Valentine's Day 5: Talkin' 'bout a (Democratic) revolution

 

Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. CCCXCVIII--Tracy Chapman: Talkin' 'bout a Revolution

 For a fan of folk music such as myself, this week's featured artist's initial album--which seemed to come out of nowhere--was a breath of fresh air.  While the genre itself had had its heyday (if you can call it that) in the late fifties and early sixties, it was nice to see an artist that believed (and she still does) in the power of the acoustic guitar and songs that focused on social issues in, of all things, the midst of the Greed Is Good decade.  And though I haven't followed her career quite as closely as I would have liked, from my half-assed weekly research I have found that she is still fighting the good fight....

Tracy Chapman was born in the cradle of rock and roll, Cleveland, Ohio, in 1964, and by the age of eight was playing guitar and writing songs.  Discovered by the son of a publishing executive while playing a gig when she attended Tufts University, Chapman made it perfectly clear to the music industry that she was going to make music on her own terms, and she has stuck to her guns.  At 24 she released her first album, and it went on to sell over six million copies.  Chapman has had two more albums that went platinum and has won four Grammys.  For her career, she has released eight studio albums (with three hitting the top five on the LP charts), and 22 singles (with two top ten songs).  Chapman is well known for her social activism and has done charity work and/or helped to raise awareness for AIDS, poverty, and human rights, among others.

"Talkin' 'bout a Revolution" was released in 1988 as the second single from her fittingly entitled debut LP, Tracy Chapman.  The single hit #75 (with a bullet!) on the Billboard Hot 100, while the album went on to become her only #1 on the Billboard 200 (which is one more than 99% of us have).

At a time when the Reagan Devolution had gutted the poor and the middle class, when greed and material excess were beginning the trajectory that lead us to today's record levels of income inequality, "Talkin' 'bout a Revolution" was a rousing shot of hope.  Yes, it was a bit on the rose-colored side (think we're still waiting for poor people to get their share), but it was--and still is--a call to arms that we can never stop pursuing.  Chapman's throaty vocals over its electrifying melody gives the song an anthemic quality that roars defiance in spite of the odds.  Throw in the whisper in the lyric "Sounds like a whisper" and Chapman referencing the Salvation Army as "Those armies of salvation" and you have not one but two of those moments that always make a song just a little bit more special.  In the end, it's everything the most hopeful of protest songs could ever be....

Lyric Sheet:  "Poor people gonna rise up/And get their share/Poor people gonna rise up/And take what's theirs..."

Enjoy:

Republican = Traitor

Peace,

emaycee

It sounds like a whisper

Well, well, well...who would have thought five short months ago that the significant gains of the republicans in 2010 would be already be in jeopardy?  Thank you Govs. Scott of Florida, Snyder of Michigan, Kasich of Ohio, and Walker of Wisconsin for doing your best to hand us back the majority.

You can tell because old Nolan is bemoaning that nasty liberal media (which exists only in his fragile mind) for letting the unions get away with murder--murder, I daresay!--while the tea party was just crucified.  Was it just me or is there anyone on the entire planet earth who did not see the Hitler depictions, the armed citizenry, the shouting down of politicians by the union rallies and protests?  Old Nolan did, though--maybe old Nolan needs to visit his doctor pronto.  Methinks he's seeing things.  Old Nolan also claims that the union movement has a history of violence--they sure do, if you count protecting themselves from the thugs hired by corporations in the days of yore to intimidate them.  I would also defy old Nolan to name the last time an American union got violent--he couldn't because unions are not stupid.  The quickest way to lose the support of the American people is to get violent.

The Free Press also jumped on the revolution bandwagon (well, as much as a vanilla flavored newspaper can) with this piece by Steven Thomma that shows how as union influence has waned since the 1980s (thanks, Ronald Reagan, you asshole) so has the financial power of the working men and woman of America.  Unfortunately, there is still work to be done--too many fault the government (not that it is completely without blame) when the bulk of the problem lies with the power of corporations and the wealthy to influence our democratic process and turn the distribution of wealth in this country completely in their favor, and at a rate that is unsustainable to our future well-being.  As Plutarch said, "An imbalance between rich and poor is the oldest and most fatal ailment of all republics."

It would also help if the traditional media would do its homework like Digby does--this whole notion that tea party members are anti-big business is a fallacy.  As Digby points out, they are little more than "willing serfs" who fellate at the altar of the wealthy.

More proof the revolution will be televised--enough signatures have been obtained in Wisconsin to start the recall process against one state senator.  Dan Kapanake, the pleasure has been all yours.  And the referendum process has already begun in Ohio to overturn Gov. Kasich's union busting bill--they have ninety days to collect 200,000 signatures (about 1 out of every eight who voted Democrat in the last Ohio election).

Still not convinced?  Check this out:  while doing "research" for this post, I looked up the lyrics to Tracy Chapman's "Talkin' 'Bout a Revolution" (thus the title to this post) and discovered that in the past ten months 70,000 have checked out the song's lyrics just on this one site.  Methinks I'm not the only one writing about a revolution these days.

Peace,
emaycee