Pick a song that labels the US now

[vercetti2021]

Hard to not figure out which Disturbed song fits it now

[tonyt53]

1. Sunshine - Jonathan Edwards. From before when most of you were born.

[tonyt53]

7. Or how about "Tin Soldier"? I think it was recorded by a group called Small Faces.

[JenniferJuniper]

25. It was. Fronted by a very young Steve Marriott.

Their best tune.

[True Dough]

2. This one!

[cbreezen]

3. Norah Jones - My Dear Country. nt

[EndGOPPropaganda]

4. Is there a song called "GOP Billiionaire Propaganda"?

[BigmanPigman]

5. Too many to list here.

[neeksgeek]

6. Posting this with some hope...

[TDale313]

8. Yep yep yep.

[thucythucy]

11. I've always disliked this song.

To me it represents the whole "both parties are the same" bullshit, so I'll just kick back and play my guitar and not bother to get involved.

It's a great sound, but I've always been turned off by the lyrics.

[neeksgeek]

19. I'm ambivalent... I see your point.

I think they were writing this as the 60s drew to a close, and the societal revolution that was expected didn’t come to pass, at least, not completely. Vietnam raged on... Not really about politics and parties as much as violent revolution. The lyrics to the song say as much. And it’s something you see in history over and over, in those situations ... so for example, Napoleon starts out as a leader of the French Revolution, and eventually has himself declared emperor. And is eventually defeated.

Amyway I hope that the people Trump has deluded are wise to him now, and won’t get fooled again.

[thucythucy]

70. Yeah, I see that too. And understand the kind of disillusionment they're talking about.

Also, as I said, it's a great song in terms of craft, musicianship, a real rock'n'roll classic.

But the "Meet the new boss, same as the old boss," and "The party on the left is now the party on the right" wasn't even true in the late '60s early '70s. My first ever political campaign was McGovern '72 (I wasn't even voting age but went to the Democratic National Convention in 'Miami Beach--the McGovern victory party at the Doral Hotel is still the best party I've ever been to!) and I ran into lots of "McGovern is a war monger same as Nixon" BS from "radical" young people, very smug in their radicalism. So when this song came out and I heard the lyrics I went, "Ugh!" Particularly since Townshend by that time was a multi-millionaire for whom differences in political leadership or climate probably meant very little anyway.

Still love the Who though. Tommy, Quadraphenia, "I Can See for Miles" "I Can't Explain"--just great primal rock and roll. No one quite like them, then or now.

Best wishes.

[Hortensis]

85. "The best lack all conviction, while the worst

Are full of passionate intensity." ~ Yeats, The Second Coming

I don't see weaklings who "lack all intensity" as our best, but he is speaking of disillusionment, of people who should be our best but become lost in the spiritus mundi, failing instead of committing to defense of principle.

This poem has influenced the lyrics of many pieces, of course.

The Second Coming
BY WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS

Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.

Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi
Troubles my sight: somewhere in sands of the desert
A shape with lion body and the head of a man,
A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it
Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds.
The darkness drops again; but now I know
That twenty centuries of stony sleep
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?

[democratisphere]

9. I Can't Get No

SATISFACTION - THE ROLLING STONES

[Xolodno]

10. King Nothing

[youtube]

[/youtube]

[Wwcd]

12. ..." all my troubles seemed so far away"..hmm.. hmm.. hmm..

[thucythucy]

13. It's controversial because of the language he uses,

but Randy Newman's song "Rednecks."

[Retrograde]

14. Groucho Marx: "If you think the country's bad off now

Just wait til I get through with it" - From Animal Crackers (play, 1928 movie, 1930)

[DBoon]

15. Bowie - "I'm afraid of Americans"

[Thomas Hurt]

16. Everybody loves me baby - Don McLean

[Vanessa Rose]

17. Hotel California

That’s where I feel I’m living now

[Wwcd]

18. K & R your post. 😞

Should be the new immigrant song as well as any of us residing in the usa.

It does feel as though the song was written for today.
It fits.

[Cartoonist]

20. Epitaph

The fate of all mankind I see
Is in the hands of fools

[dewsgirl]

21. REM It's the end of the world, Greenday American Idiot.

[peekaloo]

72. Another REM 'Ignoreland' or Bob Dylan's 'Idiot Wind'

we're kind of on the same page

[dewsgirl]

91. 🤗

[ProudLib72]

22. This whole Toxic Narcotic album really. Here's just a sample

[mr_lebowski]

52. I'd mosh like f*** with you to that ... (nt)

[matt819]

23. Eve of Destruction (nt)

[Freddie]

57. Great one

Someone should update the lyrics for today.

[ghostsinthemachine]

24. Throwing Stones, Grateful Dead

'Rich man in his summer home
Saying leave well enough alone,
but his pants are down, his covers blown,
While the kids they dance
And shake their bones....'

[Dyedinthewoolliberal]

26. Us and Them

[Doc_Technical]

27. Elton John-Texas Love Song

[Dave Starsky]

68. Excellent choice.

Elton recorded that song way back in 1972. It could be the opening theme to Fox and Friends today.

[lame54]

28. USA-Holes by NOFX...

Can't link it on my phone
On youtube
Worth the trip

[ooky]

29. Knife Edge, Emerson Lake and Palmer

"Can you live on a knife edge?"

[mr_lebowski]

53. Ah ... ELP ... that band that almost always makes me wish I were listening to Yes instead ;)

You know, a band with a ... what do they call it ... oh, yeah ... a 'guitarist'.

In this particular case, one named Steve Howe.

King Crimson and Gentle Giant also often come to mind.

Not saying they were crap or anything, they were good, it's just, for ME ... whenever I hear them I just go ... man ... if they had a great guitarist ... this band might really kick ass.

[ooky]

69. I loved all that music.

ELP left us some creative and artistic work that I wouldn't change anything about it. In hindsight I don't see how adding a lead could make some of that brilliant work any better. They just did what they did with what they had, which was three unbelievably talented musicians meshing together into a sweet sound of their own. You know who was in King Crimson.

Yes was a wonderful sound in their own right with several brilliant pieces of their own.

I think most people who appreciated that period of progressive rock would likely be fans of both of those bands Yes and ELP.

[mr_lebowski]

74. Yeah like I say for me they were good, the other three were great ...

And a big part of 'why' is that I'm a guitar player (not that good at it, but) and when there's no guitars in a rock song it just feels like something is missing. I'm just way more 'into' guitar than keys which in ELP the keys sorta replaced the guitar part. They're great musicians and for sure had some solid cool albums and songs over the years (and BSS is like the coolest album cover evah) but I never became like 'a fan' like I did Yes and KC. And it was the awesomeness of Howe and Fripp that I most appreciated.

Also, nothing beats Yes when you're trippin', man. It seems like the music that should be emanating from Heavens giant speakers and bathing the world in sound. Like, "The Gates of Delirium" from Relayer, on headphones, man ... forget about it! It don't get any better.

[NBachers]

30. Wasteland of the Free by Iris Dement - An anthem for our times

[Sailor65x1]

31. Charlie Daniels

[struggle4progress]

32. My country tis of thy people you're dying

[FM123]

33. American Idiot

[struggle4progress]

34. I'm going to sit at the Welcome Table

[roamer65]

35. The End by The Doors.

https://m.

[struggle4progress]

36. Hard rain's a-gonna fall

[Stargleamer]

37. What becomes of the broken-hearted

"As I walk this land of broken dreams, I have visions of many things. . . "

[struggle4progress]

38. Apeman

[struggle4progress]

39. At the zoo

[Freddie]

59. "American Tune"

Another great one by Paul Simon. It's about the aftermath of Watergate but the words of disillusionment with this country sure resonate now.

[kysrsoze]

40. In the Flesh - Pink Floyd. The one at the end of The Wall

The lyrics echo the ideas and attitudes of President Fuckface and his administration.

[mr_lebowski]

77. (very end of Outside The Wall) i think this is where ...

(very beginning of In The Flesh?) we came in.

I loved that little detail on The Wall.

And we're all banging our hearts against that mad bugger's Wall, ain't we?

BTW In The Flesh is song 1 on side 4

[CousinIT]

41. This is Not America (Metheney/Bowie)

[roamer65]

42. ..

[vicman]

43. I was hopeful that things would get better

yet, here we are

[nolabels]

44. Pretty cool

I long for the days when soul was fused with rap with rock and roll, rhythm and blues and all kinds of colors of the rainbow. Then the amazing thing is they would play it on the AM radio all on the same station and everybody thought it was normal.

[DangerousRhythm]

45. Here's a new video that just came out in April: "Look Left"

The Damned - Look Left

Scary dead time stories
Old Glory’s flying proud
Fists are raised in triumph
While heads are in the sand
Subterfuge and fantasy
Played only to ignite
While everybody’s looking left
What the hell is happening right?
What the hell is happening right?

Somebody tell me the truth
Now youth never waits for anyone
So let’s unmask the charade
Our time in the shade has overrun
Though the dying blooms evade the sun
I’ll wait for you

Masterful illusions
Digital magicians
Guided by the hidden hand
Lies become the facts
Writers in a wrong world
By shackles they are bound
Censorship is slavery
History has found

Freedom of the mind
Is freedom of the soul
Fear is an impediment
A fear you shouldn’t hold
The decks are duly loaded
But till we force their hands
It's a dark romance

Somebody tell me the truth
Now youth never waits for anyone
So let’s unmask the charade
Our time in the shade has overrun
Though the dying blooms evade the sun
I’ll wait for you

While everybody’s looking left
What the hell is happening right?
While everybody’s looking left
What the hell is happening right?
While everybody’s looking left
What the hell is happening right?
While everybody’s looking left

Somebody tell me the truth
Now youth never waits for anyone
So let’s unmask the charade
Our time in the shade has overrun
Though the dying blooms evade the sun
I’ll wait for you

[SeattleVet]

46. The Fugs...Wide Wide River

River of shit
River of shit
Flow on, flow on, river of shit
Right from my toes
On up to my nose
Flow on, flow on, river of shit

I've been swimming In this river of shit
More than 20 years, and I'm getting tired of it
Don't like swimming, hope it'll soon run dry
Got to go on swimming, cause I don't want to die

Who dealt this mess, anyway?
Yea, it's an old card player's term
But sometimes you can use the old switcheroo and it can be applied to ...
Frontal politics
What I mean is ...
Who was it that set up a system
Supposedly democratic system
Where you end up always voting for the lesser of two evils?
I mean, Was George Washington the lesser of two evils?
Sometimes I wonder ...
You got some guy that says
"For God sake, we've got to stop having violence in this country."
While he's spending 16,000 dollars a second snuffing gooks

A wiiiiiiiiiiiiide, big brown river, yea, bringing health, wealth, and prosperity to every man, women, and child

[hexola]

47. For Trump and Kim - Red River Valley

From this valley they say you are going
We will miss your bright eyes and sweet smile
For they say you are taking the sunshine
that brightens our pathway a while

Won't you think of the valley you're leaving
Oh how lonely how sad it will be
think of the fond heart you're breaking
and the grief you are causing to me

As you go to your home by the ocean
May you never forget those sweet hours
That we spent in the Red River Valley
and the love we exchanged mid the flowers

I have promised you darling that never
will a word from my lips cause you pain
And my life it will be yours for ever
if you only will love me again

Come and sit by my side if you love me
Do not hasten to bid me adieu
But remember the Red River Valley
and the cowboy that loves you so true

[SeattleVet]

48. New version of 'This Land is Your Land'

[mr_lebowski]

54. It's hard to go wrong with Woody that's for sure ... (nt)

[hexola]

49. Jefferson Airplane - We Can Be Together

We can be together
Ah, you and me
We should be together

We are all outlaws in the eyes of America
In order to survive
We steal, cheat, lie, forge, fuck, hide, and deal
We are obscene, lawless, hideous, dangerous, dirty, violent, and young

We should be together
Come on all you people standin' around
Our life's too fine to let it die
We should be together

All your private property is
Target for your enemy
And your enemy is we

We are forces of chaos and anarchy
Everything they say we are, we are
And we are very
Proud of ourselves

Up against the wall
Up against the wall, motherfuckers!
Tear down the wall
Tear down the wall

Come on now together
Get it on together
Everybody together
We should be together
We should be together my friends
We can be together
We will be

We must begin here and now
A new continent of earth and fire
Come on now gettin higher and higher
Tear down the walls
Tear down the walls
Tear down the walls
Won't you try

[DFW]

50. "You've Got To Change Your Evil Ways"--Santana

"Trouble Coming Every Day"--The Mothers of Invention

[hexola]

51. Bad Life - Public Image Limited

Call me up after midnight
Tell me I'm wrong, tell me I'm right
What do you want, what do I get?
Did you just need the argument?
Well, bad life

Corporate city, lucky for some
Richest island in the sun
That's life

Name of the game, it's competition
Top of the pile, not demolition
This is what you want
This is what you get

Bad, bad
Bad, bad
Bad life
Bad life

[Verse 1]

Bad life
Bad, bad
Bad, bad
Bad life, bad
Bad life

Now this machine is on the move
The open road
I’m getting gasoline
Human gets dubious side

Well, that's life
Bad life

Now looking out for number one
The open road
I’m getting gasoline
The human gets dubious side

Well, that's life
Bad, bad, bad life

The human gets dubious snide
Well, that's life

This is what you want
This is what you get
This is what you want
This is what you get
This is what you want
This is what you get

[mr_lebowski]

56. Personally ... I'm just Disappointed ...

[JesterCS]

55. Muse - Thought Contagion

[oasis]

58. "We Gotta Get Out Of This Place"---The Animals

[mr_lebowski]

60. You do know this is originally a song by Phil Collins-era Genesis, right?

Just askin, since nobody seems to have pointed it out yet

[malaise]

61. John Lennon - Gimme Some Truth

[Demsrule86]

62. Bruce Springsteen...Born in America/ and Youngstown (his people were from Youngstown Ohio.)

"The first kick I took was when I hit the Ground"...Born in America-true then and worse now.

And of course Youngstown is how basically manufacturing was looted and destroyed by so called free trade.

"Well my daddy come on the 0hio works
When he come home from world war two
Now the yards just scrap and rubble
He said, "Them big boys did what Hitler couldn't do"
These mills they built the tanks and bombs
That won this country's wars
We sent our sons to Korea and Vietnam
Now we're wondering what they were dyin' for
Here in Youngstown
Here in Youngstown
My sweet Jenny, I'm sinkin' down
Here darlin' in Youngstown"

[muriel_volestrangler]

63. "Tomorrow Belongs to Me"? In its full context, of course

The rise of the Nazis is also dramatically demonstrated in the rural beer garden scene. In a sunlit outdoor setting a boy — only his face seen — sings to a relaxed audience of all ages what at first seem mild lyrics ("Tomorrow Belongs To Me" ) about the beauties of nature and youth. The camera shifts to show that the singer is wearing a brown Hitler Youth uniform. As the gentle a capella ballad gradually transforms into a harsh and militant Nazi anthem, one by one, nearly all the adults and young people watching rise and join in the singing. The song culminates with the singer donning his Hitler Youth cap and lifting his hand in the Nazi salute. Max and Brian return to their car after witnessing this show of growing support for the National Socialist movement, Brian asking Max, "Do you still think you can control them?"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cabaret_%281972_film%29

[JustAnotherGen]

64. Choice 1 - Damn It Feels Good To Be A Gangsta

And now, a word from the President

Damn it feels good to be a gangsta
Gettin' voted into the White House
Everything lookin' good to the people of the world
But the Mafia family is my boss
So every now and then I owe a favor gettin' down
Like lettin' a big drug shipment through
And send 'em to the poor community
So we can bust you know who
So voters of the world keep supportin' me
And I promise to take you very far
Other leaders better not upset me
Or I'll send a million troops to die at war
To all you Republicans, that helped me win
I sincerely like to thank you
'Cause now I got the world swingin' from my nuts
And damn it feels good to be a gangsta
*************

It's crazy how relevant those words are from a Bush I era promotional release.

Crazy

[LakeArenal]

90. love it

[Vinca]

65. Help!

[Norbert]

66. Here Comes President Kill Again - XTC

Here comes President Kill again,
Surrounded by all of his killing men.
Telling us who, why, where and when,
President Kill wants killing again.

Hooray, ring out the bells,
King Conscience is dead.
Hooray, now back in your cells,
We've President Kill instead.

Here comes President Kill again.
Broadcasting from his killing den.
Dressed in pounds and dollars and yen,
President Kill wants killing again.

Hooray, hang out the flags,
Queen Caring is dead.
Hooray, we'll stack body bags,
For President Kill instead.

Ain't democracy wonderful?
Them Russians can't win!
Ain't democracy wonderful?
Lets us vote someone like that in.

Here comes President Kill again,
From pure White House to Number 10.
Taking lives with a smoking pen,
President Kill wants killing again.

Hooray, everything's great,
Now President Kill is dead.
Hooray, I'll bet you can't wait,
To vote for President Kill instead...

[mr_lebowski]

75. Excellent choice, excellent album ...

I was hella bummed back then about Andy's stage fright, totally wanted to see them for YEARS but they just ... didn't tour. They were so good for a stretch there with records like English Settlement, Mummer, Skylarking and O&L. Smack in my college daze ...

[jayschool2013]

78. Awesome.

Made it through the late '70s and '80s because of XTC. Best band of that era. By far.

[Atman]

67. Hellbound Train

Savoy Brown

[BumRushDaShow]

71. Can't Truss It

[crazycatlady]

73. Highway to hell

[MineralMan]

76. T.S. Eliot's "Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, set to music:

[jayschool2013]

79. Cee Lo speaks for me

I guess the change in my pocket
Wasn't enough I'm like,
Fuck you!
And fuck her too!

[MarcA]

80. From a purely cynical point of view - Greenwood's Proud to be American

Even when released it was delusional. Regardless of how it was
intended it seems like a trump anthem.

[Trek4Truth]

81. Eve of Destruction. nt

[bronxiteforever]

82. Deportee: Woody Guthrie, Martin Hoffman

The skyplane caught fire over Los Gatos Canyon
A fireball of lightning, and it shook all the hills
Who are these comrades that died like the dry leaves
The radio tells me they're just deportees

Goodbye to my Juan, goodbye Rosalita
Adios mis amigos, Jesus y Maria
You won't have a name when you ride the big airplane
All they will call you will be deportees

We died in your hills and we died in your deserts
We died in your valleys we died on your plains
We died 'neath your trees and we died in your bushes
Both sides of the river we died just the same

[liberaltrucker]

83. Allentown

[G_j]

84. Idiot Wind

[Runningdawg]

86. Gimme Shelter

[backtoblue]

89. My first thought too

[Horse with no Name]

87. The Immigrant

Neil Sedaka

Harbors opened their arms to the young searching foreigner
Come to live in the light of the beacon of liberty
Planes and open skies, billboards would advertise
Was it anything like that when you arrived
Dreamboats carry the future to the heart of America
People were waiting in line for a place by the river
It was a time when strangers were welcome here
Music would play, they tell me the days were sweet and clear
It was a sweeter tune and there was so much room that people could come from everywhere
Now he arrives with his hopes and his heart set on miracles
Come to marry his fortune with a hand full of promises
To find they've closed the door, they don't want him anymore
Isn't anymore to go around
Turning away he remembers he once heard
A legend that spoke of a mystical magical land called America
There was a time when strangers were welcome here
Music would play, they tell me the days were sweet and clear
It was a sweeter tune and there was so much room that people could come from everywhere
There was a time when strangers were welcome here
Music would play, they tell me the days were sweet and clear
There was a time when strangers were welcome here
Music would play, they tell me the days were sweet and clear

[Downtown Hound]

88. "You're Lost Little Girl," by The Doors.

[onethatcares]

92. "Monster"

Steppenwolf.


shit never changes here in the good old U.S. of A., shit never changes.