Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Anyone who bans teaching American history has no right to shape America’s future.

Too often we hand the biggest microphones to the cynics and the critics who delight in declaring failure.

It’s a good piece. click on over. but then come back!!

The fundamental promise of conservatism all over the world is a return to an idealized past that never existed.

Not so fun when the rabbit gets the gun, is it?

Their freedom requires your slavery.

If you can’t control your emotions, someone else will.

Dumb motherfuckers cannot understand a consequence that most 4 year olds have fully sorted out.

There is no right way to do the wrong thing.

Beware of advice from anyone for whom Democrats are “they” and not “we.”

Accountability, motherfuckers.

“I was told there would be no fact checking.”

It’s easy to sit in safety and prescribe what other people should be doing.

“Facilitate” is an active verb, not a weasel word.

My right to basic bodily autonomy is not on the table. that’s the new deal.

Some judge needs to shut this circus down soon.

JFC, are there no editors left at that goddamn rag?

Stop using mental illness to avoid talking about armed white supremacy.

Following reporting rules is only for the little people, apparently.

You’re just a puppy masquerading as an old coot.

When your entire life is steeped in white supremacy, equality feels like discrimination.

When you’re in more danger from the IDF than from Russian shelling, that’s really bad.

I did not have this on my fuck 2025 bingo card.

Fundamental belief of white supremacy: white people are presumed innocent, minorities are presumed guilty.

You are here: Home / Economics / C.R.E.A.M. / Straight to hell

Straight to hell

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Fuck these guys:

House Democrats released a package of economic measures late Wednesday that included a $2 billion boost to state unemployment insurance programs, more than $1 billion in nutritional aid, a new paid leave benefit for employees affected by the outbreak, and an increase in federal Medicaid spending, as well as a guarantee of free coronavirus testing.

But that package met a frosty reception from the White House and congressional Republicans,

I have two questions, one musical, one religious. Why are there so few songs attacking political leaders in brutal terms, given that rock n’ roll is supposed to be about sticking it to the man? I can’t think of many at all, aside from some by the Clash.

Now onto the religious question. If so many people in politics are religious, then why don’t they ever talk about avoiding going to hell? As in “I have to vote for this or I am afraid I will go to hell”? That calculation enters my mind all the time, and I’m agnostic. At the very least, on my deathbed, I’d like to receive total consciousness, so I can have that going for me. Why don’t politicians seem to care about things like that?

Speaking of what assholes Senate Republicans are….Give here to the Balloon Juice Senate fund which is split between the eventual Democratic nominees in Maine, Iowa, NC, Arizona, Georgia, and Colorado and….just added Montana! Feel free to split it up however you like. And you can use a burner email, as the kids say, if you don’t want to get too much campaign email. (You can also unsubscribe.)

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Reader Interactions

143Comments

  1. 1.

    schrodingers_cat

    There are many songs in Indian languages which directly call out the rulers whether they be the British in the colonial era. The Congress under Indira Gandhi or the BJP government now

    Salam Kijiye

    Salute our masters, who have come to give an accounting of the last 5 years (elections terms are 5 years for members of the Parliament)

  2. 2.

    Elizabelle

    President Gas by the Psychedelic Furs.  (One of my favorite bands, and still touring.)

  3. 3.

    sdhays

    This is easy. Since Jesus died for our sins, we can do whatever we want and ask “forgiveness”, and we’re good.

    This is not a joke. That’s mainstream Christian doctrine.

  5. 5.

    Baud

    I think very few voters would like to hear their politicians regularly say they are voting their personal religion.  The most you get is on the conservative side where candidates advocate for policies grounded in their social religion.

  6. 6.

    kc from stl

    It’s not really rock and roll, but Eilen Jewell’s The Flood attacks political leaders in pretty brutal terms.

  7. 7.

    Another Scott

    Um, Dead Kennedys – Nazi Punks? (I’m not sure if that’s the title.)

    Hey Nazi punks
    Hey Nazi punks
    Hey Nazi punks
    FUCK OFF!

    Etc.

    They’re monsters. We have to do everything we can to vote them out.

    Thanks for this, DougJ, and for all you and the FPers do here.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  9. 9.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Clean up on aisle 2!

    Priorities and perspective:

    David Rothkopf @ djrothkopf
    Trump: “The stock market is still much higher than when I got here.” No. No, it’s not.

    Tom Nichols@RadioFreeTom
    “Because of what I did, we have 32 deaths… other countries that are smaller countries have many, many deaths.”

  11. 11.

    Citizen Alan

    Everyone’s afraid of getting “Dixie Chicked.” And Clear Channel stations probably wouldn’t give airtime to any serious protest songs. Although I’m surprised you had to go all the way back to the Clash and skipped over Rage Against the Machine. Which, arguably, was performative leftist BS that never effected any real change, but it did exist.

  12. 12.

    Marcopolo

    If you have Republican Senators call them NOW. Like immediately. Here is the email I just sent to my circle–as Missourians we have two R senators:

    The House, under the leadership of Pelosi, will be passing a Corona Virus response bill in the next day or so.  House D’s have tried to work with Senate R’s to put some kind of compromise legislation together.  However, Trump is providing no guidance to McConnell & thus Senate Rs are frozen atm.  The one thing Trump has put forward is a payroll tax cut.  Since this would not help anyone currently unemployed or who loses their job due to the virus (as well as reducing tax collection for SS) this is a no go for House Ds.  The bill Pelosi & the D House are going ahead provides for:
    – free coronavirus testing – paid emergency medical leave – extended unemployment insurance – food assistance- help for health care workers
    It will then go to the Senate. McConnell has now stated that he will not even take up this bill until after their scheduled Spring recess. The number of infected folks is doubling every 6-7 days, we are seeing the first layoffs due to the virus, and our health care system is starting to feel the strain. Even a one week delay on taking action on this is disastrous.
    Please join me today in calling our R senators & telling them we are in the middle of a national health care emergency and they need to pass this legislation now.

    The Congressional switchboard number is: (202) 224-3121

  13. 13.

    Kent

    This is a time for scorched earth.  Republicans have proven themselves incapable of governing in a crisis.  Pelosi and the Dems should not be fucking around and enabling the traditional GOP bullshit like tax cuts.  People are not choosing to avoid restaurants and travel BECAUSE THEY LACK MONEY.  They are doing it because they are afraid and are told to do those things.  Putting a few extra dollars into people’s paychecks isn’t going to bring out a wave of restaurant and travel spending.  Not until we get this virus eradicated.

    Dems should not even be considering any measures that don’t directly fight the virus.  Paid leave, medicare funding, unemployment insurance, they all help people fight or survive the virus.  The rest we can deal with later.

  14. 14.

    Frankensteinbeck

    If so many people in politics are religious, then why don’t they ever talk about avoiding going to hell?

    Because religion in American politics is almost exclusively* American evangelical Protestantism.  American evangelical Protestantism is a hate cult which centers around an obsession with other people going to Hell while the evangelical is a superior being who should not be questioned by their lessers.  The kind of question you’re proposing is not part of their mental toolkit.

    *Catholicism has pulled a strange trick of adopting evangelical discourse while pointing evangelicals at hate targets.

  15. 15.

    DougJ

    @delk:

     

    That’s a great one.  Have been thinking of making Tramp the Dirt Down a category here to be used whenever an asshole dies.

  17. 17.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    One thought occured to me recently: what if COVID-19 and the economic effects drive down voter turnout this November?

  19. 19.

    Neech

    Off the top of my head I can think of three songs that are pretty brutal attacks on political leaders:

    Bush Killa by Paris

    Police State by Agnostic Front, which includes the line “Giuliani, fuck you, die.”

    Who Shot Rudy? by Screwball

  20. 20.

    Elizabelle

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):   More vote by mail.  I think it could spur voting.  People will be desperate to punish Trump and his maladministration.

    Have you noted the numbers voting in the primaries?  People could not wait to get out there and express themselves with a vote.

  21. 21.

    The Dangerman

    Straight To Hell

    Hey, no fair, I thought this would be about Trump being in the immediate presence of that Brazilian Man who has now tested positive; I figure Trump is right behind the Dude that shot the Pope in having a “Hell Express” ticket.

  22. 22.

    p.a.

    Richard Thompson eviscerated Maggie Thatcher in Mother Knows Best.

    Kink’s Arthur or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire is pretty good.

    But both are 1,2, or 3 generations old.

  23. 23.

    natem

    pretty much the all of Green Day’s American Idiot fit the bill. Not a fan in general of their oeuvre but giving that a listen was quite cathartic back in 2004.

  28. 28.

    MCA1

    Bloc Party’s “Helicopter” was pretty clearly dragging W.  Odd that most of the examples given in the thread so far are from British musicians.

  29. 29.

    The Moar You Know

     rock n’ roll is supposed to be about sticking it to the man?

    I both play and write music and have been since the mid-1980s.  The last music I heard that had any attempts to “stick it to the man” would be Public Enemy’s Fear of a Black Planet.  Rock got co-opted, man.  Bought out because everyone couldn’t wait to sell out.  You certainly should have realized that twenty years ago when Zeppelin (what a spectacular metaphor this is) sold “Rock N’ Roll” to Cadillac for a commercial.

  30. 30.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    Missus is effectively unemployed with zero commissions for probably six months, with strangled commissions after. Last year,150K. This year, she’ll be lucky to break 20.

  31. 31.

    Renie

    We need more of the anti-war songs from the 1960s updated for today.    ie., Country Joe and the Fish,
    Crosby, Stills & Nash, Bob Dylan, Phil Ochs. Creedence Clearwater Revivial, etc. (yes I’m showing my age but most I remember from older siblings playing the songs).

  34. 34.

    Vtholder

    If you’re saved ,had a come to Jesus moment, you have a license to kill. All your sins habe been forgiven….and if you are not one of them, you’re not TRUELY a Christian. That includes almost all protestant( Episcopal, Luth eran, Methodists and Roman catholics)

    I am a lazy Episcopalian, was informed of this by a Bob Jones University student teacher. I don’t count as a Christian if not “saved by a personal relationship with Jesus”.

    Therefore, their faith in action only extends to few.

  35. 35.

    narya

    ALL of Springsteen’s “Wrecking Ball” disc. Some songs are about the effects on specific people, but a few eviscerate the folks who crashed the economy. And one song has a line that always resonates with me: “The hands that built the country we’re always trying to keep out.” And some of his concerts/live shows make explicit political commentary.

    Over time, Wrecking Ball has become my second-favorite Springsteen album (after “Darkness,” which will always have a place in my heart).

  36. 36.

    Eolirin

    King Missile put out a song that was basically just Fuck W over and over again for like 4 minutes straight

  37. 37.

    divF

    Jefferson Airplane, “Volunteers”.

    I am not endorsing it, mind you – too much inchoate talk about “revolution”.

  40. 40.

    Gin & Tonic

    Prophetic?

    Well I’m about to get sick
    From watchin’ my TV
    Been checkin’ out the news
    Until my eyeballs fail to see
    I mean to say that every day
    Is just another rotten mess
    And when it’s gonna change, my friend
    Is anybody’s guess

    So I’m watchin’ and I’m waitin’
    Hopin’ for the best
    Even think I’ll go to prayin’
    Every time I hear ’em sayin’
    That there’s no way to delay
    That trouble comin’ every day
    No way to delay
    That trouble comin’ every day

    From “Trouble Every Day”, Zappa/Mothers, 1966

  43. 43.

    MCA1

    @Citizen Alan: “Which, arguably, was performative leftist BS that never effected any real change, but it did exist.”

    I’m not quite sure what that means.  Was it performative bs because it didn’t effect real change?  Or because you think Tom Morello didn’t sincerely hold the views he expressed in their lyrics?  I mean, they were pretty revolutionary lyrics – was it performative because the band didn’t also lead actual pitchfork parades?  I’m not a huge fan of theirs (though I used to have “Know Your Enemy” on a workout playlist) and don’t follow their non-music lives – are they total sellouts or something?

  45. 45.

    The Moar You Know

    Since Jesus died for our sins, we can do whatever we want and ask “forgiveness”, and we’re good.

    This is not a joke. That’s mainstream Christian doctrine.

    @sdhays:  I would have laughed at your hyperbole, but it’s not hyperbole; it really is mainstream modern Christian doctrine.  My wife teaches high school and, as part of their mandatory education on bullying, had lectured her class on treating each other nicely, and a girl stood up and said she didn’t have to as Jesus had already forgiven her and she could do whatever she wanted to whoever she wanted.

    I’d have liked to have written that off as an isolated sociopath, but the rest of the class absolutely agreed with her.

    My wife left teaching high school last year and is in the junior high system now, and much happier.

  48. 48.

    ewrunning

    On the first question, can’t do much better than Neil Young’s “Living with War” album response to the Iraq War, especially individual cuts “Shock and Awe” and “Let’s Impeach the President (for Lyin).” I still break my copy out occasionally for nostalgic purposes.

    Looking back to my youth, check out Chicago (yes, I know Chicago) and their “A Song for Richard and his Friends.” Never got much airplay, for some strange reason.

  49. 49.

    Mike J

    Dead Kennedys wrote a song specifically attacking Jerry Brown for being a nazi.  And then turned around a few years later and made the same song about Reagan.

    This was my awakening to how stupid punk political philosophy could be.

    Bonzo goes to Bitberg was catchy though.

  51. 51.

    K488

    Going way back, the Beatles’ Tax Man, which name-checks both Wilson and Heath, prime ministers of great Britain in the late ’60’s and early ’70s.

  55. 55.

    L85NJGT

    Just watched that fail from last night, and the vibe was very much 5th grade book report, and the class dip shit who didn’t read his material slapping something together before the bell.

     

    Uh…thank you, Donnie……

  56. 56.

    Randolf Hurts

    Politicians In My Eyes by Death is maybe the best.

    Also surprised no one has mentioned Rage Against The Machine

  57. 57.

    Vtholder

    @The Moar You Know: Another bible besides KJV are often the bible of choice. Some were versions I’d never heard of. I seldom heard ANY references to The sermon on the mount, which is the basis of Christianity….many gospels of Matthew are not known and their response was,I’ll have to get back with you,when I would quote Matthew 25:31…feeding the hungry.

  59. 59.

    VOR

    “Talk Talk” from A Perfect Circle attacks politicians who offer Thoughts and Prayers to victims of gun violence. https://youtu.be/-aOyAvbj2Fg

    “You’re waiting on miracles, we’re bleeding out”. “While you deliberate, bodies accumulate”. “Sit and talk like Jesus, try walking like Jesus”.

  60. 60.

    schrodingers_cat

    OT:

    BTW I did see some of John Oliver’s bit on Modi after getting several recommendations. He was too soft on Modi, he bought into too much of the official hagiography and propaganda, I turned it off after 7 minutes.

    Modi has been a career politician and has been member of the RSS since he was 8. Toilets and the gas connections are official propaganda by a practiced liar who has the machinery of the state to perpetuate those lies. I need to see the numbers corroborated by an independent organization before I believe them.

  61. 61.

    The Dangerman

    @Calouste:

    …and most of The Final Cut album.

    Fine album; doesn’t get it’s due.

    Going back to Animals (and Pigs):

    Hey you, Whitehouse
    Ha, ha, charade you are

    Whitehouse, FWIW, is not our Whitehouse, but it fits. It was about Mary Whitehouse, who was a Conservative activist in GB.

  62. 62.

    trollhattan

    @Mike J:

    “California Uber Alles.” The Kennedys were getting their chops together for “Holiday in Cambodia” which is a poke at kneejerk lefties who were kind of enamored with the Khmer Rouge, until their horrors became more widely known.

    It was a weird time, and then suddenly we had ourselves a President Reagan. What a treat.

  63. 63.

    RandomMonster

    Neil Young with the following: “Ohio”, “Keep on Rockin’ in the Free World”

  64. 64.

    chopper

    Why are there so few songs attacking political leaders in brutal terms, given that rock n’ roll is supposed to be about sticking it to the man?

    lots of old punk rock stuff that was virulently anti-reagan, but much of it was small-time bands.

  65. 65.

    Kelly

    John Prine, Some Humans Ain’t Human

    “Some cowboy from Texas
    Starts his own war in Iraq”

  70. 70.

    arrieve

    @narya: Yes, I love Wrecking Ball.

    I just had the most semi-apocalyptic moment in a week full of bad news — I went to the post office at lunch hour and there was no line. No one there.

  74. 74.

    Baud

    Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders will win California’s Democratic primary, CNN projects, after holding a lead in the state since Election Night.

    Sanders held a wide lead at the end of Election Night counting, but his advantage over former Vice President Joe Biden has narrowed as the state continues to count votes cast by mail and provisional ballots. Biden, however, has not gained enough support in those later votes to be able to overtake Sanders in the state.

    CNN’s delegate estimate in the state currently shows Sanders winning 184 delegates to Biden’s 144, with 81 delegates left to be allocated. Six delegates in the state thus far have been estimated to go to candidates who have already dropped out of the race: Elizabeth Warren (five) and Michael Bloomberg (one).

    https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/12/politics/bernie-sanders-wins-california/index.html

  76. 76.

    Adrian Lesher

    Some political songs that have been around awhile:

    Dylan – Masters of war

    CSNY – Ohio

    Springsteen – American Skin

    NWA – Fuck the police

    Public Enemy – Fight the Power

    Clash – (White Man) In Hammersmith Palais

    Nina Simone – Missisippi Goddamn

    Pete Seeger – Which side are you on?

    A google search of “anti-trump songs” brings up quite a few.

  81. 81.

    mad citizen

    Neil: Ohio

    Elvis: Oliver’s Army, and Shipbuilding.

    Tom Waits, believe it’s called On the Road to Piece, but it has specific callouts to Mideast leaders and W.  But wasn’t timely released, coming out on his 3 disc anthology album.

     

    Believe I read it was Lennon who inserted Mr Wilson and Mr Heath into Taxman.

    Love Stevie Wonder’s You Haven’t Done Nuthin’ about tricky Dick.  Unfortunately he didn’t put it out until Nixon was leaving office.  It has the Jackson 5 singing backup vocals, and Stevies invites them in by name.

  82. 82.

    Barbara

    @Baud: People were talking before Super Tuesday as if Sanders had a good chance of getting all 400+ delegates from California, which would be hard for anyone else to recover from.  So while of course it is a victory for Sanders, I think they were hoping that it would be more lopsided.

  84. 84.

    trollhattan

    Donny’s Brazilian buddy did some sharing.

    A close aide to Brazil’s president who attended a dinner with Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago over the weekend tested positive for coronavirus.

    Fabio Wajngarten, President Jair Bolsonaro’s communications secretary, had his diagnosis confirmed by a second test on Thursday, according to a statement from the presidential palace. He was part of the presidential entourage during a trip to Florida earlier this week. Pictures posted on social media show him side-by-side with Trump, wearing a “Make Brazil Great Again” hat.

    Bolsonaro canceled his official agenda on Thursday and remains at the official residence, under medical observation.

    “The presidential medical service is adopting all preventative measures to protect the health of the president and all those who accompanied him during a recent trip to the U.S.,” the statement read.

    Asked about the news, the U.S. president said he was “not concerned.”

    “We did nothing very unusual, we sat next to each other for a period of time,” he told reporters at the White House.

    Three other high-ranking authorities accompanied Bolsonaro during his dinner with Trump: Defense Minister Fernando Azevedo; Foreign Affairs Minister Ernesto Araujo, and Institutional Security Minister Augusto Heleno.

    Before returning home, Bolsonaro minimized the coronavirus crisis in a speech to the Brazilian community in Miami. “We have a small crisis at the moment,” he said on Tuesday. “Coronavirus isn’t all that the media is talking about.”

    Funny, how they both share the same deep concern about this thing.

  86. 86.

    Barbara

    @Adrian Lesher: Phil Ochs, I Ain’t Marching Anymore.  Which is a really good song.

    Oh I marched to the battle of New Orleans
    At the end of the early British war
    The young land started growing
    The young blood started flowing
    But I ain’t marchin’ anymore
    For I’ve killed my share of Indians
    In a thousand different fights
    I was there at the Little Big Horn
    I heard many men lying
    I saw many more dying
    But I ain’t marchin’ anymore
    It’s always the old to lead us to the war
    It’s always the young to fall
    Now look at all we’ve won with the saber and the gun
    Tell me is it worth it all
    For I stole California from the Mexican land
    Fought in the bloody Civil War
    Yes I even killed my brother
    And so many others
    And I ain’t marchin’ anymore
    For I marched to the battles of the German trench
    In a war that was bound to end all wars
    Oh I must have killed a million men
    And now they want me back again
    But I ain’t marchin’ anymore
    For I flew the final mission in the Japanese sky
    Set off the mighty mushroom roar
    When I saw the cities burning
    I knew that I was learning
    That I ain’t marchin’ anymore
    Now the labor leader’s screamin’ when they close the missile plants
    United Fruit screams at the Cuban shore
    Call it, “Peace” or call it, “Treason”
    Call it, “Love” or call it, “Reason”
    But I ain’t marchin’ any more

  87. 87.

    vj

    Why are there so few songs attacking political leaders in brutal terms, given that rock n’ roll is supposed to be about sticking it to the man?

    I think people have already answered this, but it is a favorite topic of mine so I’m answering also. There are many, many songs in this vein. The issue is that these songs, and bands, rarely got any airplay outside of college radio. I’ve been more amazed when a song, or band, slips through. People have mentioned Pink Floyd and that’s a great example of a band who got plenty of airtime with less-political songs and managed to sneak some very political songs into the public consciousness. I still don’t really understand how Rage Against The Machine got as much airtime as they did in the 90’s. That was an amazing fluke.

    Here’s one that gets overlooked, and is prescient.

    Ramones – Bonzo Goes To Bitburg

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-uK0ElBMKE

  89. 89.

    cckids

    Pink’s “Dear Mr President”.  It’s a ballad, not a rocker, but pretty brutal still.

    How do you sleep while the rest of us cry?
    How do you dream when a mother has no chance to say goodbye?
    How do you walk with your head held high?
    Can you even look me in the eye
    And tell me why?
    Dear Mr. President
    Were you a lonely boy? (Are you a lonely boy?)
    Are you a lonely boy?
    (Are you a lonely boy?)
    How can you say
    No child is left behind?
    We’re not dumb, and we’re not blind
    They’re all sitting in your cells
    While you pave the road to hell

  90. 90.

    Ruckus

    @Citizen Alan:

    Clear Channel.

    The subversive media company that is a bit less obvious than faux news, but who’s entire rationale is conservative bullshit. I had to work with them when I worked in pro sports. One of the reasons I quit that job. Everyone I had to deal with in upper management was an asshole, master class.

  92. 92.

    Elizabelle

    FWIW, the Dixie Chicks’ new single is Gaslighter.  Complete with goosestepping and vintage footage.

    They made it sound like a failed personal relationship, but the lyrics fit our gaslighter in chief.  A lot.

  94. 94.

    L85NJGT

    @Barbara:

    @Baud:

    I believe the idea was to come out of there with a 200+ delegate margin and ride inevitability to the nomination.

    Best laid plans….

  95. 95.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @Mike J:

    Jello Biafra also endorse Bernie in 2016. He and the DK had interesting things to say, but they lacked perspective imo

  96. 96.

    ewrunning

    Just pulled up the lyrics to Chicago’s “A Song for Richard and his Friends” and some of them work pretty well in our present situation. Unfortunately, the song itself is way too long with an extended discordant interlude meant to simulate the sounds of the war in Indochina. Interestingly, the song predates the Watergate burglary, so it was the war that lay behind the song and the “wishing that President Nixon would quit” that was mentioned on the live recorded album track. Here are some of the lyrics.

    If you will think now, then you will see
    How you can change things
    People are waiting, turning away
    Tired of killing

    Hey now
    Will you go away
    We’re so tired
    Of things that you say

    Even though you never said word that would help anyone but yourself
    Tomorrow is such a bad dream
    Oh, bad dream
    If you stay now

    It will only get worse
    Let us pray now
    ‘Cause the truth really hurts
    Have to be a man so today with your brothers and sisters lay dying

    Tomorrow is such a bad dream
    Yeah, such a bad dream
    Listen
    Please be gone

    Go away and leave us alone
    Bring police
    Go away and leave us in peace
    Yeah

    Please be gone
    Go away and leave us alone
    Bring police
    Go away and leave us in peace

    Will you go now
    Will you take all your friends
    Woah now, If you’d stood like a man
    Even though I know that you cannot be blamed all alone for all the sadness you’ve caused

    Tomorrow is such a bad dream
    Yeah, such a bad dream
    Oh yeah, such a bad dream
    Dig it

  98. 98.

    Wapiti

    The  English Beat:  “Whine and Grine/Stand Down Margaret (Thatcher)” (thruppence just id’ed this)

    Sleater Kinney: “Combat Rock” (anti Iraq War/Bush II)

  100. 100.

    vj

    Also, anyone aware of this one:

    J Church “Ayn Rand is Dead”

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hNwJcX5Q1M

    Ayn Rand is dead, So put down your pen,
    A whole new generation, Who pointlessly defend,
    Ayn Rand is dead, And I cannot pretend,
    To embrace a greed, Of unnatural stipend

    An individual’s individual, So scared that you’ve turned cynical,
    An individual’s individual, So scared that you’ve turned cynical,
    You’ve turned cynical

    Ayn Rand is dead, She will walk again,
    ‘Til every river dies polluted, She is the undead,
    Ayn Rand is dead, But she wants revenge,
    History will march and die, Just like her in the end

  108. 108.

    tokyokie

    Mojo Nixon has always done a lot of political protest songs, whether it’s his take on Woody Guthrie’s This Land Is Your Land back in the ’80s, or, more recently, Donald Trump Can Suck My Dick. Kind of hard to miss the point of that last one.

     

    Of course, Mojo’s greatest act of political theater was his appearance on Crossfire during the debate about labeling recordings with naughty words in them. Mojo would offer cogent insight into the issue, then wander off onto a Mojo World-type rant. The pro-labeling guest looked completely befuddled, Tom Braden couldn’t stop laughing, and Pat Buchanan had extreme difficulty in calling him, “Mr. Nixon.” Greatest half-hour of TV I’ve ever seen. (See also, Frank Zappa’s congressional testimony on the issue.)

  109. 109.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @K488: And just FTR was one long complaint from George Harrison about the UK’s 95% top-bracket marginal income-tax rate (There’s one for you nineteen for me). Now that’s a rate that’d get ya singing “My Sweet Lord!”

  110. 110.

    Ruckus

    @L85NJGT:

    I think you might be giving shit for brains way too much credit. That kid could read. Didn’t, but could. That kid could possibly even think, but didn’t. These are not possibilities with shit for brains.

  113. 113.

    Joe

    Cheney’s Toy (about W) by James McMurtry.

    Lazarus (written after watching Nixon’s funeral) by James Keelaghan.

    “Lazarus come forth.

    There’s part of you we need

    to justify within ourselves

    the politics of greed.

    Knowing that the likes of you

    could die and still be mourned.

    May our sins be cleansed just as yours were.”

  114. 114.

    tokyokie

    @trollhattan:

    Can you imagine Melania’s response if she had to bunker with Donny for two weeks? She’d throw herself out of a window.

    Or, more likely, she’d defenestrate her husband.

  118. 118.

    mad citizen

    From wikipedia: In 2013, Elvis Costello and the Roots released an answer song (to Shipbuilding) written in the perspective of the other side of the Falklands conflict,  called “Cinco Minutos con Vos” (Five Minutes With You”).  A duet partly sung in Argentinian Spanish.

    How cool.

  119. 119.

    Another Scott

    I was looking at JH coronavirus map last night (it seems to be slashdotted much of the day) and decided to look a little more carefully at China. Outside Hubei there are provinces with 1000-2000 confirmed cases and maybe 1 death. Similarly with South Korea. It’s clear that this disease can be controlled without locking down cities of millions.

    But it can only be controlled with extensive testing.

    That’s where we’re failing now. There still is not enough testing. I didn’t see Biden’s remarks, but I hope he is doing what he can to light a fire under the testing people to ramp up capacity.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  120. 120.

    Noskilz

    Not sure why that seems to be – I can think of lots songs where it’s implicit or incorporated in a general thematic way; just by way of example, Bad Religion’s “American Jesus” seems like a really good snapshot of the some of the things going on then and now, the role of government in such a thing isn’t the focus, presumably because slamming the attitudes involved is. Big Country’s “flame of the west” paints a worrying picture of a demagogue, but also assumes the listener understands why that’s a problem – in its “all go together” role of government in the apocalyptic scenario described is left implicit.

    “Land of Confusion” by Genesis seems like an obvious one.  Guadalcanal Diary’s “the likes of you” might qualify, as might Fishbone’s “party at ground zero”  and World Party’s “ship of fools “ .  Maybe Men at Work’s “it’s a mistake” , but that might be more general military-industrial complex themed.  The The’s “heartland”  seems likes it’s a good fit – it’s about Britain, but quite a bit of it fits here.

    There have to be far more out there, though – the snag I kept hitting was I’d think of something and feel like it was an almost, but not quite kind of situation – like the target is often the attitudes that make awful political figures possible – and of course the nagging feeling there are all sorts of things I’m forgetting.

  121. 121.

    Exregis

    The hate in Bombs over Baghdad by John Trudell is palpable. (First Iraq war.)

    Bombs over Baghdad, Bombs over Baghdad
    Bombs over Baghdad, Dancers of Death
    Murder in the air, with the next breath
    Macho Queens selling war-makers toys
    Raining Destruction, Good Old Boys
    Death bringer In Queen George’s Eyes
    Read his lips, war-maker lies
    Religious Right’s revenging sword
    Thou shalt kill in the name of the Lord
    The Sheep and the Cattle can’t keep from milling
    Some are more than ready some aren’t willing
    Volunteering in what they’re not dying for
    The Young Republican Guard crying for war
    Free speech as free as its thought
    Controlled behavior reacts as its taught
    Fighting for Peace can’t comprehend
    Hate out of love is violent pretense

    Bombs Over Baghdad, Bombs Over Baghdad
    Bombs Over Baghdad, Bombs Over Baghdad
    Vampires drinking blood and oil cocktails
    Their violence works it hardly ever fails
    When blind man can’t see he believes blind
    Blind obedience is the child of mindless minds

    New world order is an old world lie
    Fighting for peace, see how they die
    Dragging in God, as they turn violent
    God says nothing, he just remains silent

  123. 123.

    karensky

    Rage Against the Machine:   Take the Power Back, Killing in the Name of, Bulls on Parade

    CSNY:  Let’s Impeach the President

  124. 124.

    Taken4Granite

    The reason you seldom hear songs sticking it to the Man is no mystery. Peter, Paul and Mary had that pegged back in 1968 with “I Dig Rock and Roll Music”:

    But if I really say it

    The radio won’t play it

    Unless I lay it between the lines

  125. 125.

    Brachiator

    Lots of great songs. The songs of Gil Scot Heron, Marvin Gaye’s entire album “What’s Going On.”

    One of the most fierce political songs is and always will be “Compared to What,” performed by Les McCann and Eddie Harris.

    Roberta Flack’s version continues to be quiet fire.

    The president he’s got his war

    Folks don’t know just what it’s for

    Nobody gives us a rhyme or reason

    Have one doubt, they call it treason

    More recent, OutKast Bombs over Baghdad

    Shit, a whole fucking chunk of black music in America, from the beginning of time to tomorrow.

  126. 126.

    Fair Economist

    @Elizabelle:

    FWIW, the Dixie Chicks’ new single is Gaslighter. Complete with goosestepping and vintage footage.

    They made it sound like a failed personal relationship, but the lyrics fit our gaslighter in chief. A lot.

    Exactly what they did in “Not Ready to Make Nice”.

    Once upon a time, lyrics with strong meanings on multiple levels were considered to be high art.

  127. 127.

    Brachiator

    Weird. An attempt at a post got ate up by the Internet Gods.

    Quick attempt at repost of political songs

    Gil Scot Heron, Marvin Gaye’s entire album, “What’s Going On.”

    The fierce and magnificent “Compared to What,” performed by Les McCann and Eddie Harris, or the quiet fire version by Roberta Flack

    Outkast, “Bombs over Baghdad.”

  129. 129.

    tokyokie

    @trollhattan

    I take it she’s been working out, then? ;-)

    I figure she’ll just leave a Bic Mac on the window sill, then, when he’d taken the bait, take a running start at his fat ass.

  130. 130.

    jc

    Musicians attacking politicians: Tim Minchin, Randy Newman, Phil Ochs, Tom Lehrer, Ramones (Bonzo Goes to Bitburg) …

  131. 131.

    Ella in New Mexico

    @Citizen Alan

    Everyone’s afraid of getting “Dixie Chicked.”

    What, winning only 5 Grammy’s and having a 2x’s Platinum album  as a glorious act of “Just Universe Karma” is a bad thing now?

    I’d take being Dixiechicked any day. Maybe then I’d end up being able to pay off my student loan debt. :-D

  132. 132.

    Death Panel Truck

    If so many people in politics are religious, then why don’t they ever talk about avoiding going to hell? As in “I have to vote for this or I am afraid I will go to hell”?

    They don’t believe in any of that crap they espouse. If they did, they would never have allowed Trump to be elected president.

    Their religious doctrine is C.R.E.A.M.

  134. 134.

    John Revolta

    I see Elvis C’s curb-stomp of Thatcher and Randy N’s hit-job on Nixon (“Maybe you’re cheatin’/Maybe you’re lyin’/Maybe you have lost your mind”) have been mentioned. I’d like to add J.B. Lenoir’s “Eisenhower Blues” to the mix, a rare blues that calls out The Man by name.

  135. 135.

    Sloane Ranger

    @sdhays: Probably either dead thread or someone has already pointed this out, but I was taught at Sunday school that God’s forgiveness was dependent upon,

    1. Genuine repentance, and

    2. Trying not to repeat the sin.

  136. 136.

    LongHairedWeirdo

    Why don’t Republicans think they’re going to hell? You have to understand, Evangelical Jesus didn’t say “you guys – when I was hungry, you fed me;  thirsty, you gave me drink; in need of clothing or a roof over my head, you sheltered me; in prison, or sick, you visited me. Come join me in paradise!

    “Now, you yobos – you saw me hungry, and said “he ain’t working, so no food stamps! Thirsty, you flipped me off while putting lead in my water; in need of clothing, or a roof over my  head, you scorned me as a worthless homeless person; in prison, or sick, and you made sure I understood you didn’t give a damn. You ain’t getting  in.”

    Nope; Evangelical Jesus didn’t say  “Whatsoever you do, to the least of my people, that you do unto me.” It’s easy when you don’t have to care about your source material!

    I’m a universalist – I don’t believe a god can be called loving, if they’ll impose eternal torment for failures in a life infinitesimally short by eternity’s standards. But I do hope they at least are forced to confront the evil they did, in most cases, by just looking the other way, when they had the power to act.

  137. 137.

    Zinsky

    Steve Earle skewered Reagan in the song “Snake Oil” and pretty clearly was aiming at George W. Bush in the song “Rich Man’s War”.

    Your question about why Christians don’t worry about going to Hell presupposes that this type of person thinks at all…

  139. 139.

    LongHairedWeirdo

    @Sloane Ranger: Doctrine varies; the fundamentalists I’ve heard speak about this say that Jesus paid all of the price for our sins, and we need only accept his sacrifice and *bam* – all sins forgiven.

    The notion that “we are all sinners in the eyes of God” is not used any longer, I’d imagine, because if you believe that, you’re stuck believing “I’m no better than that gay person; we’re both sinners.” That’s no way to forge a political movement!

    I was raised Catholic, and we believed that confessing and doing penance would remove the costs of prior sins, but if you couldn’t go to confession, making an act of perfect contrition – repenting because you love God – it will put you in a state of grace sufficient to keep you out of hell, which means you get to heaven, after you hit purgatory (where you pay for any sins not confessed, etc.).

    It’s true that most “life religions” – those that intend to have you wanting to change how you live – would have conditions like you mention (sincere repentance and a desire to do better); but it’s vital to remember that, for the most part, evangelicals are *not* participating in a life  religion, but a political movement.

  140. 140.

    GRpop

    Indie rock gods Superchunk made a whole protest album about Donnie in early 2018 – What a Time to be Alive

    It’s really good!

  142. 142.

    The Golux

    Way too late as usual, but Richard Thompson rips Trump pretty hard on “Fergus Laing”.

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