Beggar's Banquet 1968 Sympathy For the Devil No Expectations Dear Doctor Parachute Woman Jig-Saw Puzzle Street Fightin' Man Prodigal Son Stray Cat Blues Factory Girl Salt of the Earth sticky fingers is great. if you haven't listened to beggar's banquet in a while, give it a fresh listen.
Forgot What's Goin' On. Has to be one of the all-time greats. I love that Elvis Costello can turn Peace, Love and Understanding into a sneering, pissed off rant about the lack of it.
Television - The Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy In fact, that whole album (Hypocrisy is the Greatest Luxury) is full of commentary songs...
The lyrics: One Nation under God has turned into One Nation under the influence of one drug Television, the drug of the Nation Breeding ignorance and feeding radiation T.V., it satellite links our United States of unconciousness Apathetic therapeutic and extremely addictive the methadone metronome pumping out a 150 channels 24 hours a day you can flip through all of them and still there's nothing worth watching T.V. is the reason why less than ten percent of our Nation reads books daily Why most people think Central America means Kansas Socialism means unamerican and Apartheid is a new headache remedy absorbed in it's world it's so hard to find us It shapes our minds the most maybe the mother of our Nation should remind us that we're sitting to close to. . . Television, the drug of the Nation Breeding ignorance and feeding radiation T.V. is the stomping ground for political candidates Where bears in the woods are chased by Grecian Formula'd bald eagles T.V. is mechanized politic's remote control over the masses co-sponsered by environmentally safe gases watch for the PBS special It's the perpetuation of the two party system where image takes precedence over wisdom Where sound bite politics are served to the fastfood culture Where straight teeth in your mouth are more important than the words that come out of it Race baiting is the way to get selected Willie Horton or Will he not get elected on . . . Television, the drug of the Nation Breeding ignorance and feeding radiation T.V. is it the reflector or the director? Does it imitate us or do we imitate it Because a child watches 1500 murders before he's twelve years old and we wonder how we've created a Jason generation that learns to laugh rather than abhor the horror T.V. is the place where armchair generals and quarterbacks can experience first hand the excitement of video warfare as the theme song is sung in the background Sugar sweet sitcoms that leave us with a bad actor taste while pop stars metamorphosize into soda pop stars You saw the video You heard the soundtrack Well now go buy the soft drink Well, the only cola that I support would be a union C.O.L.A. (Cost of Living Allowance) On Television. Television, the drug of the Nation Breeding ignorance and feeding radiation Back again, "New and Improved", we return to our irregularly programmed schedule hidden cleverly between heavy breasted beer and car commericals CNN ESPN ABC TNT but mostly B.S. Where oxymoronic language like "virtually spotless" "fresh frozen" "light yet filling" and "military intelligence" have become standard T.V. is the place where phrases are redefined like "recession" to "necessary downturn" "crude oil" on a beach to "mousse" "Civilian death" to "collateral damages" and being killed by your own Army is now called "friendly fire" T.V. is the place where the pursuit of happiness has become the pursuit of trivia Where toothpaste and cars have become sex objects Where imagination is sucked out of children by a cathode ray nipple T.V. is the only wet nurse that would create a cripple Television, the drug of the Nation Breeding ignorance and feeding radiation On Television . . .
"So get up get get get down 911 is a joke in yo town Get up get get get down Late 911 wears the late crown" can't get that out of my head since they started using it for the Reno 911 commercials.
The original "Fight the Power" by the Isley Brothers is a great one. Three of my favorites from Living Colour: Cult of Personality Type Operation Mind Control
Political Science by Randy Newman No one likes us-I don't know why We may not be perfect, but heaven knows we try But all around, even our old friends put us down Let's drop the big one and see what happens We give them money-but are they grateful? No, they're spiteful and they're hateful They don't respect us-so let's surprise them We'll drop the big one and pulverize them Asia's crowded and Europe's too old Africa is far too hot And Canada's too cold And South America stole our name Let's drop the big one There'll be no one left to blame us We'll save Australia Don't wanna hurt no kangaroo We'll build an All American amusement park there They got surfin', too Boom goes London and boom Paree More room for you and more room for me And every city the whole world round Will just be another American town Oh, how peaceful it will be We'll set everybody free You'll wear a Japanese kimono And there'll be Italian shoes for me They all hate us anyhow So let's drop the big one now Let's drop the big one now
The Ballad of Medgar Evers In the state of Mississippi, many years ago, A boy of 14 years got a taste of Southern law. He saw his friend a-hangin', his color was his crime; The blood upon his jacket put a brand upon his mind. CHORUS: Too many martyrs and too many dead, Too many lies, too many empty words were said, Too many times for too many angry men, Oh, let it never be again. Then the boy became a man, the man became a cause; The cause became the hope for the country and its laws. The tried to burn his home and they beat him to the ground; But deep inside they both knew what it took to bring him down. [ALTERNATE VERSE: His name was Medgar Evers, and he walked his road alone, Like Emmett Till and thousands more whose names we'll never know. They tried to burn his home and they beat him to the ground; But deep inside they both knew what it took to bring him down.] The killer waited by his home, hidden by the night, As Evers stepped out from his car into the rifle sight. He slowly squeezed the trigger, the bullet left his side; It struck the heart of every man when Evers fell and died. They laid him in his grave while the bugle sounded clear, They laid him in his grave while the victory was near. While we waited for the future for freedom through the land, The country gained a killer, and the country lost a man, CHORUS: Too many martyrs and too many dead, Too many lies, too many empty words were said, Too many times for too many angry men, Oh, let it never be again, Oh, let it never be again.
The Sex Pistols - Anarchy in the U.K. Nirvana - Smells Like Teen Spirit Aerosmith - Livin on the Edge Queensryche - Empire Billy Joel - We Didn't Start The Fire
You realize he was being ironic? He is intrigued with the way that Political Science has returned to prominence. "There is a strain in the country, a frontier, isolationist, aggressive kind of ignorance that wants to forget about the rest of the world. They don't quite want to blow up London or Paris, but they don't want to help anyone or deal with it." The song had been written in 1970, he says, before people of vaguely that persuasion took power. "It was pre-Reagan, and even Reagan, in retrospect, wasn't that far to the right in many ways. The right to me means, 'We're not going to help people who might need help.' They might deny this and say, 'Do you think we have no hearts? Do you think we don't care?' and I would say, 'Yeah, I do think that.' "This administration has come closer to saying things like, 'Europe's too old.' The stupidities and exaggerations of that song are still exaggerations, but the way Donald Rumsfeld talks and Paul Wolfowitz talks is like breaking the rules. Somehow, with Reagan and Nixon, there was an understanding that you don't say things like, 'We don't need France and Germany... we have the new Europe: Bulgaria, Poland and Lithuania.' They may have thought things like that and done bad things secretly, but they didn't say that."
Allentown by Billy Joel Well, we’re living here in Allentown And they’re closing all the factories down Out in Bethlehem they’re killing time Filling out forms Standing in line Well, our fathers fought the second World War Spent their weekends on the Jersey shore Met our mothers in the USO Asked them to dance Danced with them slow And we’re living here in Allentown But the restlessness was handed down And it’s getting very hard to stay Well we’re waiting here in Allentown For the Pennsylvania we never found For the promises our teachers gave If we worked hard If we behaved So the graduations hang on the wall But they never really helped us at all No they never taught us what was real Iron and coal Chromium Steel And we’re waiting here in Allentown But they’ve taken all the coal from the ground And the union people crawled away Every child had a pretty good shot To get at least as far as their old man got But something happened on the way to that place They threw an American flag in our face Well, I’m living here in Allentown And it’s hard to keep a good man down But I won’t be getting up today And it’s getting very hard to stay And we’re living here in Allentown
Gil-Scot Heron: The Revolution Will Not Be Televised NWA: **** Tha Police Ice-T: Freedom of Speech A few by Dylan: Only a Pawn in Their Game With God on Our Side Masters of War Who Killed Davey Moore Hurricane Blowin in the Wind A Hard Rain's A'Gonna Fall Oxford Town Let Me Die in My Footsteps Talkin John Birch Paranoid Blues John Brown License To Kill The Death of Emmett Till Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll Times They Are A'Changin Would love to paste all the lyrics, but here's just one. "John Brown" When John Brown went off to war to fight on a foreign shore. His mama sure was proud of him! He stood so straight and tall in his uniform and all. His mama's face broke out all in a grin. "Oh son, you look so fine, I'm glad you're a son of mine, You make me proud to know you hold a gun. Do what the captain says, lots of medals you will get, And we'll put them on the wall when you come home." As that old train pulled out, John's ma began to shout, Tellin' ev'ryone in the neighborhood: "That's my son that's about to go, he's a soldier now, you know." She made well sure her neighbors understood. She got a letter once in a while and her face broke into a smile As she showed them to the people from next door. And she bragged about her son with his uniform and gun, And this thing she called a good old-fashioned war. Oh! Good old-fashioned war! Then the letters ceased to come, for a long time they did not come. They ceased to come for about ten months or more. Then a letter finally came saying, "Go down and meet the train. Your son's a-coming home from the war." She smiled and went right down, she looked everywhere around But she could not see her soldier son in sight. But as all the people passed, she saw her son at last, When she did she could hardly believe her eyes. Oh his face was all shot up and his hand was all blown off And he wore a metal brace around his waist. He whispered kind of slow, in a voice she did not know, While she couldn't even recognize his face! Oh! Lord! Not even recognize his face. "Oh tell me, my darling son, pray tell me what they done. How is it you come to be this way?" He tried his best to talk but his mouth could hardly move And the mother had to turn her face away. "Don't you remember, Ma, when I went off to war You thought it was the best thing I could do? I was on the battleground, you were home . . . acting proud. I'm glad you weren't there standing in my shoes." "Oh, and I thought when I was there, God, what am I doing here? I'm a-tryin' to kill somebody or die tryin'. But the thing that scared me most was when my enemy came close And I saw that his face looked just like mine." Oh! Lord! Just like mine! "And I couldn't help but think, through the thunder rolling and stink, That I was just a puppet in a play. And through the roar and smoke, this string is finally broke, And a cannon ball blew my eyes away." As he turned away to walk, his Ma was still in shock At seein' the metal brace that helped him stand. But as he turned to go, he called his mother close And he dropped his medals down into her hand.
PE in rare form.......... "My man Daddy-O once said to me He knew a brother who stayed all day in his Jeep And at night he went to sleep And in the mornin' all he had was the sneakers on his feet! The culprit used to jam and rock the mike Yo, he stripped the Jeep to fill his pipe And wander around to find a place Where they rocked to a different kind of BASS!" Plus, the entire Curtis Mayfield Superfly album.
