6.05.2006

right side of the dial

I've always been surprised - and flattered - to find wmtc on the blogroll of The DCeiver, who writes cogently and entertainingly about music, politics and Washington DC, among other topics. The Deceiver recently unfurled a series of excellent music-and-politics posts that kept me chuckling throughout the day.

From the intro:
The National Review unloaded a summer's worth of cognitive dissonance on the world last week by identifying what they consider to be the Fifty Greatest Conservative Rock Songs of all time. Looking at the list, it's hard to say whether the adjective "greatest" is meant to modify the conservativeness of the songs or the rockingness of the songs. I'm left to conclude, mainly, that it chiefly refers to the level of wishful thinking going on.
The Deceiver then goes on to skewer the entire list, song by song: first, in Through A List, Dubiously, then in Part Two. Did you know "Won't Get Fooled Again" is a conservative anthem? Surprised, eh? I was, too!

And finally, DCeiver offers you the opportunity of your very own to make your own list of conservative rock songs.
As shown by the National Review, it takes only a few ingredients to turn that rebel rock song you've been pissing your parents off with into a down-home paean to the redistribution of a nation's wealth into the hands of degenerate fatcats. All it takes is the following:
1. Extreme cognitive dissonance.
2. The willingness to ignore anything fact-esque.
3. The ability to discard the truth of an author's intent while savoring the delicate morsel of truthiness you manage to construct.
I have only two (very minor) questions for Mr DC. Has he really never heard Bob Dylan's song "Neighborhood Bully" or "My City Was Gone" by the Pretenders? Seems hard to believe he missed both, but then, the Dylan canon is large, and not everyone loves Chrissie Hynde as much as I do. In any case, take my word for it: Chrissie was not lecturing on urban planning. She was just saying, "I went back to Ohio ... and my city was gone." You know how it can be.

Go take a look, it's great stuff.

10 comments:

barefoot hiker said...

Oh, man, I remember My City Was Gone; it was the B side of Back On the Chain Gang, when we still had 45s. Ay, oh, way to go, Ohio... :) I still love both those songs.

deang said...

Just to give you an idea of how serious right-wingers are about learning lyrics and understanding content, Ann Coulter once walked on stage to the accompaniment of The Guess Who's "American Woman" - you know, the one that includes the line, "I don't need your war machine." And a Canadian group at that! Apparently, the right wingers only listened to the chorus and ignored the verses. But US right-wingers think everything is based on belief as opposed to facts, so if they believe their interpretations of the songs to be true, well, there's no dissuading them. I've only ever listened to tiny snippets of Rush Limbaugh (usually unwillingly), but does he really intro his show with "My City Was Gone"? I can't believe Chrissie Hynde would let that happen. I've always like her, too, even more so once I learned she's a serious animal rights, environmental activist.

barefoot hiker said...

I guess Ann didn't listen to it much beyond the first line. The second (and repeated) line is, "stay away from me". :)

laura k said...

I can't believe Chrissie Hynde would let that happen. I've always like her, too, even more so once I learned she's a serious animal rights, environmental activist.

Chrissie was my first female crush. I always loved her stage persona - and I think she's so hot - and then she turned out to be a committed activist... oh boy.

The Coulter / American Woman thing is too funny. And they say irony is dead.

allan said...

My City Was Gone:

I Went Back To Ohio
But My Pretty Countryside
Had Been Paved Down The Middle
By A Government That Had No Pride


Lyrics to the Dylan song are here. Weird he doesn't know it, since it was released on what was hailed as Dylan's best album of the 1980s.

laura k said...

Let's be fair - I didn't know some of the songs on his list, either.

"A government that had no pride..." In the 80s, yes? Hmm.

barefoot hiker said...

Chrissie was my first female crush.

Mine was Rae Dawn Chong as Ika in Quest for Fire... easily the most beautiful thing about Canada. :) A friend of mine sent me the DVD for my birthday a couple of years ago, and she and Ron Perlman (who was Amoukar in the movie) do a running commentary that is absolutely hilarious and in some places, rather risque... all the while, highly informative about what they were going through shooting the movie. Really worth a look.

James Redekop said...

Lists like this play up a current trend in us/them politics: "Anything that touches on A, B, C is us, because them are all not-A, not-B, and not-C".

Won't Get Fooled Again -- us don't trust government, them want government to control everything. Therefore, any song about not trusting government is an us song.

Did they notice who was trusting who in the 60s?

Taxman -- us hate taxes, and them adore taxes and think everyone should be taxed 100%. Therefore, any song about not liking taxes is an us song.

Etc.

And it's not jsut this list... I came across another example just yesterday, though I don't remember the details. Someone saying, flat out, that "Such-and-such is an inherently conservative activity, because it involves individuality, which the left hates." (I can't remember what such-and-such was, though.)

laura k said...

"Such-and-such is an inherently conservative activity, because it involves individuality, which the left hates."

I've heard or read that lately, too. It could be anything - spending time with your family, saving money, planning a wedding. I guess anything other than attending an anti-war demo or burning the flag is conservative.

James Redekop said...

I think that American Woman captures my feelings on Ann Coulter perfectly well:

American woman, stay away from me
American woman, mama let me be
Don’t come hangin’ around my door
I don’t wanna see your face no more
I got more important things to do
Than spend my time growin’ old with you
Now woman, I said stay away,
American woman, listen what I say.

American woman, get away from me
American woman, mama let me be
Don’t come knockin’ around my door
Don’t wanna see your shadow no more
Coloured lights can hypnotize
Sparkle someone else’s eyes
Now woman, I said get away
American woman, listen what I say.

American woman, said get away
American woman, listen what I say
Don’t come hangin’ around my door
Don’t wanna see your face no more
I don’t need your war machines
I don’t need your ghetto scenes

Coloured lights can hypnotize
Sparkle someone else’s eyes
Now woman, get away from me
American woman, mama let me be.

Go, gotta get away, gotta get away
Now go go go
Gonna leave you, woman
Gonna leave you, woman
Bye-bye
Bye-bye
Bye-bye
Bye-bye
You’re no good for me
I’m no good for you
Gonna look you right in the eye.
Tell you what I’m gonna do
You know I’m gonna leave
You know I’m gonna go
You know I’m gonna leave
You know I’m gonna go, woman
I’m gonna leave, woman
Goodbye, American woman
Goodbye, American chick
Goodbye, American broad ...