An Election Night Playlist

I put this list together last night with help from a few close friends. It reflects an almost instinctual reaction that life is pretty bad right now in the USA. But on an even cursory look, I have to admit that compared to the rest of the world, the USA still has it damn good in terms of material goods.

But in terms of political dialog, respect, and basic human values, this country has a lot of work ahead. And I say that regardless of who wins this election. We have always had a lot of work. As Fannie Lou Hamer once said to the Credentials Committee of the Democratic National Convention, describing her harrowing experience of being beaten in a Mississippi jailhouse “I’m sick and tired of being sick and tired.” And yet she and others kept working, and keep working to this very day.

I hear things from my friends like “I just want to see it all burn down” and I don’t know if they have thought that joke all the way through. Burning it all down means that the weakest among us lives without any safety net. My daughter, an 8 year old, would be exposed to the ravages of the world. And if you want to see what burning it all down might look like, take a day to read The Road by Cormac McCarthy.  I feel like it might change your mind.

This song list is my version of burning it all down. It’s meant to be cathartic. Burning it all down is the lazy way to start over, instead of simply burning it all down, we need to build it all back up. So I listen to the songs about destroying the world, about the world ending, about revolution and pain, but then I do something about it. Obviously voting is but one step in that process.

Stay safe out there friends. Here’s a link to the Spotify playlist if you want to listen along.

The revolution will not be televised – Gil Scott-Heron

The revolution will not show you pictures of Nixon
Blowing a bugle and leading a charge by John
Mitchell, General Abrams and Spiro Agnew to eat
Hog maws confiscated from a Harlem sanctuary.

Tales of the future – Vangelis

Your racist friend – They Might Be Giants

It was the loveliest party that I’ve ever attended
If anything was broken I’m sure it could be mended
My head can’t tolerate this bobbing and pretending
Listen to some bullet-head and the madness that he’s saying

Satisfaction – Devo

Tweet tweet tweet – Sleaford Mods

I get a shaky start to Tuesday
Sweat stains on bus windows
I don’t want ruin my coat but
That’s just the way it goes
“Cheer up you fuckin’ bastard!”
That’s all I heard him say
St George’s flag on white van
This is the human race

Paranoid – Black Sabbath

Bulls on parade – Rage Against The Machine

White riot – The Clash

All the power’s in the hands
Of people rich enough to buy it
While we walk the street
Too chicken to even try it

Search and destroy – Iggy Pop

And I’m the worlds forgotten boy
The one who’s searchin’, searchin’ to destroy

It’s the end of the world as we know it – R.E.M.

We got the neutron bomb – The Weirdoes

We got the neutron, don’t understand you don’t know what you mean
We don’t want you we want your machines
United Nations and NATO won’t do
It’s just the red, white and blue

I’m a potato – Devo

Rockets rust, attack, decay
Things fall apart while spacemen play
Now daddy zero drops his brown
Go down, go down, go down

To de-evolution
Self execution
No solution
I’m a spudgun, I’d like to shoot ’em all

We want a rock – They Might Be Giants

Everybody wants a rock
To wind a piece of string around

Everybody wants prosthetic
Foreheads on their real heads

Bigmouth strikes again – The Smiths

Holiday in Cambodia – Dead Kennedys

Psycho killer – Talking Heads

I can’t seem to face up to the facts
I’m tense and nervous and I can’t relax
I can’t sleep ’cause my bed’s on fire
Don’t touch me I’m a real live wire

Bomb the Russians – Fear

All gone dead – Subhumans

Another Fourth of July… ruined – Big Business

One good afternoon they all climb to the hilltop
Scratching their heads
Ain’t in terms with the truths they no longer believe
“How did this happen? Where did we stumble?”
Slowly they started to see
Cold and forever their faith was divided
And sends them away from the place
They wanted to be

American ruse – MC5

Boot stamping on a human face forever – Bad Religion

Don’t ever dare to hope, he said
So I’m never let down too bad
I know there’s nowhere to go
So I’ll just stay here, instead
He knew better than to pull at a thread
They unravel like the thoughts in his head
He looked out, it filled him with dread
And this is what he said

Going underground – The Jam

What you see is what you get
You’ve made your bed, you’d better lie in it
You choose your leaders and place your trust
As their lies wash you down and their promises rust
You’ll see kidney machines replaced by rockets and guns
And the public wants what the public gets

Fuck the world – The Queers

The world (is going up in flames) – Charles Bradley

It’s killing me
Oh babe
Come on babe, get it right

Gotta be
A better world
Gotta make it baby
Gotta make it right

Qq