It's just what happens when you don't know the lyrics. :D

[BoomerD]

I always thought "American Woman" by the Guess Who was originally an anti-Vietnam war song. Was NOT something I'd ever expect an American politician to use at a rally.

Turns out...that's not the case at all.

https://www.cbc.ca/radio/q/friday-may-8-2020-daniel-brooks-burton-cummings-and-more-1.5559348/american-woman-at-50-burton-cummings-reveals-the-real-story-behind-the-legendary-song-1.5560774

 

[Muse]

^^^ There is that one line about a 'ghetto scene'.

I don't need your ghetto scenes, I don't need your war machines. It's an iconic song, I can't think of another like it although the themes are nothing new. It's angry it's intense, it was recorded in August 1969 when the Vietnam War was raging, resentment against it was building and building, many American boys were fleeing to Canada, etc. and The Guess Who being Canadian had every right to throw a musical tantrum.

I've played it on my radio show 7 times over the years. I've played The Butthole Surfer's cover a couple times too. Didn't know about the Lenny Kravitz version until seeing this thread. Uh, I'd never play that on my show.

 

[Viper1j]

You can tell he's really got guitar chops and digs his band thing. I looked him up yesterday, he's in a show biz family, been into this and that, has been through a lot of changes. What he does at any one time may be a phase, evidently.

His mother was on The Jeffersons, and his father was a Jewish entertainment lawyer.

Some things, ya just can't make up.

 

[Moonbeam]

Is that why you write so much here?

This question puts me in a quandary. In the first place I fail to see how my confessional attitude toward music, how I have become less and less aware of the lyrics that pervade our culture and with which so many are familiar and can adroitly discuss, has anything to do with how much I write. This leads me to the conclusion that perhaps it is not the quantity or how I feel or don't feel about things that is at issue with you here, but the content or subject matter that I choose to address and perhaps subject matter you feel inconvenient to hear.

I think part of the point I was making was that, because I am profoundly moved by music, it alters my mood and I used to revel in that and not least of all because it takes me elsewhere than where I wind up without its influence, something I see as a kind of addiction and one I am now less inclined to indulge.

I find that music makes me feel vicariously but without conscious awareness of where those feelings are sourced. Rather that indulge that I try to deal with myself however it is that I am. Similarly I don't drink to intoxication or use mind altering drugs, all of which I have done in the past.

If I can ask, then, please, if any of this seems correct, tell me directly what was the motivation behind your question. Why do I write so much here, why am I even here.

Mulla Nasrudin once spotted a group of soldiers out on patrol and ran when he saw them hiding in a freshly dug grave in a grave yard. Seeing him run the soldiers followed him and looking down at him in the grave asked, "Why are you laying in that grave?" He answered, "I am here because of you and you are here because of me."

Out of consideration for you, and you alone and in particular, I have closely guarded the reason I am here.
Many years ago I was bombarded with attacks that I posted here out of egotism and as the best way to refute such a claim I completely stopped posting here. I was gone, if memory serves which it does not usually, at least for a year perhaps more, and had completely forgotten about this place and never looked back such were the needs of my ego.

To the profound regret of many, it seems, something happened to change that and here I am.

 

[zinfamous]

Same as Trump playing "Fortunate Son" at his rallies. Just completely oblivious.

what is it with this specific history of Republican politicians just never ever understanding canon American tunes, and playing them for "PATRIUOTISM!"

It goes back to Reagan with his "Born in the USA" as his official campaign rally song. And all the other cases mentioned already in this thread, haha. I mean, these funking dunderheads were always illiterate. always. people have been giving them all waaaaaaaaaaay too much credit for too long, to be honest.

They are just fucking illiterate. It's quite simple and it's the only explanation I have for 5 decades of allegiance to this terrorist organization, the GOP.

 

[Perknose]

This question puts me in a quandary. In the first place I fail to see how my confessional attitude toward music, how I have become less and less aware of the lyrics that pervade our culture and with which so many are familiar and can adroitly discuss, has anything to do with how much I write.

He said, going on for paragraphs.

This leads me to the conclusion that perhaps it is not the quantity or how I feel or don't feel about things that is at issue with you here, but the content or subject matter that I choose to address and perhaps subject matter you feel inconvenient to hear.

I think part of the point I was making was that, because I am profoundly moved by music, it alters my mood and I used to revel in that and not least of all because it takes me elsewhere than where I wind up without its influence, something I see as a kind of addiction and one I am now less inclined to indulge.

I find that music makes me feel vicariously but without conscious awareness of where those feelings are sourced. Rather that indulge that I try to deal with myself however it is that I am. Similarly I don't drink to intoxication or use mind altering drugs, all of which I have done in the past.

If I can ask, then, please, if any of this seems correct, tell me directly what was the motivation behind your question. Why do I write so much here, why am I even here.

Mulla Nasrudin once spotted a group of soldiers out on patrol and ran when he saw them hiding in a freshly dug grave in a grave yard. Seeing him run the soldiers followed him and looking down at him in the grave asked, "Why are you laying in that grave?" He answered, "I am here because of you and you are here because of me."

Out of consideration for you, and you alone and in particular, I have closely guarded the reason I am here.
Many years ago I was bombarded with attacks that I posted here out of egotism and as the best way to refute such a claim I completely stopped posting here. I was gone, if memory serves which it does not usually, at least for a year perhaps more, and had completely forgotten about this place and never looked back such were the needs of my ego.

To the profound regret of many, it seems, something happened to change that and here I am.

I, personally, am very happy that 'something happened to change that' and here you are. You bring a perspective like no other.

 

[Muse]

I must admit, I have sometimes not paid sufficient attention to the lyrics of songs, something I've tried a lot to remedy. But songs like American Woman, how can you possibly ignore their lyrics? Some songs are all about the lyrics. Some songs, the lyrics seem to be little more than an afterthought. Think about it:

When you can barely make out the lyrics (this happens a LOT of the time), it's usually because they are nothing special or worse. Many songs come into being because the creator "needed" to write a song, not because they experienced a creative process that gave birth to a song (which is how real songs are born).

IMO a lot of recorded music isn't worth listening to. I've been a college radio DJ for over 40 years. I've reviewed a great many albums for the station, writing pithy reviews on stickers. I've done over 1700 3+ hour radio shows. As a DJ, deciding what to play and when is 90% of what I do. Discernment is essential. I try to make my shows worth listening to, not just tolerate or have in the background like Muzak, elevator music.

Great song writers are a special breed. Some can only do it once, or a few times. Some others have more talent. Some you can depend on, most of their songs are well worth giving a close listen.

 

[Lost_in_the_HTTP]

^^^ One I completely mis read at first ....

People get ready,
there's a train a'comin'
Don't need no ticket,
just hop on board.


It's about the gospel train welcoming all without reservation.

I read it as THE train that comes for all of us, whether we want it to or not.