I was trying to say something snappy and clever about the linked lyrics' ability to hold a mirror to a candidacy with nothing worth looking at or reflecting on.
Then, in a sort of stream-of-consciousness vibe, I looked up the lyrics to an old 60s anthem by the Grass Roots. It embodies so much of what I find repugnant in the baby boom's self-obsessed, feel-good-now, careless, thoughtless immaturity:
Actually we just used these lyrics in an English class assignment I helped my granddaughter out with. She had to pick a song and interpret the lyrics….You’all would’ve been proud of me. I hardly even mentioned that this was a lyrical interpretation of the communist manifesto written by a socialist fellow traveler. I just stuck with the standard utopian ‘one world’ tripe. Silky ponies and fuzzy bunnies. No religious strife, no nationalistic turmoil, no greed and separation of economic classes. All the standard stuff that the schools want to hear nowadays.
Of course, I got a little deeper. I couldn’t help myself. She certainly wouldn’t get an alternate take on this from the school.
Heh - a birthday card for a friend shows a fat piggy-bank wearing a turban sitting on a mountain top, below two small piggies in turbans look up, and the big piggie says: "Remember, change comes from within." Oh here it is. I always sing it, "Imagine no John Lennon..."
"You may say I’m a dreamer But I’m filled with hope for change I hope someday you’ll join me and there will be hopey-change"
Oh, Christ... the way that scans is right flippin' hilarious. I'm hearing FZ/Flo & Eddy-styled whack vocal harmonies in that last line and falling down laughing.
And the band played Lennon's "Imagine" As they prodded us onto the train They promised no harm If we would but disarm Now there's nothing 'tween us and the rain
Then in two thousand nine the dot-gov said "Son-- "There's Hope to be hoped And Change to be done" So they came for my Chevy And they came for my gun And they shipped me to Anderson...(ville)
When I was a young man I earned for myself And I lived the free life of a rover I kept and bore arms Ate as much as I liked And I drove my old Chevy all over
I was trying to say something snappy and clever about the linked lyrics' ability to hold a mirror to a candidacy with nothing worth looking at or reflecting on.
ReplyDeleteThen, in a sort of stream-of-consciousness vibe, I looked up the lyrics to an old 60s anthem by the Grass Roots. It embodies so much of what I find repugnant in the baby boom's self-obsessed, feel-good-now, careless, thoughtless immaturity:
http://www.lyricsdownload.com/the-grass-roots-let-s-live-for-today-lyrics.html
Guess who has an ad at the top of the lyrics.
Sometimes, it seems, you just don't need words.
gvi
Excellent.
ReplyDeleteActually we just used these lyrics in an English class assignment I helped my granddaughter out with. She had to pick a song and interpret the lyrics….You’all would’ve been proud of me. I hardly even mentioned that this was a lyrical interpretation of the communist manifesto written by a socialist fellow traveler. I just stuck with the standard utopian ‘one world’ tripe. Silky ponies and fuzzy bunnies. No religious strife, no nationalistic turmoil, no greed and separation of economic classes. All the standard stuff that the schools want to hear nowadays.
Of course, I got a little deeper. I couldn’t help myself. She certainly wouldn’t get an alternate take on this from the school.
Heh - a birthday card for a friend shows a fat piggy-bank wearing a turban sitting on a mountain top, below two small piggies in turbans look up, and the big piggie says: "Remember, change comes from within."
ReplyDeleteOh here it is.
I always sing it, "Imagine no John Lennon..."
"You may say I’m a dreamer
ReplyDeleteBut I’m filled with hope for change
I hope someday you’ll join me
and there will be hopey-change"
Oh, Christ... the way that scans is right flippin' hilarious. I'm hearing FZ/Flo & Eddy-styled whack vocal harmonies in that last line and falling down laughing.
That's really pretty good.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteAnd the band played Lennon's "Imagine"
ReplyDeleteAs they prodded us onto the train
They promised no harm
If we would but disarm
Now there's nothing 'tween us and the rain
"'Wallll-tzing Obama
ReplyDeleteWallll-tzing Obaaaama
Whooooo'll go a waaaaaltzing Oba-ma with me?'
"And we sang, as we rode,
To the camp inside the stadiuuuum,
'Whooo'l go a waaaaaaltzing Oba-ma with me?'"
Then in two thousand nine the dot-gov said "Son--
ReplyDelete"There's Hope to be hoped
And Change to be done"
So they came for my Chevy
And they came for my gun
And they shipped me to Anderson...(ville)
Okay, they're out of order...
ReplyDeleteWhen I was a young man I earned for myself
And I lived the free life of a rover
I kept and bore arms
Ate as much as I liked
And I drove my old Chevy all over
Dangit, got it wrong the first time.
ReplyDelete{sung to "the politics of dancing"}
The politics of Envy
The politics of ooo Soak The Rich
The politics of Class War
Obama's policy pitch