{"id":7685,"date":"2014-09-20T18:58:52","date_gmt":"2014-09-20T18:58:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/2014\/09\/20\/saturday-night-at-the-oldies-the-left-has-had-all-the-best-songs\/"},"modified":"2014-09-20T18:58:52","modified_gmt":"2014-09-20T18:58:52","slug":"saturday-night-at-the-oldies-the-left-has-had-all-the-best-songs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/2014\/09\/20\/saturday-night-at-the-oldies-the-left-has-had-all-the-best-songs\/","title":{"rendered":"Saturday Night at the Oldies: The Left Has Had All the Best Songs?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Anarchist philosopher Robert Paul Wolff<\/a>, over at The Philosopher's Stone<\/em>, writes<\/a>,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

While I was making dinner, Susie put on a CD of Pete Seegar [sic] songs. I was struck once again by the oft-remarked fact that for half a century, the left has had all the good songs. That cannot be irrelevant.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

By the way, the old commie's name is 'Seeger' not 'Seegar.'  In the ComBox, some guy confuses him with Bob Seger! The Left has had all the good songs over the last 50 years?  Nonsense.  Here<\/a> are 50 counterexamples.<\/span><\/p>\n

The really interesting case is Bob Dylan.  The Left can of course claim the early topical songs such as "Only a Pawn in Their Game" and The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll<\/a>.  (Not that we contemporary conservatives don't take on board all that was good in these critiques of racism and Jim Crow.)  But it wasn't long before Dylan distanced himself from politics and leftist ideology, a distancing documented in My Back Pages<\/a>.  And then came the absurdist-existentialist-surrealist phase represented by the three mid-'sixties albums, Bring It All Back Home<\/em>, Highway 61 Revisited<\/em>, and Blonde on Blonde<\/em>.  After that, the motorcycle accident and another attitude adjustment culminating in a couple of masterful albums, John Wesley Harding <\/em>and New Morning<\/em>, in which religious and conservative themes come to the fore.<\/span><\/p>\n

I'll give just one example, Sign on a Window<\/a>, from the October 1970 album, New Morning<\/em>.  This marvellous version sung by Melanie Safka.  The song concludes:<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Build me a cabin in Utah<\/span>
Marry me a wife, catch  rainbow trout<\/span>
Have a bunch of kids who call me 'Pa'<\/span>
That must be what it's all about<\/span>
That must be what it's all about.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

To appreciate the full conservative flavor of this song, listen to it in the context of  Masters of War<\/a> from the protest period and It's Alright Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)<\/a> from the absurdist-existentialist-surrealist period.<\/span><\/p>\n

Now for a few tunes from the NRO list with the NRO write-up.<\/span><\/p>\n

1. Won\u2019t Get Fooled Again<\/a> by The Who.<\/strong><\/span>
The conservative movement is full of disillusioned revolutionaries; this could be their theme song, an oath that swears off na\u00efve idealism once and for all. \u201cThere\u2019s nothing in the streets \/ Looks any different to me \/ And the slogans are replaced, by-the-bye. . . . Meet the new boss \/ Same as the old boss.\u201d The instantly recognizable synthesizer intro, Pete Townshend\u2019s ringing guitar, Keith Moon\u2019s pounding drums, and Roger Daltrey\u2019s wailing vocals make this one of the most explosive rock anthems ever recorded \u2014 the best number by a big band, and a classic for conservatives.<\/span><\/p>\n

2.  Don\u2019t Tread on Me<\/a> by Metallica.<\/strong> A head-banging tribute to the doctrine of peace through strength, written in response to the first Gulf War: \u201cSo be it \/ Threaten no more \/ To secure peace is to prepare for war.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

3. 20th Century Man<\/a> by The Kinks.<\/strong> \u201cYou keep all your smart modern writers \/ Give me William Shakespeare \/ You keep all your smart modern painters \/ I\u2019ll take Rembrandt, Titian, da Vinci, and Gainsborough. . . . I was born in a welfare state \/ Ruled by bureaucracy \/ Controlled by civil servants \/ And people dressed in grey \/ Got no privacy got no liberty \/ \u2019Cause the 20th-century people \/ Took it all away from me.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

4. The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down<\/a> by The Band.  <\/strong>Despite its sins, the American South always has been about more than racism \u2014 this song captures its pride and tradition.<\/span><\/p>\n

5. Wake Up Little Susie<\/a> by The Everly Brothers. <\/strong>A smash hit in 1957, back when high-school social pressures were rather different from what they have become: \u201cWe fell asleep, our goose is cooked, our reputation is shot.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\nRelated articles<\/legend>\n
\n
\"\"<\/a>Saturday Night at the Oldies: Three Unforgettable Albums from 1970<\/a><\/div>\n
\"\"<\/a>Saturday Night at the Oldies: Lawrence Auster on Dylan<\/a><\/div>\n
\"\"<\/a>The 10 best Bob Dylan songs – number 4 – Just Like a Woman<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/fieldset>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Anarchist philosopher Robert Paul Wolff, over at The Philosopher's Stone, writes, While I was making dinner, Susie put on a CD of Pete Seegar [sic] songs. I was struck once again by the oft-remarked fact that for half a century, the left has had all the good songs. That cannot be irrelevant. By the way, … Continue reading “Saturday Night at the Oldies: The Left Has Had All the Best Songs?”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7685","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7685","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7685"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7685\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7685"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7685"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7685"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}