September 28, 2009

"Now watch what you say or they'll be calling you a radical, liberal, fanatical, criminal."

"Won't you sign up your name, we'd like to feel you're acceptable, respectable, presentable, a vegetable!"

32 comments:

Jason (the commenter) said...

If you just took out the "liberal" part it would be an anti-liberal song.

See how far they've come!

nbks said...

the sound of this song has always made me sad.

peacelovewoodstock said...

Song lyric? I thought it was just a clip from a speech by Mark Lloyd.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

We see today how the political divisions in the U.S., especially, seem more determined by habits of style, both personal and intellectual, than any reasoned political differences. You have the well-known bicoastal elites, and the yahoos of flyover country at each others' throats, much to the poisonous detriment of our increasingly dreary politics. The actual divisions of interest ought to break down differently, but "lifestyle" distinctions help keep people in a state of irrational ferment, for the benefit of whom is a question far beyond a short blog post about 17th century ballet scenes.

http://quietevening.blogspot.com/2009/09/le-roy-danse.html

MadisonMan said...

I (heart) Supertramp.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

btw ..

Althouse admits she listens to Pop... details at 11 ;)

The Crack Emcee said...

Supertramp. They're a bunch of cop-outs. I love the sound but can't stand the lyrics - all of it, bogus as all-get-out:

"Now I know that what you say/ is the undisputed truth/but I have to do things my own way/to keep me in my youth."

Got to go against "the undisputed truth"? Liberal hogwash. I hate 'em. The fact their message is almost everywhere should be condemned. Run 'em out of town with a shotgun. Get 'em off the airwaves. Just keep 'em away from me.

The Macho Response

Bushman of the Kohlrabi said...

I always thought Foghat was a much better band.

Henry said...

When I see talking points show up here and there and on my friend's Facebook posts as well, it reminds me of Steve Martin's nonconformist oath:

Now let's repeat the non-conformists' oath: I promise to be different! I promise to be unique! I promise not to repeat things other people say! Good!

His grandmother's song seems appropriate as well to social media:

Be pompous, obese, and eat cactus,
Be dull, and boring, and omnipresent,
Criticize things you don't know about,
Be oblong and have your knees removed.

Ann Althouse said...

Jeez, Crack. What makes you happy? I'd really like to know.

Triangle Man said...

Crack may just be a crank. A sub-set of the list of the 12 most annoying types of Facebookers is applicable to blog commenters as well.

Bender R said...

I hadn't heard Supertramp in about 15 years, ever since the move from LP to CD and the subsequent breakdown of my turntable.

But then I heard them on this radio station in D.C. And then I heard them again a short time later. And again, and again and again.

I must have heard Supertramp a couple dozen times in the last six months. I guess that station only has about seven records that it plays over and over and over.

Anonymous said...

So many of these British bands are the guilt and angst-ridden products of the strict British school system, and the unavoidable daily condemnation and oppression that came from growing up under Peerage.

"Hey! Teacher! Leave those kids alone!"

".....they'll be calling you radical...."

"All in all you're just another brick in the wall."

Ann Althouse said...

When does Crack crack a smile?

Fred4Pres said...

What what they say or they will be calling you an REO Speedwagon fan.

I am sure you can catch them on tour at your closest Indian casino!

themightypuck said...

Quayle,

You forgot

Belligerent fools run Manchester schools
Spineless swine. Cemented minds.

...
He does the military two step down the nape of my neck
...

Der Hahn said...

Contrarians take their direction from the crowd, too.

Fred4Pres, I resemble that remark .. (Styx, too!)

miller said...

Well of course you watch what you say -- you're a blogginghead on TV.

Or am I missing the point?

Anonymous said...

Chris - ah, the Smiths. Headmaster Ritual.

Radiohead covered that song, and said it was about when they went to school, but they didn't write it.

Anonymous said...


The Flaming Lips: Free Radicals

themightypuck said...

America seems to have a romantic conception of high school by comparison even though from what I hear, state run schools are by and large abysmal and resemble prisons. In England you get Tom Brown's Schooldays and If.. here you get Fast Times at Ridgemont High and Prom (although there is Heathers in the mix and the whole horror genre).

chickelit said...

IMO, Supertramp were better at expressing contrition on the part of the Left regarding their treatment of Winston Churchill. See for example Fool's Overture:


Called the man a fool, striped him of his pride
Everyone was laughing up until the day he died
And though the wound went deep
Still hes calling us out of our sleep
My friends, were not alone
He waits in silence to lead us all home
.

bluemoonpaul said...

I love Supertramp, a long-time fan.

With "Fool's Overture," I always thought they were referring to Jesus, but chickenlittle has an interesting Churchill take.

As far as Brits and school goes, one can't leave out The Beatles. From "Getting Better":

"I used to get mad at my school
The teachers who taught me weren't cool
You're holding me down, turning me round
Filling me up with your rules"

chickelit said...

Writ larger, they could have been referring to Jesus too. But there are several overt reference to Churchill in the beginning IIRC. Anyway, that's what I always thought they were getting at, British pride and all that.

wv: "avist" (I guess some people might think I'm one)

themightypuck said...

When Supertramp says liberal it doesn't mean what people in the US think it means.

Henry said...

With Fool's Overture I couldn't figure who the hell they were talking about. They could have been talking about Benjamin Disraeli for all the sense the lyrics make.

Synova said...

"When Supertramp says liberal it doesn't mean what people in the US think it means."

True enough. I can never remember what it *does* mean though.

On the whole, though, I try not to pay too much attention to pop song lyrics. Sometimes they're unavoidable. But really, they're the political and social equivalent to "pop" religious music and doctrine. Lord help us if we take the "message" and attempt to apply it to our lives with any sort of attention to detail. Look to close and generally it's appalling... the doctrine in the modern religious songs and the social or political commentary in the pop songs. "It can't be wrong, if it feels so right?" Egad.

I liked the song Althouse quoted so long as it's taken very superficially as a call to free speech and honesty.

Cedarford said...

Synova - Sometimes the lyrics are the absolute best part of the pop song. The contrast between the Brits and Americans was maybe that the Brit lyrics were generally more thoughtful, even poetic....but in the USA we had our Dylans, Paul Simons, Bruce Springsteens that did their own lyrics and had timeless thoughts of true resonance and meaning across generations.

I was a kid of the 80s, not a teen of the 60s. But I musically have always preferred the ~1960-1980~ era over any other 20-year stretch in music.

The Crack Emcee said...

Dear Ann,

What makes me smile? After the last 5 years of being 100% correct - but being told I'm wrong in the most rude fashions imaginable (even today, by people who claim to love me) while having my life upended, my credibility destroyed, and my livelihood (music) interrupted - after my wife killed three people and I was forced, by circumstance, to divorce her - and all because I'm "a man", I'm "too macho", abandoned liberalism, and have no tolerance for cultism of any kind (the hottest post-60s ticket going today besides socialism) - what truly makes me smile are all "big picture" items, that continue to prove I've been 100% correct all along, whether anyone will admit it or not. Here we go:

The resurgence of conservatism after enduring liberals smugly announcing, after the election of Obama, it was dead - forever. I knew it was a lie, and said so, and time is proving me correct. That makes me "happy".

Popular music right now is too conventional to be of any interest, but I like driving, anywhere, with my iPod playing really loud.

I love to see a baby's smile.

Nobody seriously thinking of Obama - or thankfully anyone else - as a "magic negro" anymore is heartening. Don't get me started on how insulting, stupid (and, in this case, delusional) Americans can appear, to me, regarding my race - something I've come to regard, in almost all cases, as either a joke or a non-subject. I never could stand signs of insanity, but being introduced to mass delusion (through the popularity of NewAge "beliefs" to political cultism) all at once was a massive dose of disillusionment that I was forced to swallow and I don't like it. NewAge, alone, has made it so I don't know if I'll ever see life as "good" ever again. Instead, I now understand how the French Revolution became the bloodbath that it did, how the Holocaust happened, and even The People's Temple massacre. I want it over with, and I'll be "happy" when my country decides - actively decides - to stop this love affair with delusional thinking and act against it's, by now, well-worn and well-known tendencies. O.K.:

Good Jazz makes me "happy".

ACORN getting busted - BIG TIME!!! Yep, I told you so, and I'm "happy" to be right about them too.

Displays of moral courage, unconscious laughter, ingenuity, physical bravery, and unvarnished beauty, all make me "happy".

The Crack Emcee said...

Believe it or not, seeing George W. Bush makes me happy (no quotes). I think he was a great president - Mount Rushmore great - and I think time will tell there, too. I identify with him being wrongly, and continuously, accused - while trying to do the right thing, which, almost always, is the toughest thing to do in trying times. His stoicism is admirable, under the circumstances, but not as awe-inspiring as his graciousness regarding those to have fallen away. In my opinion, George W. Bush is a classy guy - with a true American character - and I'm glad he was president when he was.

I like to shoot pool, play racquetball, ping-pong, and go sailing with my friends.

Cultists, like "homeopath" Thomas Sam, and his wife, getting some attention can make me, at least, smile. But come on, y'all: What caused those two loving parents - one fancied as a type of physician - to kill their kid? Get serious about the question: Who held sway (and with what ideas) over their critical thinking skills? And how does that happen? Is it also happening to you? One day, maybe, the story of me, my ex-wife, and the man who led her into the same form of murder as the Sam's, along with making mayhem out of my life, will be told - that'd make me (kinda) "happy" as well. What I know - it's gotta get told: Starting out as a foster child, I've got a lot of wild stories to tell - even amongst people with great tales of their own - but, to me, this is one of the great fucking jaw-dropping stories of our time. How I've been turned into Bigger Thomas - in real life! (When all I wanted was a Pepsi,...)

Anytime solipsism is exposed I smile.

Anytime a terrorist is jailed I smile.

Anytime a hippy icon dies - taking their lame, misguided, and destructive ideas with them - I smile.

Anytime a guru dies - taking their lame, misguided, and destructive ideas with them - I smile.

I'll grin from ear to ear when Scientology, The Landmark Forum, the "Maharishi" empire, The Esalon Institute, etc., go broke from a lack of interest and/or open hostility.

I'll be glad when Americans stop taking concepts like "karma" seriously.

I'll laugh at almost anything on The Cartoon Channel's Adult Swim. Between it and (the totally commie) Wondershowzen, one night of watching can get you a more informative profile on contemporary American politics, the American people, and the American character, than watching every episode of The Daily Show and The Colbert Report combined. They're funnier, and more honest, too. They make me smile.

The opening scene of Inglorious Basterds got me going.

And I love fried chicken.

Revenant said...

I like Supertramp. And REO Speedwagon, and Journey, and Foreigner. And I'm not the least bit ashamed of it. :)

sonicfrog said...

I second what Cedarford said. I am a HUGE lyrics fan. I can get around great musicianship or good catchy songwriting with so-so lyrics (see Toto or maybe Genesis), but I LOVE a band that pays attention to the words. A favorite artist in this regard would be Neil Finn of Crowded House / Split Enz fame. Great lyricist. Supertramp wrote some pretty good lyrics, but if I'm gonna point to a favorite from England, that would have to be the team of Glenn Tilbrook / Chris Difford from Squeeze. God, Funny, insightful, and tons of English colloquialisms. Great musicians too! Tilbrook is a fantastic guitarist.

And since I'm going on about English colloquialisms....