And CCR earlier expressed skepticism about Stalin and FDR.
I finally decided to listen to the lyrics of Taylor Swift’s new song “Anti-Hero” and noticed this line at about the 1:33 point:
Did you hear my covert narcissism I disguise as altruism like some kind of Congressman?
In other words, she’s noting the contrast between what the Congressman(woman) says and what his (her) true motives are.
That got me thinking about older classic rock songs that express skepticism about government. One of my favorites is Credence Clearwater Revival’s 1970 song “Who’ll Stop the Rain?” I’ve loved it for decades and finally a friend recently pointed to this part of the lyrics that I had missed:
Caught up in the fable,
I watched the tower grow.
Five-year plans and New Deals,
Wrapped in golden chains.
And I wonder, still I wonder.
Who’ll stop the rain.
Note the reference to five-year plans (probably Stalin’s) and New Deals (definitely FDR.) Also the golden chains line is beautiful. It’s gold, but it’s also a chain.
Note: The button Taylor Swift is wearing says “Vote for Me, For Everything.”
READER COMMENTS
Monte
Oct 26 2023 at 8:38pm
There’s a lot of ’em. How about this classic written by George Harrison that was inspired by the 95% supertax introduced by Harold Wilson‘s Labour government, almost causing The Beatles to declare bankruptcy in spite of their enormous success?:
If you drive a car, I’ll tax the street
If you try to sit, I’ll tax your seat
If you get too cold, I’ll tax the heat
If you take a walk, I’ll tax your feet
‘Cause I’m the taxman
David Henderson
Oct 27 2023 at 10:12am
One of my favorites.
And it’s so accurate. The top marginal tax rate on certain kinds of “unearned” income that the Beatles made in 1965 was 95%. And notice the little chants about Wilson and Heath in the background.
robc
Oct 27 2023 at 2:07pm
Jethro Tull’s “Farm on the Freeway” is anti-eminent domain.
David Henderson
Oct 27 2023 at 5:21pm
Wow! Thanks, robc.
Todd Ramsey
Oct 27 2023 at 11:08am
“Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.”
James Anderson Merritt
Oct 28 2023 at 5:16pm
I suspect that the reason we keep getting fooled again is the reason nobody has yet stopped the rain.
Michael P. Fossier
Oct 27 2023 at 4:26pm
The Kinks’ “20th Century Man”:
I was born in a welfare stateRuled by bureaucracyControlled by civil servantsAnd people dressed in greyGot no privacy, got no liberty’Cause the twentieth century peopleTook it all away from me
Bob
Oct 27 2023 at 4:38pm
Given how politics works nowadays, there’s only one reason for Taylor to not become president one day: That she doesn’t want the job.
David Henderson
Oct 27 2023 at 5:22pm
My guess is that you’re joking, but if you’re serious, I disagree. As soon as she started taking positions on things, she would crash.
James Anderson Merritt
Oct 28 2023 at 5:14pm
I used to say that about Donald Trump, back in the days when he would occasionally raise the flag of a Presidential campaign up the flag-pole. Then, only a scraggly few would salute that flag; most would laugh most derisively. I noticed that things started to change around 2012. So keep paying attention, just in case.
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