Artists like John Fogarty and Michael McDonald can express righteous anger and at the same time offer hope. Songs like Fortunate Son and Taking It to the Streets use the power of their lyrics to accomplish the former, and the vitality of their cadence to bring about the latter.
Wednesday, June 3, 2015
Righteous Anger
Rock and R&B have
an extraordinary ability to convey strong feelings, including anger.
That being the case, these genres have been part of many protest movements.
Ergo the list below: my nominations for the top ten protest songs of all time. They're listed in ascending order, from #10 to #1.
Ergo the list below: my nominations for the top ten protest songs of all time. They're listed in ascending order, from #10 to #1.
- What About Me (Quicksilver Messenger Service)
- I'd Like to Save the World (10 Years After)
- Run Through the Jungle (Creedence Clearwater Revival)
- Revolution (The Beatles)
- Give Peace a Chance (The Beatles)
- A Change is Going to Come (Sam Cooke)
- Turn the Page (Bob Seeger and the Silver Bullet Band)
- Taking It to the Streets (The Doobie Brothers)
- Fortunate Son (Creedence Clearwater Revivial)
- I Feel Like I'm Fixin' to Die (Country Joe and the Fish)
Toad and Mellenkamp
J Thadeus would have approved of these lyrics by John Mellenkamp (among our favorites of his):
You may drive around in your town
Ina brand new shiny car
Your face in the wind your haircut's in
And your friends think you're bizarre
You may find a cushy job and I hope that you go far
...
Forget all about that macho shit
And learn how to play guitar!
You may drive around in your town
Ina brand new shiny car
Your face in the wind your haircut's in
And your friends think you're bizarre
You may find a cushy job and I hope that you go far
...
Forget all about that macho shit
And learn how to play guitar!
Tuesday, March 31, 2015
Being Valedictorian
In my high school days, peers and counselors each told me, on more than one occasion, "You could be valedictorian if you wanted to." To which I invariably replied, "Yeah? So what?"
One counselor in particular induced a WTF reaction in me when she said "With a verbal SAT score of 760, your math score should be higher than 580." Like I said, WTF!?!
It took me several decades to realize that the stubbornness which is both my genetic legacy and one of my most common responses to opposition didn't serve me well in this context. What I've learned, through my efforts to practice Buddhism and just plain old-fashioned tolerance, is that I can be right, and feel myself to be doing right, without having to convince others. They're entitled to their opinions; I'm entitled to an enlightened self-interest and autonomy. And I have the responsibility of listening to others rather than dismissing their ideas out of hand ...
One counselor in particular induced a WTF reaction in me when she said "With a verbal SAT score of 760, your math score should be higher than 580." Like I said, WTF!?!
It took me several decades to realize that the stubbornness which is both my genetic legacy and one of my most common responses to opposition didn't serve me well in this context. What I've learned, through my efforts to practice Buddhism and just plain old-fashioned tolerance, is that I can be right, and feel myself to be doing right, without having to convince others. They're entitled to their opinions; I'm entitled to an enlightened self-interest and autonomy. And I have the responsibility of listening to others rather than dismissing their ideas out of hand ...
Friday, March 20, 2015
Only the Ball Was White
That, and one short, stocky, egalitarian spectator.
My dad had the opportunity to see some of the stars of Negro League baseball - men like Josh Gibson and Cool Papa Bell. Both Gibson and Bell played for the Homestead Grays, the steel town of Homestead being just across the Monongahela River from our stomping grounds in Braddock and North Braddock
Read about Bell, Gibson, and their colleagues in the book whose name is also the title of this post.
My dad had the opportunity to see some of the stars of Negro League baseball - men like Josh Gibson and Cool Papa Bell. Both Gibson and Bell played for the Homestead Grays, the steel town of Homestead being just across the Monongahela River from our stomping grounds in Braddock and North Braddock
Read about Bell, Gibson, and their colleagues in the book whose name is also the title of this post.
Thursday, March 12, 2015
Tikhii bitz!
That means be quiet in the dialect of Russian both sides of my family spoke. It also represents one of my biggest life challenges.
The joke in the family was that I didn't start talking until I was 3 years old, and I've barely stopped since. That wry observation also gave rise to one of my dear companion's best teases of me.
He bet me that I couldn't keep quiet for 5 minutes. He claimed and still claims that at about the 3-minute mark the veins in my neck were standing out.
Need I say that the 3-minute mark was as far as I got?
The joke in the family was that I didn't start talking until I was 3 years old, and I've barely stopped since. That wry observation also gave rise to one of my dear companion's best teases of me.
He bet me that I couldn't keep quiet for 5 minutes. He claimed and still claims that at about the 3-minute mark the veins in my neck were standing out.
Need I say that the 3-minute mark was as far as I got?
Monday, March 9, 2015
You Heard It Here First
The popular wisdom has it that there are no tied games in baseball. Well, ...
In Spring Training games, only the regulation nine innings are played. If, at the end of the ninth, the score is tied, it stays that way.
That's how BMB (Bodhisattva Mickie's Buccos) ended today (Monday, March 9th, 2015) with a 1-1 tie with the Milwaukee Brewers. Of course, one of the best center fielders to come along in decades, Andrew McCutchen, contributed to the sort-of-win.
Dive into Bucs history here. Listen ot one of the most famous moments in Bucs history here.
Oh, the Bucs are goin' all the way ...
In Spring Training games, only the regulation nine innings are played. If, at the end of the ninth, the score is tied, it stays that way.
That's how BMB (Bodhisattva Mickie's Buccos) ended today (Monday, March 9th, 2015) with a 1-1 tie with the Milwaukee Brewers. Of course, one of the best center fielders to come along in decades, Andrew McCutchen, contributed to the sort-of-win.
Dive into Bucs history here. Listen ot one of the most famous moments in Bucs history here.
Oh, the Bucs are goin' all the way ...
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