“Eve of Destruction” and “The End of the World as We Know It” need places in there somewhere. So does “Knee Deep in the Big Muddy”. Possibly “Nowhere Man”.
I love this project! Cool idea.
Under the environment section, maybe “Big Yellow Taxi”.
Under the Apocalypse section, “99 Red Balloons” could be a good start, and maybe work in “Hell Broke Luce” by Tom Waits. And to end with some black humor, “Christmas at Ground Zero” by Weird Al.
Roger McGuinn “The Trees Are All Gone”
They Might Be Giants - “Your Racist Friend” (“My head can’t tolerate this bobbing and pretending/Listen to some bullet-head and the madness that he’s saying” The fragmentation of the GOP over how it’s a White Nationalist identity politics party.)
Renaissance, “Midas Man”:
*I’ll take from the blind and I’ll get up ahead
I’ll sneak up behind and I’ll steal
I’ll take all that you have
And then all that you’ve concealed
I’ll take anything I can get - I’ll make you
I’ll break you and I’ll make you sweat
Nothing is worth nothing unless it’s
Made for Midas Man
Nightwish, “Master Passion Greed”:
*“Hello. How are you?
Let me explain one thing.
All for her and more for me
Why is it so hard to see?
I see no sense in doing this
Not enough for me
I fuck up everything but let me explain”
Some day you shall flee,
Panting and weak
Greed, your master passion
I Feed the mouth that bites me
Mammon, opiate of the masses
The reek of your lies draws flies*
Pink Floyd, “Pigs (Three Different Ones)”:
Big man, pig man, ha ha charade you are.
You well heeled big wheel, ha ha charade you are.
And when your hand is on your heart,
You’re nearly a good laugh, almost a joker,
With your head down in the pig bin,
Saying, " Keep on digging", pig stain on your fat chin.
What do you hope to find, when you’re down in the pig mine?
You’re nearly a laugh, you’re nearly a laugh,
But you’re really a cry.
Psychelic Furs, “Highwire Days”:
*Yeah, they tore up our kisses and ran
On tomorrow’s pages
And the lions have eaten the lamb
On tomorrow’s pages
There’s a day of your life in your hands
Full of people you don’t understand
In my highwire days
I can see all the way
I see through the games you play
In my highwire days*
The Sisters of Mercy, “This Corrosion”:
*Gimme the Ring, kissed and toll’d
Gimme something that I missed
(Gimme the ring)
A hand to hold, wild and what it seems
(Gimme the ring)
Kill the king, when love is the law,
And the wheel turn round…
(Gimme the ring)
Gimme dream child
And do you hear me call?
(Gimme the ring)
On the loan and on the level
Still on the floor
(Gimme the ring)
Sing dream child
And do you hear at all?
(Sing)
(Sing)
Hey now, hey now now, sing This Corrosion to me
Hey now, hey now now, sing This Corrosion to me
Hey now, hey now now, sing This Corrosion to me
Hey now, hey now now*
King Crimson, “Epitaph”:
Confusion will be my epitaph
As I crawl a cracked and broken path
If we make it we can all sit back and laugh,
But I fear tomorrow I’ll be crying,
Yes I fear tomorrow I’ll be crying
Yes I fear tomorrow I’ll be crying
Between the iron gates of fate,
The seeds of time were sown,
And watered by the deeds of those
Who know and who are known;
Knowledge is a deadly friend
If no one sets the rules
The fate of all mankind I see
Is in the hands of fools*
[Court of the Crimson King is also a contender if you like, the puppets dance…]
Wall…Echo and the Bunnymen’s Over the Wall?
Little Tin God - Don Henley
Russians - Sting
Best I can do for firing cabinet members is “Firing the Surgeon General” by The Foremen.
I can’t be the first person the suggest Cult of Personality by Living Colour, can I?
“Apocalypso” and “Party At the End of the World” by Jimmy Buffett.
Golden Gate Quartet “Atom and Evil”: We’re sitting on the edge of doom (doom) (doom) (doom) doom!
How about BYOB from System of a Down?
Barbarisms by barbaras
With pointed heels
Victorious victorious kneel
For brand new spankin’ deals
Marching forward hypocritic and
Hypnotic computers
*You depend on our protection
Yet you feed us lies from the tablecloth
Everybody’s going to the party, have a real good time
Dancing in the desert, blowing up the sunshine
*
Kneeling roses disappearing into
Moses’ dry mouth
Breaking into fort knox stealing
Our intentions
Hangers sitting dripped in oil
Crying freedom
Handed to obsoletion
Still you feed us lies from the tablecloth
Plus the riff in the chorus is fucking bitching.
Don’t forget Tom Lehrer!
Black Sabbath “Electric Funeral” and Ozzy Osbourne “Revelation (Mother Earth)” both fit into apocalyptic visions and environmental destruction.
For the cabinet firings, how about Judas Priest “Some Heads Are Gonna Roll”… or “Off With Their Heads” from the Broadway production of Wonderland.
BTO’s “Takin’ Care of Business” seems on point.
For all the Teabag-lovin’ Trump-ites who now regret their mistake…
“Won’t Get Fooled Again” - the Who
I’ll tip my hat to the new constitution
Take a bow for the new revolution
Smile and grin at the change all around
Pick up my guitar and play
Just like yesterday
Then I’ll get on my knees and pray
We don’t get fooled again, no, no…
W/ “Behind Blue Eyes” as the B-side.
Tom Waits - “Looks Like I’m up Shit Creek Again”
ought to fit in there somewhere.
You guys are amazing, it’s gonna take me all weekend to listen to all these songs I haven’t heard before. Muchos Thanks!
And just to demonstrate how silly this playlist can get, here’s a snippet I just put together (I probably won’t keep the Phil Collins song):
Marillion “Assassing”
Def Leppard “Photograph”
Rage Against the Machine “Take the Power Back”
Peter Gabriel “Family Snapshot”
Phil Collins “I Missed Again”
Pink Floyd “In the Flesh/Run Like Hell”
Lowdown by Chicago was my earworm for at least a month after the election…
Oh my
Life has passed me by
The country I was brought up in
Fell apart and died