re: My favorite political moments from rock/pop

Metallica: One, Disposable Heroes

Alice in Chains: Rooster

Probably not one of Rex's favorites:

quote:

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Merle Haggard


I wish a buck was still silver
It was back when the country was strong
Back before Elvis
Before the Vietnam war came along

Before The Beatles and 'Yesterday'
When a man could still work, still would
The best of the free life behind us now
And are the good times really over for good?

Are we rolling down hill
Like a snowball headed for Hell?
With no kind of chance
For the Flag or the Liberty Bell

Wish a Ford and a Chevy
Could still last ten years, like they should
Is the best of the free life behind us now?
Are the good times really over for good?

I wish Coke was still Cola
And a joint was a bad place to be
It was back before Nixon lied to us all on TV

Before microwave ovens
When a girl could still cook and still would
The best of the free life behind us now
Are the good times really over for good?

Are we rolling down hill
Like a snowball headed for Hell?
With no kind of chance
For the Flag or the Liberty Bell

Wish a Ford and a Chevy
Could still last ten years, like they should
Is the best of the free life behind us now?
Are the good times really over for good?

Stop rolling down hill
Like a snowball headed for Hell
Stand up for the Flag
And let's all ring the Liberty Bell

Let's make a Ford and a Chevy
Still last ten years like they should
The best of the free life is still yet to come
The good times ain't over for good

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quote:

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Maybe we should merge that one with Randy Newman's "keeping the n***ers down".

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The title of the song is actually, "Rednecks" -and the chorus is:

quote:

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We're rednecks, rednecks
And we don't know our arse from a hole in the ground
We're rednecks, we're rednecks
And we're keeping the n*ggers down

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I would have suspected you agree with the politics of the first half of that one (it was satire - the use of the word was ironic), particularly the anti-"redneck" message - perhaps the northern hypocrisy is a little off-putting for you, but I believe the message of the song could be embraced by the community at large.

quote:

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Now your northern n*gger's a Negro
You see he's got his dignity
Down here we're too ignorant to realize
That the North has set the n*gger free

Yes he's free to be put in a cage
In Harlem in New York City
And he's free to be put in a cage on the South-Side of Chicago
And the West-Side
And he's free to be put in a cage in Hough in Cleveland
And he's free to be put in a cage in East St. Louis
And he's free to be put in a cage in Fillmore in San Francisco
And he's free to be put in a cage in Roxbury in Boston
They're gatherin' 'em up from miles around
Keepin' the n*ggers down

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This is one of the most fair-minded political songs in the thread.

Hell, I nearly had to kill a bunch of peace queers
Sunday morning, holding signs outside of church!
Aint no pink fig legislator gonna say I cant have guns!
And, hey mister, tell all the whole wide sky,
My name is Johnny! Johnny Pissoff.

Johnny Pissoff Meets the Red Angel - The Fugs

The Offspring: Why Don't You Get a Job

quote:

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"I won't pay, I won't pay ya, no way
Now why don't you get a job"
Say "no way", say "no way ya, no way
Now why don't you get a job"

Well I guess it ain't easy doing nothing at all oh yeah
But hey man free rides just don't come along
every day

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Here's one we can all agree on...frick the redcoats amirite?

quote:

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In 1814 we took a little trip
Along with Colonel Jackson
down the mighty Mississip.
We took a little bacon
and we took a little beans
And we caught the bloody British
in the town of New Orleans.

[Chorus:]
We fired our guns and the
British kept a'comin.
There wasn't nigh as many
as there was a while ago.
We fired once more and
they began to runnin' on
Down the Mississippi
to the Gulf of Mexico.

...

We fired our cannon
'til the barrel melted down.
So we grabbed an alligator
and we fought another round.
We filled his head with cannon balls,
and powdered his behind
And when we touched the powder off,
the gator lost his mind.

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that last part about the gator was always my favorite

Love that one, too

Full blown episodes...

Bumper of my SUV

quote:

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"Bumper Of My SUV"
I've got a bright red sticker on the back of my car
Says United States Marines
And yesterday a lady in a mini-van held up a middle finger at me
Does she think she knows what I stand for
Or the things that I believe
Just by looking at a sticker for the U.S. Marines
On the bumper of my SUV

See, my brother Chris, he's been in for more than 14 years now
Our dad was in the Navy during Vietnam
Did his duty then he got out
And my grandpa earned his purple heart
On the beach of Normandy
That's why I've got a sticker for the U.S. Marines
On the bumper of my SUV

But that doesn't mean that I want war
I'm not Republican or Democrat
But I've gone all around this crazy world
Just to try and better understand
Yes, I do have questions
I get to ask them because I'm free
That's why I've got a sticker for the U.S. Marines
On the bumper of my SUV

'Cause I've been to Hiroshima
And I've been to the DMZ
I've walked on the sand in Baghdad
Still don't have all of the answers I need
But I guess I wanna know where she's been
Before she judges and gestures to me
'Cause she don't like my sticker for the U.S. Marines
On the bumper of my SUV

So I hope that lady in her mini-van
Turns on her radio and hears this from me
As she picks up her kids from their private school
And drives home safely on our city streets
Or to the building where her church group meets
Yeah, that's why I've got a sticker for the U.S. Marines
On the bumper of my SUV

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USMC Fallen Staff Sergeant Jason Rogers returns home to Brandon, MS

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"Dress Blues"
What can you see from your window?
I can't see anything from mine.
Flags on the side of the highway
and scripture on grocery store signs.
Maybe eighteen was too early.
Maybe thirty or forty is too.
Did you get your chance to make peace with the man
before he sent down his angels for you?

Mamas and grandmamas love you
'cause that's all they know how to do.
You never planned on the bombs in the sand
or sleeping in your dress blues.

Your wife said this all would be funny
when you came back home in a week.
You'd turn twenty-two and we'd celebrate you
in a bar or a tent by the creek.
Your baby would just about be here.
Your very last tour would be up
but you won't be back. They're all dressing in black
drinking sweet tea in styrofoam cups.

Mamas and grandmamas love you.
American boys hate to lose.
You never planned on the bombs in the sand
or sleeping in your dress blues.

Now the high school gymnasium's ready,
full of flowers and old legionnaires.
Nobody showed up to protest,
just sniffle and stare.
But there's red, white, and blue in the rafters
and there's silent old men from the corps.
What did they say when they shipped you away
to fight somebody's Hollywood war?

Nobody here could forget you.
You showed us what we had to lose.
You never planned on the bombs in the sand
or sleeping in your dress blues.

No, no you never planned on the bombs in the sand
or sleeping in your dress blues.

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Ballad of the Green Berets
Bring the Boys Home Freda Payne
Ohio Crosby Stills et al
Alan Jackson where were you when the World stopped turning is so touching

See I'm a 21st century digital boy
I don't know how to read but I've got a lot of toys
My daddy's a lazy middle class intellectual
My mommy's on Valium, so ineffectual
Ain't life a mystery? - Bad Religion - 21st Century Digital Boy