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Post by dee on Jul 20, 2021 14:37:35 GMT -5
I'm looking for help finding lines,or even full songs,of social commentary in PW's writing.
For example:
"Everything you dream of is right in front of you/Liberty is a lie" from Unsatisfied.
Who want's to play?
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nyc1lkg
First Class Scout
Posts: 204
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Post by nyc1lkg on Jul 20, 2021 15:19:41 GMT -5
King of America:
King of America
I've cleaned your floors
Scrubbed your toilets
Man, I've swept under your feet
Worked in your stores
Every boy gets one chance
You're laughing at me
Now it's my turn to bleed
Shout it out
King of America
I wanna be
Shout it out
King of America
I have waited in your long lines
I have sweat 'neath your sun
I've kicked 'round in your factories
I did it all without a gun
Now it's my time to run
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Post by oldmatsfan on Jul 20, 2021 17:02:46 GMT -5
Stuck In The Middle
I got a head full of teeth
Got a pocket full of nothing
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Post by anarkissed on Jul 21, 2021 13:11:32 GMT -5
"Androgynous"..."Waitress in the Sky"...
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smp
Tenderfoot
Posts: 24 
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Post by smp on Jul 21, 2021 15:14:06 GMT -5
God, what a mess, on the ladder of success
Where you take one step and miss the whole first rung
Dreams unfulfilled, graduate unskilled
It beats pickin' cotton and waitin' to be forgotten
The ones who love us best are the ones we'll lay to rest
And visit their graves on holidays at best
The ones who love us least are the ones we'll die to please
If it's any consolation, I don't begin to understand them
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Post by FreeRider on Jul 21, 2021 22:49:43 GMT -5
I don't know much about gay pride
between animal rights or any of this police stuff
and the only time I feel this cowhide
is when it's rubbing up against
my rock and roll butt...Country Boy youtu.be/4VUobYVSjK8
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nyc1lkg
First Class Scout
Posts: 204
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Post by nyc1lkg on Jul 22, 2021 11:59:34 GMT -5
I don't know much about gay pride
between animal rights or any of this police stuff
and the only time I feel this cowhide
is when it's rubbing up against
my rock and roll butt...Country Boy youtu.be/4VUobYVSjK8 Thanks for this link. I never heard this one before. |
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Post by raccoon on Jul 22, 2021 14:27:43 GMT -5
"I don't know much about gay pride
between animal rights or any of this police stuff"
Way to make a stand, Paul !?
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Post by raccoon on Jul 22, 2021 14:33:58 GMT -5
"Mirror image, see no damage
See no evil at all
Kewpie dolls and urine stalls
Will be laughed at
The way you're laughed at now"
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Post by FreeRider on Jul 22, 2021 20:26:05 GMT -5
"I don't know much about gay pride between animal rights or any of this police stuff" Way to make a stand, Paul !? Well, I kind of wondered if the events of the past few years with the protests in Minneapolis had any effect upon him as a sentient human being, let alone as an artist. I even mentioned it in some other thread, but Paul himself has said in an old interview that he doesn't like politics in his rock and roll. Well, nobody likes to be preached to and lectured....but you can always make a statement thru observations about the times and leave it to the listener to decide what it means. I think of Neil Young's "Rockin' in The Free World". So it's not surprising that he still doesn't take a side in "Country Boy"! 😁 |
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Post by dee on Jul 23, 2021 16:16:15 GMT -5
The line in Country Boy as I hear it is...
"I don't know much about gay pride,eating clean,animal rights and all that important stuff."
The song was released in 2017.
He did release the song "Surrounded By Morons" about the same time as "Country Boy" and that chorus goes...
"Hands up/Surrounded By Morons"
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Post by dee on Jul 23, 2021 16:37:20 GMT -5
"Paul himself has said in an old interview that he doesn't like politics in his rock and roll. Well, nobody likes to be preached to and lectured....but you can always make a statement thru observations about the times and leave it to the listener to decide what it means. I think of Neil Young's "Rockin' in The Free World".
That's kind of the point of this thread.He doesn't get political,but many of his songs seem to be conveying some form of social commentary that is affected by politics.
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Post by dee on Jul 23, 2021 16:47:36 GMT -5
Customer:
I'm in love with the girl that works at the store
But I'm nothing but a customer
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Post by dee on Aug 2, 2021 18:15:32 GMT -5
You Lose
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Post by rich1 on Aug 2, 2021 23:55:08 GMT -5
Many songs seem to be about class and the daily struggles of the working class… and those that don’t belong
Customer
Kiss Me on the Bus
Hanging Downtown
Nowhere is my Home
Bastards of Young
Here Comes a Regular
Bad Worker
Unsatisfied
Black Diamond
We’re Comin Out
They’re Blind
Etc….
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Post by raccoon on Aug 3, 2021 9:29:43 GMT -5
We'll inherit the earth but we don't want it.
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Post by anarkissed on Aug 3, 2021 14:45:57 GMT -5
I don't want to say this, because I don't like it, but everything we do, say and are is political. It can't be avoided. Everything has a social and/or political implication. Saying you're apolitical is political. Not voting is political. Not paying attention is political. Not caring is political. "The Guns of Brixton" is a political song, and so is "Do Wah Diddy Diddy". Link Wray and Dave Brubek are political, and they don't even have lyrics. It's like air pollution; it's just there whether you want it to be or not...
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Post by con on Aug 7, 2021 15:44:55 GMT -5
I don't want to say this, because I don't like it, but everything we do, say and are is political. It can't be avoided. Everything has a social and/or political implication. Saying you're apolitical is political. Not voting is political. Not paying attention is political. Not caring is political. "The Guns of Brixton" is a political song, and so is "Do Wah Diddy Diddy". Link Wray and Dave Brubek are political, and they don't even have lyrics. It's like air pollution; it's just there whether you want it to be or not... I respectfully disagree. Politics implies a public dimension. Much of life is personal. Private, as it should be. Making everything political is your decision to see everything through the lense of power, instead of love. Power judges, discriminates, critiques, manipulates. Love accepts, forgives, just is. |
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Jer
Beagle Scout
Posts: 1,182
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Post by Jer on Aug 8, 2021 18:20:31 GMT -5
I don't want to say this, because I don't like it, but everything we do, say and are is political. It can't be avoided. Everything has a social and/or political implication. Saying you're apolitical is political. Not voting is political. Not paying attention is political. Not caring is political. "The Guns of Brixton" is a political song, and so is "Do Wah Diddy Diddy". Link Wray and Dave Brubek are political, and they don't even have lyrics. It's like air pollution; it's just there whether you want it to be or not... I respectfully disagree. Politics implies a public dimension. Much of life is personal. Private, as it should be. Making everything political is your decision to see everything through the lense of power, instead of love. Power judges, discriminates, critiques, manipulates. Love accepts, forgives, just is.Yeah, have to agree with con here. Not every song about every girl, pickup truck, acid trip, or crazy new dance fad has a political angle. Some artists go out of their way to avoid it. Choosing to sing about a girl who broke your heart isn't a statement about society. If you dig deep enough you might be able to make some inference, and there are occasions where it can be both, but it's probably a stretch in a lot of cases.
This thread is a challenge, because it's not something Paul did often. "Bastards of Young", "Hangin' Downtown", "They're Blind", "Customer" (each mentioned above) - if you really want to you make some political connection I suppose, but I think they're much more about a confused, lost, rejected guy than some grand statement about lower-middle class, post-baby-boomer generation struggles in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Even a line like "Got no wars to name us" - it's just putting the listener in a certain time and mindset, it's not a political statement about war.
The fact that so many can relate makes the connection a tempting one, and ultimately, a song means what it means to the listener, but I don't think Paul was thinking that way when he wrote them. Part of his appeal as a songwriter is that he can express what others are feeling but doesn't get on a soapbox about sociopolitical issues. I expect he'd have lost some of us if he had.
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Post by rich1 on Aug 8, 2021 22:16:32 GMT -5
I do agree with you… I don’t think he ever intended to try to make a bold statement on social commentary… although you could make a clear case for Androgynous… and maybe the trying too hard We’ll Inherit the Earth.
The songs I referenced above are products of a time period— a snap shot of live in working class 80s middle America. He may never have intended to be an agent of social change….but by God, these songs still speak to those who “ don’t belong”…
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