Sent Me Off to Kill the Yellow Man

Why has no one in the political realm ever sat down and actually listened to Born in the USA?  Seriously, just try to catch one verse before you burn the CD and hand it to the guy running the PA.  It's worth the extra effort, trust me.  At the very least do a wiki search or something! 

Watching patriotic supporters wearing glee-filled smiles and waving little flags as they sort of sing along with Bruce in a crowded auditorium has been one of my pet peeves for years.  It's bad enough when it's some old guy up there (Bobby Dole, looking in your direction), but last night, watching the relatively young, hip Obama crew was a new low.

I mean some songs are supposed to be on the subversive side.  There is a fun vibe when the 'rents--do we still use that term, kids?--just completely miss the point (Dancing with Myself, nodding in your direction with my eyes closed).  And there is also sometimes an artistic vibe when the real point of the song is sort of muddled beneath the lyrics unless you listen very, very closely (Sublime's Wrong Way, <cough> <cough>).  And sometimes an intentionally nonsensical song is grafted onto some imagined meaning the likes of which only Snopes.com can save us from (I Think I am Turning Japanese, anyone?).

While many songs fit into these categories, Bruce Springsteen's Born in the USA is not one of them.  There is nothing subtle, hidden, or metaphorical about the unfortunate draftee in the song.  His repeated cry of having been "born in the USA" is not an enthusiastic cheer.  It's a bitter, enraged curse filled with regret, pain, and anger that denigrates into unintelligible, anguished wailing by the outro.

But keep on singing along, blond thirty something delegate from Vermont, with your blinking, red white and blue LED necklace and little flags waving in the air.  Obama was born in the USA too!  Woo!  No way, no how, no McCain!

I should point out--just in case you were worried that I was turning the Tower into some bitter political blog--that aside from those three minutes, I really enjoyed watching the DNC this week.  I don't think I've ever been honestly excited about a candidate before, so it's been kind of cool to get caught up in the pep rally of the DNC.  While there were plenty of minor cringe inducing moments during the speeches that reminded me that I am not quite a democrat, there were enough other moments to outweigh them--and to remind me that <EDDIEVEDDER>I sure as hell ain't no republican neither</EDDIEVEDDER>.

My complaints in this post are not really political, but simply coming from my standpoint as a writer and as a music fan.  Although, I guess it could have been worse.  One of the staffers could have decided to get the crowd dancing by blasting Brown Sugar instead.

Comments

[Shaun Toomey]

Bravo, a great posting! For a second I thought you were turning into me with a political rant. For those who want to hear political bitching you can jump over to my whiney ass blog.

Cheers!

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