Reply #9: Prince Myshkins [View All]

[Squeech]

One more go-round for my traditional Prince Myshkins rant:

They're a singer/songwriter duo (accordion and guitar) writing political satire set to music. If you can imagine triangulating Tom Lehrer, Phil Ochs and Kurt Weill, that's basically where these guys are at. They're gay (I think they're personal as well as professional partners), which informs their politics and suggests some of their songs, but their song subjects also include such topics as how you can't bring nail clippers on airplanes, Clear Channel censorship, and universal contempt for "Dr." Laura Schlessinger.

The main point is, however, that their stuff is uproariously funny.

I'll quote some bits. Here's a verse about Ronald Reagan, from a song entitled "I Don't Remember:"

"Someone who sells Reagan memorabilia must laugh all the way to the bank
If there are books in the Reagan memorial library, they must be blank
I hate to be rude but we're bound to conclude, as we look at the history pages
Alzheimer's was bad, but that's not what he had-- whatever he had was contagious
And even today this disease trickles down, just ask Rumsfeld, just ask Condaleeza
The news media too, when a eulogy's due know that nothing succeeds like amnesia..."

Then there's the one inspired by John Ashcroft hanging curtains in front of the statues in the Justice Department, appropriately set to bump-and-grind music:

"Live! Nude! Statues! Watch those babies steaming up the night in the great hall!
Live! Nude! Statues! Where else can you see braless bronzes baring all?
Come on cuties, show those disputants
Just what we mean by jurisprudence!
Time to tip the scales
With chiseled chippendales
Live nude statues
Comin' at you..."

They have a web page at http://www.hiddenagendamusic.com/myshkins but they don't appear to have updated it to mention the new CD, which I should mention is called Total Myshkin Awareness. Just take my word for it, it's intensely loveable.

I kinda liked Brian Wilson's Smile too.