My first ever LP was a CCR album. I of course bought it for the music then, when the hippies were making their runs through India and Nepal smoking a lot of ganja and hash.
Cheers, Anthony On Tue, Jul 29, 2008 at 6:17 PM, Jim Devine <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Since I was driving a rent-a-car around in a bad radio zone > (northeastern Connecticut) this weekend, I bought the album "Revival" > by John Fogerty. I was amazed how political it was (though his old > group, Creedence Clearwater Revival, was pretty strong against the > Vietnam war and "fortunate sons" who could dodge service in it). > > Not only does it have a song about the 1967 "Summer of Love" and some > hippie-ish sentiments in "Natural Thing," but it has some > anti-establishmentarian songs. In "It Ain't Right," Fogerty writes: > > "There goes your big black limousine / > Shaking your booty for the magazine / > Peekin' and posin' like a wannabe / ... > Maybe you forgot how we live down here / > People work hard for the money dear / > You had such a hard day lookin' at the mirror /..." > > Then there's an anti-war song, "I can't take it no more": > > "[chorus] I can't take it no more [2x] / > Sick and tired of your dirty little war / > I can't take it no more / > > "You know you lied about the casualties / > You know you liked about the WMDs [what a rhyme!] / > You know you lied about the Detainees / > All over this world / ..." > > And there's a clearly anti-Bush song, "Long Dark Night": > > "Georgie's in the jungle / > Knockin' on the door / > Come to get your children / > Wants to have a war / > > "[chorus] Come on / > Lord You Better Run / > Be a Long Dark Night / > Before this thing is done / > > "Brownie's in in the out house / > Katrina on the line / > Gulf is a disaster / > But Georgie says it's fine. / > > [repeat chorus] > > "Rummie's in the kitchen / > Messin' with the pans / > Dickie's in the back / > Stealin' everything he can /..." > > Next, there are two of what I think of as "utopian liberal" songs, in > the vein of John Lennon's "Imagine." In "Don't You Wish It Was True," > Fogerty writes: > > "What if tomorrow / > Everyone was your friend / > Anyone could take you in / > No matter what or where you been / > > "What if tomorrow / > Everybody had enough / > The world wasn't quite so rough / > Lord don't you wish it was true /..." > > In "River is Waiting," he writes: > > "... A new day is dawning / > Come rise up / > > "We be sailin' at the first light / > Come gather /..." > > Finally, in "Gunslinger," we see the internal contradiction in all of > these sentiments: > > "This used to be a peaceful place / > Decent folks hardworkin' ways / > Now they hide behind locked doors / > Afraid to speak their mind / > > "[chorus:] I think we need a gunslinger / > Somebody tough to tame this town / > I think we need a gunslinger / > There'll be justice all around /..." > > The "town" is clearly a metaphor for the US, which Fogerty says needs > to be cleaned up by a gunslinger. But Bush himself portrays himself as > a kind of gunslinger, complete with folksy diction and cowboy > language. Do we really need another Savior, John? Is Obama [the > presumed Savior] really going to clean house? > > Of course, how important this music is depends on (1) how popular it > is and (2) the extent to which it sways popular opinion. I don't think > it's more than preaching to the converted, despite its revived > Creedence style. (It won't be very popular, since it's not pop and > it's not hip-hop.) Still, maybe it's a sign of the times, the general > disgust that people have toward Bush and his cronies. By the way, I > liked the music a lot, but then again I've always been a CCR fan. > -- > Jim Devine / "Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti." (Go your own > way and let people talk.) -- Karl, paraphrasing Dante. > _______________________________________________ > pen-l mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l > -- xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Anthony P. D'Costa Professor of Indian Studies Asia Research Centre Copenhagen Business School Porcelaenshaven 24, 3 DK-2000 Frederiksberg Denmark Email:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Ph: +45 3815 2572 Fax: +45 3815 2500 xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
