'What's Goin' On' and Prince's 'Sign O' the Times' both albums are still relevant and sound better than anything that's being produced right now.
Rob
Posted by: Rob | February 20, 2007 8:09 PM