The incompetence of the Trump Administration has been staggering...
Keep in mind as our brutal national media glosses over the utter incompetence of the Trump administration over their first 100 days that the sole accomplishment they have--the confirmation of Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court--was accomplished only because they changed rules in the Senate that have stood the test of time for this nation for nearly 230 years.
Everything else they've tried has been either an utter failure or little more than another in a long line of sops to the wealthy.
What we have seen, though, is what we knew before The Idiot was elected: Donald Trump is a pig who is an embarrassment to everything America stands for.
When you think about the subjects of hit singles, it's unlikely that you'd imagine one with worrying (and with it, insomnia) as its theme. But that's just what this week's tune delves into, and in so doing created a mini masterpiece about the overwhelming nature of angst.
Men at Work are an abject lesson in Musical Success Cometh And Musical Success Goeth. Formed in 1978 in Melbourne, they released their first album (Business as Usual) at the end of 1981 and it went on to become an international success, reaching #1 on several countries' pop charts, spawning two #1 singles "Who Can It Be Now?" and "Down Under"--perhaps the best song written about a nation, ever), and winning them a Grammy for Best New Artist. Their second album was another international success garnering two more top ten singles. And then their third album...was a stiff and for all intents and purposes, other than the obligatory We Need Money Reunion Tours, Men at Work were finished. Still, they sold over thirty million records, Business as Usual was voted one of the 100 best Australian albums of all-time, "Down Under" is #4 on a list of Australia's greatest hits, and they made the American music industry take notice of bands coming out of Australia. Plenty of bands have done worse....
Released on their Cargoalbum, "Overkill" would reach #3 (with a bullet!) on the Billboard Hot 100 which is really kind of impressive considering its subject matter isn't the stuff hit singles are made of. The song does, though, capture well the way the worried mind races at night, especially when suffering the misery that is imsomnia: the walking around in the dark, the desperation of seeking some sort of relief, the exasperation when nothing works. Lead singer Colin Hay's (who is the one remaining constant in Men at Work--and can be called, without any negative connotations, a poor man's Sting) vocals perfectly embody the anguish of the fretful (especially after the instrumental break), and with a sinister sax, a heartbeat drum rhythm and matching guitar, "Overkill" becomes an ode to despair without sinking into despair itself. I have to admit that this is a song that grew on me over time (and even more so after a years long bout of insomnia)--it is a song of some intelligence and self-awareness and while not a ticket into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, certainly puts what could have been a One Hit Wonder band into the Could Have Been A Contender annals of Rock and Roll.
Lyric Sheet: "Day after day it reappears/Night after night my heartbeat shows the fear/Ghosts appear and fade away/Come back another day...."
There isn't much to laugh about politically these days, but news this week that Donald Trump's racist hotline, VOICE (which was set up so that people could document the virtually non-existent crimes committed by illegal aliens), was overwhelmed by so many very clever people documenting cases of crimes committed by space aliens brought a throaty chuckle from me.
Say what you will about the foibles of us Liberals, but we have a wicked sense of humor--and that might be the one thing that keeps us all sane for the next three and three quarters years.
This week's tune is part of what I had in mind when I started Friday Night Jukebox--a chance to feature songs that weren't hit singles, or may have been overlooked on albums both best selling and those that reached a smaller audience. And let's face it: as most albums only have a couple of hit singles (if that), we music fans spend an awful lot of time listening to and enjoying songs that no one (be it the artist or the record company or the producer, et al) thought had much of a chance at commercial success.
While The Decemberists (another in a long line of artists introduced to me by my daughter, via their song "July, July!") have been around for just north of sixteen years they are still comparatively new to many of the previous bands featured here. Named for an 1825 civilian insurrection in Russia, the Decemberists formed in 2000 and have been going strong since. They've released seven studio albums, 9 EPs, had a #1 album, earned a Grammy nomination, and have quite the reputation as live peformers, most notably for their stage show encores which act out historical events (usually with local roots) or the songs themselves, all with audience participation. They also get bonus points for being early supporters of one Barack Obama, who we miss as President more and more with each passing day.
Fun Fact: In 2004. the Decemberists released an EP called The Tain, which was an eighteen minute song divided into five parts which was loosely influenced by an Irish epic, Tain Bo Cualinge. Near as I can tell the Irish prose work had something to do with the stealing of cows, which may help to explain why there isn't much of an audience for epic mythology anymore. While definitely worth a listen, it's also not a song you want to listen to when you're in your happy place....
Released on their The King Is Dead(the title is said to be an homage to The Smiths' The Queen is Dead) LP in 2011, "June Hymn" is about the beauty of Mother Nature on an early summer day in the small town town of Springville Hill. It's a portrait of the little things--ivy growing, thrushes and wrens singing, the surprise and wonder of seeing a cardinal--all with an underlying question of whether the hymn is for the day or for a special someone (or both) who may (or may not) be in an emotionally stable place. It's as peaceful of a song as I can ever remember hearing--the lyrics are really stunning for a pop song in the way it captures the natural surroundings and beauty of individual moments, especially in reminding you of summer day in June. The music is, like the song, simple: a guitar, a harmonica (emaycee fave!), and a lightly strummed cello (I think). In the end it's a paean to the beauty of a simple world that isn't always so simple...and it gets extra props for being the only song I know of that uses the word "panoply"...
Lyric Sheet: "And you were waking/And day was breaking/A panoply of song/And summer comes to Springville Hill..."
What a day for Michigan--the two worst musicians to ever come out of the Wolverine state got their picture taken with the two worst leaders in the history of American politics!
Though if ever you wanted tips on how to be talentless and dim-witted, the Oval Office was the place to be today--four experts were on hand to share their expertise....
Once again, I don't want to take anything away from yesterday's results in GA-06--Jon Ossoff took a commanding percentage of the vote, he's running a spirited campaign, and Democrats seem genuinely enamored of both the man and his politics. And considering that republicans have held this seat since 1980, the percentage of the vote he had looks even better in retrospect.
But any way you slice it, Democrats once again did not win a House seat in a special election. And while we will have a runoff in June, the final tally shows that Democrats, even with Ossoff winning 48% (give or take) of the vote, did not rule the day in the election (while it was close, the final tally was R's 50, D's 49). Republicans will also have two months to collect and use tons of Koch Brothers money to crucify Ossoff while trying to win this seat yet again.
On the bright side, it's also two months for Donald Trump to keep fucking up. And Ossoff's opponent, Karen Handel, is notorious for a) losing elections, and b) being a sworn enemy of Planned Parenthood who would love nothing more than to energize lots and lots of women to keep Handel in Georgia.
But in the end, it's the South, and republicans will play their usual hand and make this race about God, gays, and guns.
And if I were a betting man, I'd wager that it's going to be enough in a state like Georgia to chalk up another loss for the Dems.
Let's see...can't repeal Obamacare, his tax reform (which wouldn't have helped his supporters much anyway) is already in the shitter, wall project going nowhere fast, Muslim ban failed miserably in the courts, lots of clueless billionaires appointed to administration position, and now it looks as if Trump is going to fill many positions with veterans of the George W. Bush administration, one of the most colossal failures in Presidential history.
So much for draining that swamp...
Have to give Trump credit, though, for capitalizing on that old P.T. Barnum adage (which he likely never said, but what the hell) about a sucker being born every minute.
Because it's beginning to look like his supporters are going to go down as the biggest political suckers in American history.
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.
