Asymmetric Music

"This isn't the Democratic party of our fathers and grandfathers. This is the party of Woodstock hippies. I was at Woodstock — I built the stage. And when everything fell apart, and people were fighting for peanut-butter sandwiches, it was the National Guard who came in and saved the same people who were protesting them. So when Hillary Clinton a few years ago wanted to build a Woodstock memorial, I said it should be a statue of a National Guardsman feeding a crying hippie."-John Ratzenberger.

Yesterday, I assembled some Rock and Roll songs that trumpeted conservative values. Today, I'm doing my far left* brothers and sisters a favor by compiling a list to encourage them as they seek to change America for the better:

1. Sign of the Times, Donna Fargo.

Podcast

Donna Fargo Winners by Donna Fargo

The Best of Donna Fargo: 20th Century Masters - The Millennium Collection

In this song, Donna sings of the American dream turning into a "nightmare." 1863? 1933? 1942? No, the year we'd all like to forget, 1986. Apparently, Donna had access to some detailed census data, as she concluded that Jews suffered proportionately. Unemployment was at 50%?

2. Cortez the Killer, Neil Young.

Proving that extremism begs for an opposite, "noble savagery" is an attempt by Europeans to reverse European feelings of superiority over the people whose land they colonized. The problem with those who take the noble savage route, is that, in their desire to make amends, they often lie, distort, or, like Neil Young, just say stupid stuff.

The Cortez in the song is Hernan Cortez, Spanish conquistador. Why sing about Cortez and not, say, other conquests in history like in everywhere else in the world since the beginning of humanity? Because Cortez was white and the Aztecs weren't, I guess.

If you know anything about Aztec civilization, you know how ridiculous this is:

And the women all were beautiful
And the men stood straight and strong
They offered life in sacrifice
So that others could go on.

Hate was just a legend
And war was never known
The people worked together
And they lifted many stones.

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A couple of years ago, John J. Miller from National Review compiled what he thought were the "50 greatest conservative rock songs." It's a thoughtful list, but, quite expectedly, incomplete. Below is my contribution to Miller's fine effort, a Conrock addendum, as it were. I'll just second his introduction and dive right in:

1. This Land is Your Land, Peter, Paul, and Mary.

An ode to manifest destiny, Biblically-based dominion over the earth, property rights, and Intelligent Design. It's the podcast.

Relevant lyrics:

As I went walking that ribbon of highway
I saw above me that endless skyway
I saw below me those golden valleys
This land was made for you and me!

This land is your land, this land is my land,
From California, to the New York island,
From the redwood forest, to the gulf stream waters,
This land was made for you and me.

Peter, Paul and Mary - Carry It On - A Musical Legacy

2. Two Kinds of Seagulls, Tom Chapin.

Another folk-rockish ballad. Not quite Aquinas, but, still, a rather eloquent case for Natural Law.

Relevant lyrics:

There's two kinds of llamas: papas and mamas.
They wear different pajamas and that's why there's llamas.
Most creatures come in pairs. That's the way they mingle.
One kind only would be lonely. It takes two to tingle.

There's two kinds of peoples: he-puls and she-puls.
He-puls like she-puls. She-puls like he-puls.
And that's why there's me-puls, and you-puls,
And peoples.

Mother Earth

3. Jungle, B.B. King

A musical expression of the phenomenon known as "business flight" ("race to the bottom" for liberals) wherein business and people move from high tax states to more business-friendly ones.

Relevant lyrics:

I work hard everyday
From Monday to Friday night
The wages that they pay me
I swear that they're very light
The take out a little for the state
A little more for Uncle Sam
How can I ever catch up
And get myself out of this jam
Yes, I think I'll move to the jungle
Move way out in the woods
Yes, because the way things are here now
Well, I ain't doin' myself no good

The Ultimate Collection

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