I read a short piece a short while back by Hunter from The Daily Kos that has really stuck with me in which he reports that according to a financial advice website, Bankrate, 61% of Americans do not have $1000 in the bank to cover an unexpected medical expense, and that in 2016, 10.5 million Americans fell into poverty because of medical bills.
Hunter asks if this is the best we can do and the best we can hope for (a resounding "Hell no!" is implied, I believe), and it got me to thinking that if ever there was a call to Democrats for resounding campaign issues, this is it. Because the republican plan is more or less "tough shit, you'll get over it," and this gives Democrats the chance to champion Medicare for All, the $15.00 minimum wage, and creating an economy where living month to month is the exception and not the rule.
And if we can actually pass them, and it causes the Koch Brothers heads to explode, all the better....
It can be hard sometimes, in our current political climate, to not wonder if the U.S. has finally jumped the shark as a nation and question whether it's all downhill from here on out. I'm not there myself--and might be too much of a pessimistic optimist to ever reach that point--but when you live in a nation where thirty-five percent of our people are willing to overlook the fact that our President may be in cahoots with a foreign adversary, you do have to question it. This week's tune looks at the opposite of Thunderclap Newman's call to arms and quietly contemplates the resignation of a weary people.
Paul Simon is another in a long line of artists featured here on Friday Night Jukebox whose career can't easily be summed up in a paragraph. Starting out with his work with Art Garfunkel as Tom and Jerry (with a couple of minor hits), moving into superstardom with Simon and Garfunkel, breaking up at the height of the band's popularity to go solo and continuing his success through the seventies, reinventing himself in the eighties with his foray into world music (among others), Simon has had quite the run. He's won 16 Grammys (three for album of the year), been elected into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for both Simon and Garfunkel as well as for his solo work, wrote and starred in a movie (One Trick Pony), created a Broadway musical (Capeman), and showed up on several different Rolling Stone All-time lists (album, guitarists, songwriter). This doesn't even count the numerous #1 albums, #1 singles, millions of records sold, and record breaking world tours. Needless to say, it adds up to a career resume that isn't surpassed by many (Dylan, Springsteen, Townshend, McCartney, and maybe a couple of others that don't immediately spring to mind).
Released in 1973 on his wonderfully titled There Goes Rhymin' SimonLP, "American Tune" was the third single from the album and peaked at #35 (with a bullet!) on the Billboard Hot 100. Despite its not being the most commercially successful single of his career, the song has become a fan favorite through the years and one of the most popular on his concert tours, both solo and with Art Garunkel.
Simon says he wrote "American Tune" in the aftermath of Richard Nixon's re-election in 1972, which may have been some serious prescience on Simon's part as it would be nearly two years before Watergate brought the Nixon administration to its knees. There's a certain resignation in the songs music and lyrics, though I've always thought the references to rest were more to rest up to fight another day rather than giving in to the powers that be. Still, Simon sings "But it's all right, it's all right" three times as he weaves his tale, and I don't think the line is an accident. Yes, we're all tired and weary, he seems to be saying, but we'll get there yet. To me, "American Tune" is ageless--in this, the era of Trump, we need all the hope we can get and this song, forty-five years down the road, reminds us that though we may not be forever blessed, we can still sing an American tune as we continue the unending struggle.
Lyric Sheet: "And I don't know a soul who's not been battered/And I don't have a friend who feels at ease/I don't know a dream that's not been shattered or driven to its knees/But it's all right, it's all right..."
Have you noticed, in the wake of the resistance of the students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School to business as usual for the NRA and its republican enablers, that the gun rights folks almost seem dumbfounded? You know what that is? That's the hippie finally punching back (metaphorically), and the bully not knowing what to do.
It won't mean squat if we can't vote the idiots out, but for the first time in my life it does seem possible that common sense gun legislation can get passed. And that's a hell of a first hurdle to get over in this country.
From what I've read (and I freely admit to not being a Constitutional scholar), treason is exceedingly hard to prove in a court of law, but given that there's even a chance the President of the United States colluded with a a known foreign adversary, why is it that this is not being broadcast and parsed as far and wide as is every idiotic tweet that Comrade Trump foists upon the citizens of this country?
As the dust settles from the Mueller probe, do not forget for one minute that our media was asleep at the wheel in 2003 when we were given out and out false reasons for the invasion of Iraq, completely missed the boat when our economy collapsed in the fall of 2008, and were more than happy to gloss over the fact that in the Presidential election of 2016 the republican candidate was an unqualified, unstable, racist, misogynistic dupe of America's richest 1%.
And remember that our media has shown again and again since Comrade Trump's election that the voices of the 30% of Americans who support Trump, the GOP base that has no problem with a foreign power interfering in our elections as long as their white nationalist agenda is pushed forward, are given much more credence than the voices of the 70% of us who think the man is a danger and an embarrassment to everything our nation stands for.
This week's tune remains as relevant today as it did when it was originally released--there is something in the air here in 2018 and it does smell like revolution (just ask the students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, FL)...
Thunderclap Newman was formed by Who mastermind Pete Townshend (who also produced their work) and its manager, Kit Lambert, in 1969 to showcase the talents of John "Speedy" Keen, a former roadie extraordinaire for the Who. The band had a short history--by 1971 they were done, having released just one album and embarking on just one short tour...and having a hit single that even nearly fifty years later is almost universally recognized. Sadly, all three of the band's original members--Speedy Keen, Andy "Thunderclap" Newman, and Jimmy McCulloch are no longer with us.
Fun Fact: Townshend played bass for the band on its recordings, under the pseudonym Bijou Drains (you got me...).
Released in 1969, "Something in the Air" was originally written by Keen for the movie The Magic Christian. It would go on to become #1 in England for three weeks, and hit #37 (with a bullet!) on the Billboard Hot 100. Thunderclap Newman's only album, Hollywood Dream, was released nine months after the single, and had virtually no commercial success. The band did have another minor hit in England with the song "Accidents"--which is most noted for rivaling only "Softly As I Leave You" for having the saddest subject matter of any song ever written....
"Something in the Air" is a literal and figurative call to arms--the world was changing and it was time to take it upon ourselves to make the world a better place. The music and instrumentation has an almost otherworldly quality to it--its boldness matches the boldness of the call to revolution. There's some nice guitar work by McCulloch (who was all of 16 at the time), and Keen's drumming helps to add to the song's power. There's a dandy piano break by Andy Newman about two thirds of the way into the song that is at times both beautiful and chaotic before the song breaks on through to the other side (to quote a phrase) and closes with an almost hopeful, somewhat prayer-like plea for us all to get it together and embrace the moment. It was a one-off moment of genius for Keen who had the good fortune to have Townshend's as a Muse--and they created a pop classic for the masses.
Liner Notes: "Because the revolution's here, and you know it's right/And you know that it's right/We have got to get it together/We have got to get it together now..."
Three notes on why economic inequality in America is going to end ugly:
Republicans have introduced over 50 bills in this Congress (a record) to limit ordinary Americans ability to sue corporations.
Republicans have done everything they possibly can to weaken the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau--which Democrats created to protect, again, ordinary Americans from the greed and incompetence of both Wall Street and Big Banks which crushed our economy and lead to the Great Recession in 2008.
Over 80% of the benefits in the republican tax cut passed this year go to the wealthiest 1% of Americans.
You cannot take away a people's right to redress, their right to be protected from the sickening excesses of Corporate America, and give even more money to the filthy rich without the anger of the masses eventually becoming overwhelming.
And when republicans want to know who to blame, they can look in the fucking mirror.
As we wade our way through another mass shooting, this time in Parkland, Florida, if you're a republican (since the NRA owns you) please spare me your thoughts and prayers, your calls for unity, your pro-life moralizing, and your phony speeches from Comrade Trump--if you're not willing to address the central issue--guns--it's just six tons of bullshit and you honest to goodness do not fucking care about any of the dead.
Because in the end, there's just a lot of innocent people whose lives have been cut tragically short because republicans have much more fealty to guns than they do to human beings.
I saw Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers for the first time in the summer of 1980, which was just a few months after the release of the album that would turn them into superstars, and just about the same time that "Refugee" was making its run up the charts. As you might expect, the song was one of the most anticipated of the night, and we all roared when the band broke into its intro...only to have Petty suddenly scream for the band to stop. He then proceeded to pace the stage, from one end to the other, staring into the crowd, looking as pissed off as a man can get, and I figured, "Great, one of the best songs of the night and some idiot decides now would be a good time to throw something at him." Petty stormed the stage for about thirty seconds and then walked up to the microphone and said, "This is America. It's a free country. You can stand up for this song if you want to...." and the band broke into the song again, from the beginning. In all the dozens of concerts I've seen through the years, I have never seen a crowd erupt into complete delirium quite like we all did at that moment.
Tom Petty's rock and roll dream began at the age of 11 in Gainesville, Florida when an uncle who was working on the set of the movie Follow That Dream introduced Petty to one Elvis Presley. And what a dream it became: Petty would go on to sell over 80 million records, releasing 13 albums with the Heartbreakers, three solo records, two late in career albums with his original band Mudcrutch, and two albums with superband The Traveling Wilburys (featuring Bob Dylan, George Harrison, Jeff Lynne, and Roy Orbison). Petty went on numerous world tours, and he and the Heartbreakers were also Dylan's back up band on one of his tours. They were elected into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2001, and also showed up on Rolling Stone's greatest artists and albums of all time. And truth be told, in the pantheon of emaycee's favorite rock and roll artists, he finishes just a half step behind Bruce Springsteen. Needless to say, his death last October, as I noted in a post at that time, was only the second time I cried at the passing of a celebrity (Muhammad Ali being the first).
Fun Fact: One of Petty's early guitar teachers was Don Felder, who would go on to have some fame of his own as the lead guitarist for a little band called The Eagles.
Released in 1979 on his classic LP Damn the Torpedoes(and what a classic album title that was), "Refugee" would go on to become the second biggest single of Petty's career (trailing only "Don't Do Me Like That" from the same album), eventually peaking at #15 (most assuredly with a bullet!). Through the years, it would eventually become Petty's signature song, and it's one of those rare cuts that remains fresh and vibrant even nearly forty years down the road.
In listening to it over the past several days, I think the aspect of the song that stands out the most was what a showcase it was--not just for Petty's wondrous vocals, but for the rest of the band as well. The song features stunning guitar work from Mike Campbell (as usual), some nice piano cut ins from Benmont Tench, and some pulsating drum work from Stan Lynch. I think the Heartbreakers, moreso than say, The E Street Band, tend to get overlooked a bit as far as great backing bands go (perhaps, in all honesty, because of their reserved nature--none of them have the colorful personality of a Clarence Clemons) but this song (as many others) really shows what a force they were in Petty's success. "Refugee" can also be noted as being one of several songs on Damn the Torpedoes in which at some point Petty barks out a raucous "Oh, oh, oh!" which I always wait for and thoroughly enjoy more than I probably should. It's the little things in life, my friends, the little things...
Lyric Sheet: "Somewhere, somehow, somebody must have kicked you around some/Who knows maybe you were kidnapped tied up/Taken away and held for ransom..."
It's easy to forget now that MTV has become whatever it is it's become (far too old to watch it anymore) but doesn't have much to do with music, that at one time it was a place where pop music geeks could go in the wee hours of the morning and find little pop gems...just like this week's tune.
Dwight Twilley is another in a long line of musicians who could have been a contender. While I'm only nominally familiar with his work, Twilley has been a critical favorite for many years and has a small but devoted fan base. Starting out in the thriving metropolis of Tulsa, Oklahoma (Twilley's career has taken him all over America, but he's settled down near his home), Twilley originally formed the band Oister with Beatle movie buddy Phil Seymour before the band went to L.A. (via Nashville and Tupelo, Mississippi), teamed up with Leon Russell, and became the Dwight Twilley Band. The band had a hit single in 1975 with "I'm on Fire" but couldn't mount much more and went their separate ways a few years later. Twilley went solo at that point, and had another hit single, "Girls," in 1984 (with Tom Petty, a longtime friend, performing backing vocals). Unfortunately, bad labels, bad timing, and plain old bad luck seemed to follow Twilley's successes and he never quite achieved the stardom some felt he had within him. Still, he released 4 albums with the Dwight Twilley Band and 25 solo albums (the latest in 2014) and is still performing some forty some odd years down the road. Not a bad gig if you can get it...
Alas, the story of "Somebody to Love" is not the stuff that dreams are made of. Originally released in 1979, it was supposed to be Twilley's breakout hit--and ended up being a dud. His label was so disappointed with its sales performance that they cancelled the album it was supposed to be released on (Blueprint), and Twilley moved on to a new label . Twilley took some songs from that album (including "Somebody to Love") and with a few new ones released Scuba Divers in 1982 (at which time I heard "Somebody to Love" in its MTV incarnation). The single did not become a hit the second time around, either.
It's really a shame it didn't--the song is anthemic in nature, and one with a discerning ear (well, at least me) can see it as the kind of song thousands of fans pack into an arena to hear every time Twilley tours. It's power pop in the Todd Rundgren and Cheap Trick (among many others) mold, featuring some solid guitar work from Twilley that turns it into rock and roll overdrive. The song is basically a call to arms--we all need somebody to love and Twilley outlines the many reasons we do (somebody to spend your money on, somebody to hold on tight to, somebody to break your heart) with "somebody to love" being crooned over and over in the background. And when Twilley sings the chorus and finishes the last "love" with a drawn out "la-ah-ah-ah-ove" it's pure pop heaven--which, come to think of it, pretty much perfectly describes "Somebody to Love."
Lyric Sheet: "Somebody to love/Somebody that you can depend on/One place in the sun/One feeling there's just no denying...."
When your ideas suck, you turn to voter suppression
Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was arrested this past weekend for organizing protests in favor of fair elections.
Let that sink in a moment: Donald Trump's BFF, Vladimir Putin, just had his political adversary jailed.
And do no shit yourselves for one minute: there is nothing, nothing, that republicans, from Donald Trump to your peckerwood GOP next door neighbor, would love better than to follow the Putin playbook and jail those of us who believe in the power of the ballot box, and who oppose living in their whitebread, June Cleaver, pray the gay away, Richie Rich utopia.
Am I the only one who has spent a chunk of this week, as we suffered through Trump's first SOTU (90 minutes of boredom and not a single shred of evidence he's interested in bettering any American's life other than his own), the post mortems of the SOTU (surprise: Trump still sucks!), and white nationalists creaming themselves because Trump said we're all Dreamers (what the fuck?), wondering just what might have been had we elected Hillary Clinton?
My guess is that history will remember it as the greatest missed opportunity in America's long and storied journey.
The average American gets paid just enough so he doesn't quit his job, and works just hard enough so he doesn't get fired.
"When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying the cross." Source unknown
Uncle emaycee Wants You For the Coming Class War! Enlist today....
Capitalism: Give a man a fish, feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you can exploit his labor, become filthy rich, and keep the poor bastard living paycheck to paycheck for the rest of his life.
