8-4-08 Silly Season – We the Happy Proletariat Adore Our Fearless Leader, Part III

Sigh. Wish I got to Bomb Iran first, Shanoah.

But nothing can bring me down today. Nope, I’m happy as a pig wallowing in my own dinner and doo doo.

Why?

Because John Rich’s Raising McCain is up! Now lie back and relax, baby, and let the smoooove soul of John Rich’s Raising McCain take over and treat you raht, courtesy of that fahn, fahn lady IslandGurl2286. Aw yeaaaaaah, it’s funk and it’s funkalicious.

Oh-kay. Maybe it’s not funkalicious.

I’m an English major, so let’s analyze – deconstruct, as it were, and preferably with a wrecking ball – Raising McCain. First, Rich treats us to these stirring and stunningly creative lyrics:

We’re all just raising McCain
Yeah, we’re all just raising McCain
You can get on the train or get out of the way
We’re all just raising McCain

I hope he didn’t strain himself thinking those lines up. Oh, and if you don’t catch these lines the first time, don’t worry, you’ll have ample opportunity to catch them again. Trust me.

Then there’s some stuff about McCain being “shot down in a Vietnam town”, like the Vietnam War was nothing more than the gunfight at the OK Corral, and his being held as a POW in the Hanoi Hilton. I can’t help but think that Rich gives this rather important episode in McCain’s life remarkably short shrift – two stanzas worth, if my count is right. It’s an even more glaring oversight because, besides a catchy refrain, that’s the entire song.

Anyhoo, we reprise the refrain again, and again. And again. And, just in case you haven’t figured out yet that we’re all just raising McCain and you have the option of either getting out of the way or getting on the train (which actually scans better than Rich’s lyrics, I think)… AGAIN.

That’s it. Nothing about McCain’s policies or why you should vote for him, other than the fact that he’s a “real man”. (I’ll say it before and I’ll say it again: Bush was supposed to be a real man, and look where he got us) In Rich’s defense, I don’t think he was informed of McCain’s policies and, judging by some of the comments he’s made lately, neither has McCain.

In other words, Raising McCain is basic hoot-and-holler Top 40 country music. But instead of being about how the singer is damn proud to be a redneck even though he can’t see the nearest backroad or trailer park from his Nashville condo and would probably be eaten alive in a real roadhouse, it’s all about how we’re all raising McCain. And raising him again. And again. And again. Rich obviously hasn’t heard about the 22nd Amendment to the United States Constitution.

I really don’t know why this song gets me riled up.  Raising McCain is inoffensive pap. You can practically hear the cashier going kaCHING every time Rich says “McCain”. And he’s trying so hard to piss us rich city-slickers off with his bad boy attitude (a bad boy who just happens to vote Republican. Uh huh). It’s true that he’s pissed off one: me. But instead of demoralizing me, I’m even more fired up to get Barack Obama elected. I mean, if this is all McCain stands for…

Maybe it’s so abrasive because it’s nothing more than Top 40 country and western, which is the antithesis of all that is right and good in the world. Gimme something from Cash or either Guthrie any day, grumble grumble. (Woody would’ve written a kick-ass campaign song for McCain, assuming of course that he would’ve even voted for McCain)

You know what? I actually prefer Politics as Usual, the song that Ludacris wrote for Obama. I mean, it’s just as stupid as Raising McCain, but at least Ludacris sounds fired up (and off his meds, but that’s another matter). Rich just sounds like he’s cashing a paycheck.

And I think that illustrates a real difference in the two candidates. One’s tapioca pudding and the other’s hot sauce. Which do you really think we need to fix Bush 43’s messes?

(Oh, and I have to thank Shanoah for giving me the heads-up on this song… but not this particular video. It felt kinda wrong using a video by iLoveJohnRich to rag on a song by John Rich)

Silly Season – Bombing Frankenstein

Oh, that was just that *I* wanted to take a break from politics for a day. Especially since music was coming a lot easier then politics at the time.

As a warning, today seems to be a bit of a beat up on McCain day. And we’ll start with this clip.

It got him some flack, and deservedly so:

Bomb Iran

His response when questioned on it was, incidentally, “Get a life.”. That hasn’t prevented others from expanding on it, naturally:

Bomb Iran (Alex Arrowsmith)

His website has “I may be the lunatic you’re looking for” on it. I knew there was something I liked about him…

And, yes, I must admit, I generally support not bombing people. Except when necessary, anyways. (Going after Iraq because of terrorist attacks from people in a different country doesn’t qualify, incidentally.)

Now, Frankenstein has come up before in this blog, and that makes featuring this verbal slip of McCains all the more appropriate:

McCain is “Older then Frankenstein”

McCain is older then Frankenstein. (or is that older then his monster?) So, does that peg him as one of the elder gods?

Contrary to this thought, it’s been suggested that he actually in a new breed of monster, McCainenstein:

McCainenstein!

Got a few laughs out of that one. And don’t worry. If I find a few good clips that Obama deserves to be beat about the shoulders about, I’ll be glad to post them.

But McCain just makes it so easy…

8-3-08 Silly Season – We The Happy Proletariat Adore Our Fearless Leader, Part II

Well, Shanoah, I can’t take a break from the politics just yet. I actually wanted to get these in yesterday’s post, but not finding that Raising McCain song kinda forced me to put it in a separate one.

You may actually know the name Brian Dewan, Shanoah. He’s worked with, among others, They Might Be Giants, Sesame Street and Blue Man Group. But he’s also done solo work… including today’s neat things.

Now, they occasionally play this funkalicious paean to Jimmy Carter on WFMU called Jimmy Carter Says Yes. If you think Raising McCain and Politics as Usual are good… dude, you have not lived until you’ve heard Waskey Elwood Walls, Jr.’s Jimmy Carter Says Yes.

Now, I couldn’t find more than a snippet of Walls’ version of Jimmy Carter Says Yes… but I did find Brian Dewan, in full-on deadpan Rotarian mode (complete with a nice red blazer), and his autoharp.

All of these are courtesy of anableps.

But wait! There’s more.

Imagine my delight when I discovered that Dewan has done other political songs! F’rinstance, here’s Dewan on the keyboard acordion with the stirring Buckle Down with Nixon. Needless to say, the Democrat song sounded funky, while the Republican song sounds… Republican.

But Sean! you ask. Can it get… any… BETTER? And I respond oh mais oui it can! Here’s Dewan on the acordion again with Vote for Newman, a song for that dark horse outsider who’s not interested in beltway politics or special interest groups or elitist personal hygiene, a man who’s works you’ve read and admired, that’s right…

Alfred E. Newman.