Notice that he uses the word “we” in that verse. He includes himself as part of the herd, “Hell they won’t lie to me/ Not on my own damn TV…”
It was my impression that Willie is saying that he initially believed Bush too and now feels betrayed. I didn’t feel that he was trying to put himself above the “herd.” He was counting himself as part of the herd.
Don’t forget Neil Young’s “Ohio” either.
I know the thread title is hyperbolic. I was just excited when I read the lyrics.
Funny - when I think of activist entertainers, Willie Nelson is always among the first to come to mind. Certainly he has “conservative country music fans,” but I think the bulk of his fan base is much more old hippies (like me.) Willie has almost always been a country music rebel, an outlaw, even. I agree that he has never been a grandstander, but he has always been outspoken and involved.
And Washte - my personal opinion is that John Mellencamp is a twit and a wannabe and always has been.
In one of his last interviews, Johnny Cash also spoke against Bush and the war. JC was a Christian and a patriot. It’s probably confusing to the Bushies that someone can both be a patriot and be against the war, because they’ve had it into their brains that you have to vote Republican if you’re Christian and you have to support any Republican-mandated military action to be a patriot.
Or “Strange Fruit”. That’s my point. Hyperbole isn’t helping to get your point across here. When you persist in posting things that are just patently silly like “greatest protest song ever”, then how are we supposed to take you seriously? How about just titling the thread, “Hey, Willy wrote a protest song.” and maybe you won’t be dismissed out of hand by everyone but those inhabitants of the same fringe upon which you exist?
So he won’t be performing at the Republican Convention?
Then why couldn’t we have been told in the first place “Sadaam is sheeding blood like a Gothic horror movie. He poses no direct threat to us, but we need to go to war against him for this reason, because we are the United States and we always ride to the protection of innocents opressed.”? Why did they have to make up some cock and bull story? Why are you not outraged that the President of the United States looked you right in the eye and lied to you in order to start a war of choice? If the cause was noble, why didn’t he just tell the damned truth in the first place?
So he won’t be performing at the Republican Convention?
If Willie Nelson agrees with you he must have hidden his feelings when John Mellencamp invited him and Neil Young to form Farm Aid in 1985.
…but the one in the middle sure looks like Willie Nelson.
Ha!
I thought that the song was not his best. Frankly, I thought it was sorta sophmoric.
I appreciate the sentiment though.
I love Willie. I saw him not long ago. The old fart played a righteous, raucous 3 hour show.
I’m a big Willie fan. Have been since his ‘Outlaw’ days. And I never mix politics and music (or any other art for that matter). A good song is a good song whether I agree with the sentiment or not. I’m a big Dylan fan, too, and I don’t think I’ve ever agreed with a word of what he had to say.
Don’t misunderstand - I can appreciate and admire what Mellencamp has done on behalf of farmers, and I’m not at all saying that’s a bad thing. I just think that, good motives and actions aside, he’s a hack.
You CAN be a talentless hack and still be a good person.
>I’m a big Dylan fan, too, and I don’t think I’ve ever agreed with a word of what he had to say.
Hm. How do you “disagree” with something like
You have to UNDERSTAND it to disagree with it. :dubious:
I would disagree. I think Mellencamp started out as a hack, then transcended that with some great, meaningful music. I can’t think of very many artists who’ve done that, usually it’s vice-versa…
Oops, that was meant to be in response to Life on Wry’s post.
I guess Robert Redford was getting lonely in the “People who own or have owned private jets and complain about American oil consumption” club.
Willy’s still the man, but I’ll take my politics from others, thanks.
Well, since we’re all comparing dicks, I say that Gerome Ragni was the greatest protest song writer.
Ripped open by metal explosion,
Caught in barbed wire, fireball, bullet shock,
Bayonet, electricity, shrapnel, throbbing meat.
Electronic data processing,
Black uniforms, barefeet, carbines,
Mail order rifles shoot the muscle.
Two hundred and fifty six Viet Cong captured.
Prisoners in Niggertown, it’s a dirty little war.
Won’t matter much if it doesn’t get air time. Look for Clear Channel to give him, or at least this song, the ol’ Dixie Chicks blacklist treatment, while doubling up on Darryl Worley’s “Have You Forgotten?”.
I’ll let him know he’s not getting your vote for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.