Ready or Not by the Fugees
I'd never choose this as my favorite song... but the President of the United States did back in August. Hey, I'm not going to argue with him since his taste doesn't appear to be horrible (forced, but not horrible). I guess in a way it's good that he isn't obsessing over his favorite song list ala Rob Gordon until there isn't even a list...
So in honor of President Barack Obama, today's song is his favorite song—the Fugees stellar "Ready or Not".
Congrats President Obama. You've brought change. You've brought hope. And you've done so in a poised and peaceful manner.
I'm proud to call you my President.
Showing posts with label Barack Obama. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Barack Obama. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Monday, January 19, 2009
Hit the Road Jack
Hit the Road Jack by Ray Charles
This is a gimme I know... but as GOB would say... COME ON!
Today is the last full day that George W. Bush will be President. Tomorrow morning, he'll be a former President, about 39 people in this country will be upset. The other 300 million of us will be happy. George is gone. Ding dong*... yada, yada, yada.
However, if nothing else, Bush will always have this moment:
It's one of the best moments of his Presidency—maybe THE best moment—not only does he not freak, he gets out of the way with ease both times. After I saw this, I thought for a few seconds that maybe I totally misjudged him. But then I reminded myself that his domestic policy has been a total disaster... and his foreign policy appears to be as bad.
But back to my real point: hit the road George, and don't you come back no more no more no more no more. And don't let the door hit you on the way out. And we're going to miss you like Poot missed The Clap. Only less. And no, we don't want you're advise ever again except when it comes to what NOT to do. And I look forward to watching "Frost/Bush" in 2033.
Hit.
The.
Road.
God, it feels good to be an American again. No more Canadian flags on backpacks when we go to Europe`! George W. Bush's time as President is over. And some how most of us lived to tell... but sadly we're all worse off than we were 8 years ago. That bums me out no matter what.
But he gone. A new day will come tomorrow, and George W. Bush won't be apart of it when the sun sets. That feels good. Really good.
* Can you imagine Hollywood remaking the Wizard of Oz?^
`Never did this.
^ Yes I realize they've already done this with Michael Jackson as the Scarecrow.
This is a gimme I know... but as GOB would say... COME ON!
Today is the last full day that George W. Bush will be President. Tomorrow morning, he'll be a former President, about 39 people in this country will be upset. The other 300 million of us will be happy. George is gone. Ding dong*... yada, yada, yada.
However, if nothing else, Bush will always have this moment:
It's one of the best moments of his Presidency—maybe THE best moment—not only does he not freak, he gets out of the way with ease both times. After I saw this, I thought for a few seconds that maybe I totally misjudged him. But then I reminded myself that his domestic policy has been a total disaster... and his foreign policy appears to be as bad.
But back to my real point: hit the road George, and don't you come back no more no more no more no more. And don't let the door hit you on the way out. And we're going to miss you like Poot missed The Clap. Only less. And no, we don't want you're advise ever again except when it comes to what NOT to do. And I look forward to watching "Frost/Bush" in 2033.
Hit.
The.
Road.
God, it feels good to be an American again. No more Canadian flags on backpacks when we go to Europe`! George W. Bush's time as President is over. And some how most of us lived to tell... but sadly we're all worse off than we were 8 years ago. That bums me out no matter what.
But he gone. A new day will come tomorrow, and George W. Bush won't be apart of it when the sun sets. That feels good. Really good.
* Can you imagine Hollywood remaking the Wizard of Oz?^
`Never did this.
^ Yes I realize they've already done this with Michael Jackson as the Scarecrow.
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
#1 -- THE Best Song of 2008
Mansard Roof by Vampire Weekend
In the words of the immortal Hawk Harrelson, "sit back, relax, strap it down" 'cus this one is gonna be long.
Hope: I see a Mansard Roof through the trees
When historians finally get around to writing about 2008, there will be a bunch of things to focus on... and who knows what event will end up being the most important. It might be Obama. It might be the events on Wall Street. It could be something else that slipped through the cracks and the awareness of most journalists. We won't know for a while.
But as I sit here on the last day of 2008, it is hope that shall forever be my memory of this year. Sure Obama and his peeps capitalized on this shit from the very beginning. But the hope went beyond Obama, and then came back to him. See for some of us, 2008 meant one thing... Bush and Cheney were gonna be gone. And there are few sentences that have ever been uttered and reached my ears that have sounded more beautiful. If you want to know why... go here.
Hope... as Andy wrote to Red, "Hope is a good thing—maybe the bet thing, and no good thing ever dies." I know there is 25% of the country that disagrees with me, but this country, this world, we had lost hope. And say what you will about Obama, and no matter what happens over the next four to eight years, the fact is he gave so many of us hope.
At the same time, what annoyed me about the entire Obama 'movement'—it's about us, but it's not.
Obama gives hope to the black man, the African-American professional female. To the Cuban and the Cambodian. To the Kenyan and the slumdog. To the hipster and the square, the mechanic and the millionaire. It's hope. To the 99% of the world that's never made it and never will make it, one of them really has. To the poorest of the poor, the tired, the poor, the huddled masses who yearn to breath free... for them? There is Obama. Barack Obama. Hope.
This song gives you hope from the very start, the organ, the drums, seeing that mansard roof trough the trees, the tops of buildings... these are all good things... all hopeful things. And when you hear this song? It sounds wonderful.
Change: I see a salty message written in the eves
So if Obama was all about hope for the world's poor and minorities... then why did so many white people get behind him?
We live in an ironic age. I don't know what this means, in fact, no one really no one knows what this means, but it just seems to be a fact of life that everyone under the age of 30 accepts. So while the rise of Obama is a shocker (a black man as President, wtf?), how he got to where he is should not.
What everyone overlooked and forgot about the past 12 months is that it was whites who put Obama in the race, it was whites that delivered Iowa, and it was whites who funded his campaign from the beginning. Everyone forgets this, but blacks weren't sold on Obama at first. It wasn't until Bill Clinton opened his mouth on January 24 that the entire Presidential race changed. It was at this point that the black community finally fully supported Obama and in the end that ended up being the race.
But it was the white supporters that were there form the begining. Sure not every white person was or is behind Obama, but they were on board before many blacks. This is of course, ironic (though John Roberts would not be able to tell me why because race doesn't exist in America).
So why did white support Obama? It's simple: CHANGE. He wasn't Bush, he wasn't Clinton, he wasn't an old white dude. He was different. He looked different, he said things in a way that sounded different, the words were fresh and brand new. Obama admitted things that no politician in America would ever say—Omar from The Wire was his favorite character for crying out loud! Not someone on CSI or Friends, OMAR!!! the greatest TV character ever—and to those of us in this ironic age this was refreshing. It wasn't forced and it was hard to turn what Obama said into cynical fodder. He was real. He was different, and he was gonna replace George W. Bush.
'Okay, Fair Blog Writer,' you say, 'what does this have to do with Vampire Weekend?' Simple, the band and this album was like nothing most of us had ever heard. 'What about Graceland and all those other Afro-rock bands?' Ahhh, sure Vampire Weekend isn't reinventing rock'n'roll; but rock'n'roll doesn't need to be reinvented. Just as democracy and the United States don't need to be reinvented, rock'n'roll just needed something different, something fresh—and it got it in Vampire Weekend. They sounded clean and fresh, they dropped lyrics that upper middle class white college kids were familiar with (Lil' Jon, the Oxford comma, Washington Heights, Louis Vutton, Benetton, Cape Cod...). They were real, yet different, and it's hard to be cynical about them... unless your a hipster, but of course then that's just irony being ironic. Got it? Good.
Bailout: The Argentines collapse in defeat
My favorite line in the song. Why? Because the Argentines are good at two things and bad at two things.
The Two Things Argentines are good at:
1) Beef
2) Soccer
The Two Things Argentines are bad at:
1) Military victories
2) Capitalism
So naturally the Argentines collapse in defeat... along with much of the capitalistic world. This mess didn't start in 2008 (you could argue that this started in the early 1970s), but it came to ahead this year. The world as we knew it almost ceased to exist. And who knows, maybe by 2010 it will cease to exist. But today? The world of capitalism that we live in is still here no matter what they're saying in Lower Manhattan. We came close to collapse but between bailouts and—maybe—luck it looks like the world will survive for another few decades.
'Okay fine, my fair blogger, you've made a ton of connections from the lyrics of this song to the most important events of 2008, but why is this the #1 song?'
That's easy. It's awesome. It's got a great beat. The hook is killer. The rift, the strings, the crisp Afro-pop guitar, the keyboard, the drums... it is all so wonderful. So pleasant. So hopeful. Different from everything else out there today even if it isn't brand new. It's just good. The first song of the first major album of 2008, it set the tone—knowingly or not—of bailouts, change, and hope.
And hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things and no good thing ever dies.
In the words of the immortal Hawk Harrelson, "sit back, relax, strap it down" 'cus this one is gonna be long.
Hope: I see a Mansard Roof through the treesWhen historians finally get around to writing about 2008, there will be a bunch of things to focus on... and who knows what event will end up being the most important. It might be Obama. It might be the events on Wall Street. It could be something else that slipped through the cracks and the awareness of most journalists. We won't know for a while.
But as I sit here on the last day of 2008, it is hope that shall forever be my memory of this year. Sure Obama and his peeps capitalized on this shit from the very beginning. But the hope went beyond Obama, and then came back to him. See for some of us, 2008 meant one thing... Bush and Cheney were gonna be gone. And there are few sentences that have ever been uttered and reached my ears that have sounded more beautiful. If you want to know why... go here.
Hope... as Andy wrote to Red, "Hope is a good thing—maybe the bet thing, and no good thing ever dies." I know there is 25% of the country that disagrees with me, but this country, this world, we had lost hope. And say what you will about Obama, and no matter what happens over the next four to eight years, the fact is he gave so many of us hope.
At the same time, what annoyed me about the entire Obama 'movement'—it's about us, but it's not.
Obama gives hope to the black man, the African-American professional female. To the Cuban and the Cambodian. To the Kenyan and the slumdog. To the hipster and the square, the mechanic and the millionaire. It's hope. To the 99% of the world that's never made it and never will make it, one of them really has. To the poorest of the poor, the tired, the poor, the huddled masses who yearn to breath free... for them? There is Obama. Barack Obama. Hope.
This song gives you hope from the very start, the organ, the drums, seeing that mansard roof trough the trees, the tops of buildings... these are all good things... all hopeful things. And when you hear this song? It sounds wonderful.
Change: I see a salty message written in the evesSo if Obama was all about hope for the world's poor and minorities... then why did so many white people get behind him?
We live in an ironic age. I don't know what this means, in fact, no one really no one knows what this means, but it just seems to be a fact of life that everyone under the age of 30 accepts. So while the rise of Obama is a shocker (a black man as President, wtf?), how he got to where he is should not.
What everyone overlooked and forgot about the past 12 months is that it was whites who put Obama in the race, it was whites that delivered Iowa, and it was whites who funded his campaign from the beginning. Everyone forgets this, but blacks weren't sold on Obama at first. It wasn't until Bill Clinton opened his mouth on January 24 that the entire Presidential race changed. It was at this point that the black community finally fully supported Obama and in the end that ended up being the race.
But it was the white supporters that were there form the begining. Sure not every white person was or is behind Obama, but they were on board before many blacks. This is of course, ironic (though John Roberts would not be able to tell me why because race doesn't exist in America).
So why did white support Obama? It's simple: CHANGE. He wasn't Bush, he wasn't Clinton, he wasn't an old white dude. He was different. He looked different, he said things in a way that sounded different, the words were fresh and brand new. Obama admitted things that no politician in America would ever say—Omar from The Wire was his favorite character for crying out loud! Not someone on CSI or Friends, OMAR!!! the greatest TV character ever—and to those of us in this ironic age this was refreshing. It wasn't forced and it was hard to turn what Obama said into cynical fodder. He was real. He was different, and he was gonna replace George W. Bush.
'Okay, Fair Blog Writer,' you say, 'what does this have to do with Vampire Weekend?' Simple, the band and this album was like nothing most of us had ever heard. 'What about Graceland and all those other Afro-rock bands?' Ahhh, sure Vampire Weekend isn't reinventing rock'n'roll; but rock'n'roll doesn't need to be reinvented. Just as democracy and the United States don't need to be reinvented, rock'n'roll just needed something different, something fresh—and it got it in Vampire Weekend. They sounded clean and fresh, they dropped lyrics that upper middle class white college kids were familiar with (Lil' Jon, the Oxford comma, Washington Heights, Louis Vutton, Benetton, Cape Cod...). They were real, yet different, and it's hard to be cynical about them... unless your a hipster, but of course then that's just irony being ironic. Got it? Good.
Bailout: The Argentines collapse in defeat
My favorite line in the song. Why? Because the Argentines are good at two things and bad at two things.
The Two Things Argentines are good at:
1) Beef
2) Soccer
The Two Things Argentines are bad at:
1) Military victories
2) Capitalism
So naturally the Argentines collapse in defeat... along with much of the capitalistic world. This mess didn't start in 2008 (you could argue that this started in the early 1970s), but it came to ahead this year. The world as we knew it almost ceased to exist. And who knows, maybe by 2010 it will cease to exist. But today? The world of capitalism that we live in is still here no matter what they're saying in Lower Manhattan. We came close to collapse but between bailouts and—maybe—luck it looks like the world will survive for another few decades.
'Okay fine, my fair blogger, you've made a ton of connections from the lyrics of this song to the most important events of 2008, but why is this the #1 song?'
That's easy. It's awesome. It's got a great beat. The hook is killer. The rift, the strings, the crisp Afro-pop guitar, the keyboard, the drums... it is all so wonderful. So pleasant. So hopeful. Different from everything else out there today even if it isn't brand new. It's just good. The first song of the first major album of 2008, it set the tone—knowingly or not—of bailouts, change, and hope.
And hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things and no good thing ever dies.
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
A Change Is Gonna Come
A Change Is Gonna Come by Sam Cooke
I submit this without comment today. Sam's voice says it best.
I submit this without comment today. Sam's voice says it best.
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