Oliver Trager’s book, Keys to the Rain: The Definitive Bob Dylan Encyclopedia, mentions that some have criticized this song as sexist. Indeed, music critic Tim Riley makes that accusation in his book, Hard Rain: A Dylan Commentary, singling out lyrics like “a woman like you should be at home/That's where you belong/Taking care of somebody nice/Who don't know how to do you wrong.” However, Trager also cites other interpretations that dispute this claim.[7] Some have argued that “Sweetheart Like You” is being sung to the Christian church (“what's a sweetheart like you doing in a dump like this?”), claiming that Dylan is mourning the church’s deviation from scriptural truth.
(Track of the Day archive here. Access it through Spotify here. Submit via hello@)
For our new series of songs themed on presidential candidates, readers have already submitted ones for Bernie Sanders and Ted Cruz. Today a reader sends “Donald Trump’s theme song,” which should be taken tongue in cheek:
Speak English or Die is the debut studio album by the crossover thrash band Stormtroopers of Death (S.O.D.), released in December 1985. The albumhas sold over 1 million copies worldwide. The album had some controversy due to the politically incorrect lyrics. Bassist Dan Lilker stated, “The lyrics were never intended to be serious, just to piss people off.”
His bandmate Scott Ian expanded on that sentiment:
We weren’t trying to do anything when we made that record. We wrote a bunch of fucking ridiculous songs that made us laugh. The whole twenty-two minutes, or whatever it is, is just a big inside joke. And it worked; it fucking worked. And people… Well, not everybody, ‘cause some people hated it. Some people thought we were racist, and those people are stupid. But a lot of people got the joke all over the planet and laughed along with us, and it was fucking awesome.
(Track of the Day archive here. Access it through Spotify here.)
“Joan of Arc” by Arcade Fire is way too perfect as a theme song for Ted Cruz coming out of the Iowa caucuses. There are quite a few songs about Joan out there—two operas, a musical, various pop songs from Leonard Cohen to Madonna—but this one is about how much hatred she inspired in others even though she was proven to be right in the end.
You had a vision they couldn’t see so
They put you down
But everything that you said would happen
It came around
And they’re the ones that put you down
'Cause they got no heart
But I'm the one that will follow you
You’re my Joan of Arc
I suspect Cruz isn’t quite ready to be burned at the stake for his beliefs, but his followers do seem to believe he has a direct line to G-d.
If you have a song you think fits a theme of one of the presidential candidates: [email protected].
Now that the presidential race is in full swing, I think it’s only fitting that each candidate gets a theme song that’s truly representative. This 1974 gem from 10cc is the perfect fit for Bernie. Delightfully bouncy (I love that time change in the middle), and the lyrics belie the cheery music:
Did your money make you better?
Are you waiting for the hour
When you can screw me?
‘Cos you’re big enough
To do the Wall Street Shuffle
Let your money hustle
Bet you’d sell your mother
You can buy another
Feel the Bern indeed!
What a great idea from our reader, picking a song that represents each candidate; what’s yours? Drop me an email with a brief explanation and I’ll post the best ones. There are/were a ton of GOP candidates (Jim Gilmore? “Who Are You?”), so this could turn into a great long series.
Eliza Hardy Jones opened for Grace Potter last weekend in Austin before joining the main act as the keyboardist. Her voice is captivating, drifting between soothing and haunting. The second line of “Criminal”—“I’m a liar, I’m a fraud, I’m a criminal at heart”—hooked me, and it kicks off my new favorite album for wet, dreary afternoons, like the one in D.C. today.
I think Jack Johnson’s “You Remind Me of You” fits well in your “songs inspired by parenthood” playlist. The lyrics are self-deprecating from the point of view of Jack/Daddy (not far off from Paul Simon in “St. Judy’s Comet”), and they cleverly radiate love for both mother and daughter. It’s a very sweet and comforting message for a younger child. Plus, my kids love singing the “ba-du, ba-du, ba-dus.”
Full lyrics below:
Well, your mama made you pretty
And your mama made you sweet.
Your daddy gave you daydreams
And more cushion in your seat.
Your mama gave you those windows
To your beautiful soul.
Your daddy’s got more love for you
Than you could ever know.
You remind me of you.
Yes, you do now.
You remind me of you.
Yes, you do.
Well your mama made a promise
That your daddy’s gonna keep.
Forever’s how long
Your mamas going to love your…
Daddy made you messy,
And your mama made you neat.
Forever’s how long your daddy’s gonna love your…
Mama made a clone
So she won’t be alone
When the boys and me are getting
So out of control.
You remind me of you.
Yes, you do now.
You remind me of you.
Yes, you do.
Thank you for creating and curating this list of parenthood songs; my wife and I love it! (Also, Track of the Day is great for this non-musical pleb : )
Check out Everclear’s “Father of Mine” and Harry Chapin’s “Cats in the Cradle.” Both songs slay me … but hey, I’ve got absentee-dad issues. Since I’m so damn determined to break the cycle with my two miraculous sons, these songs hit me HARD. I have to spend several minutes afterwards just collecting my shit.
Full lyrics for Chapin’s song below:
My child arrived just the other day
He came to the world in the usual way
But there were planes to catch, and bills to pay
He learned to walk while I was away
And he was talking 'fore I knew it, and as he grew
He'd say, "I'm gonna be like you, dad
You know I'm gonna be like you."
And the cat's in the cradle and the silver spoon
Little boy blue and the man in the moon
"When you coming home, dad?" "I don't know when
But we'll get together then
You know we'll have a good time then."
My son turned ten just the other day
He said, "Thanks for the ball, dad; come on, let's play
Can you teach me to throw?"
I said, "Not today, I got a lot to do."
He said, "That's okay."
And he walked away, but his smile never dimmed
And said, "I'm gonna be like him, yeah
You know I'm gonna be like him."
And the cat's in the cradle and the silver spoon
Little boy blue and the man in the moon
"When you coming home, dad?" "I don't know when
But we'll get together then
You know we'll have a good time then."
Well, he came from college just the other day
So much like a man, I just had to say
"Son, I'm proud of you. Can you sit for a while?"
He shook his head, and he said with a smile
"What I'd really like, dad, is to borrow the car keys
See you later; can I have them please?"
And the cat's in the cradle and the silver spoon
Little boy blue and the man in the moon
"When you coming home, son?" "I don't know when
But we'll get together then, dad
You know we'll have a good time then."
I've long since retired, and my son's moved away
I called him up just the other day
I said, "I'd like to see you if you don't mind."
He said, "I'd love to, dad, if I could find the time
You see, my new job's a hassle, and the kid's got the flu
But it's sure nice talking to you, dad
It's been sure nice talking to you."
And as I hung up the phone, it occurred to me
He'd grown up just like me
My boy was just like me
And the cat's in the cradle and the silver spoon
Little boy blue and the man in the moon
"When you coming home, son?" "I don't know when
But we'll get together then, dad
We're gonna have a good time then."
I really appreciate the variety of music you spotlight each day. “Roll, Truck, Roll” was especially touching. And now for something completely different ...
“X-Ray Visions” by the band Clutch has great riffs, but it’s not over the top, a la most heavy metal today. The lyrics pay homage to Philip K. Dick, my favorite sci-fi writer of all time. The video has nice callouts as well—the briefcase with Marlboros (Dick’s smoke of choice), the token with New Frontier, while not exactly mentioned in “A Scanner Darkly” evokes it nicely, and the female in the #5 capsule recalls a character in “The Divine Invasion.”
Here’s a footnote to your posting of “This Land Is Your Land” you may find interesting. This part you may already know: Woody Guthrie was a registered Communist, that by “This Land Is Your Land” he meant literally that there should be no such thing as private property, and that he wrote the song specifically as a rebuttal to the explosive popularity of Irving Berlin’s “God Bless America.”
Here’s the footnote: In 1989, the Grammy Awards put Guthrie’s recording into the “Grammy Hall Of Fame,” a category reserved for material that existed before the Grammys existed or that in retrospect was embarrassingly ignored. Then in 1999, they included the recording in a 4-CD set called The Ultimate Grammy Box.
But they censored it!
They edited out the verse, as most performers always have, that most obviously makes Guthrie’s intentions clear. I found this doubly hypocritical, because the late ‘90s was a period when the music industry was screaming about censorship and the attempt to curtail free expression.
Here are the two versions of the song. First, the complete original. The relevant verse begins at about 1:30. [Embedded above]
And here is the version that was on the Grammy CD, with verses reshuffled, the refrain repeated, the relevant verse gone, and a fadeout at the end:
That’s what got my attention when I first heard this version; songs that fade at the end did not exist in 1947, and someone like Guthrie would never have considered ending a song that way.
Update from a reader, James Napoli: “Here’s an oral history that gives the full backstory to how Bernie Sanders came to record a reggae version of that song with a bunch of Vermont musicians back in 1987.”
Texas singer-songwriter Jacob Metcalf just released his debut album, Fjord. The album, imagined over the span of a decade, features material written during Jacob’s travels across five continents. In his words:
I daydreamed about returning to the States as an old man. Of course, in a sense it was just a boyish stunt, full of naiveté, but it instilled in me the values of being generous with others and living on next to nothing.
What strikes me the most with Jacob Metcalf’s work is the comforting familiarity that emanates from the songs. Yet Fjord never sounds like a pale, copy, imitation, or reproduction of any work, but more like a truthful, honest, and genuine rendition of Metcalf’s vision of cinematic-folk. Including rich yet simple and effective arrangements that involve cellos, violins, horns, each and every song off the album are beautiful, both on a lyrical and a musical level: Jacob Metcalf’s craftsmanship cannot be disputed. He knows what he is doing and he is doing it well.
Have a song that reminds you of travels, near or far? Email us at [email protected].
Martina McBride’s “Independence Day,” which is really about a domestic violence survivor finally killing her abuser, was tastelessly co-opted and manipulated by Sean Hannity [when he adopted it as the theme song for his radio show].
Gretchen Peters, who wrote the song, dislikes Hannity but was unable to prevent him from using it. Instead, she donated the royalties to liberal activist groups such as MoveOn.org and PFLAG. Peters did the same when Sarah Palin used “Independence Day” at the 2008 vice-presidential debate.
Another reader, David Berzonsky, keeps a great thread going:
For ironically misunderstood patriotism, I offer you the entire John Cougar Mellencamp catalog, specifically “Pink Houses,” used in every truck commercial since the ‘80s, but really a Midwestern version of Malvina Reynolds’s “Little Boxes.” I really feel bad for this great musician and poet, with his subtle and sad critiques of small-town life, being co-opted by right-wing American nationalism.
“Pink Houses” was used by both the 2008 McCain campaign and the National Organization for Marriage, but Mellencamp, an outspoken political liberal, got them both to cease. (David Graham has a great piece about the perennial battle between musicians and the politicians who co-opt their songs.) Another bit of trivia on “Pink Houses”:
Mellencamp has stated many times since the release of “Pink Houses” that he's unhappy with the song's final verse. At an October 2014 press conference, he stated: “A long time ago, I wrote a song called 'Pink Houses.' Now when I hear that song, all I can think is: 'Why didn’t I do a better job on the last verse?' If I had written it today, the last verse would’ve had more meaning.”
The full lyrics:
There's a black man with a black cat
Living in a black neighborhood
He's got an interstate running' through his front yard
You know, he thinks, he's got it so good
And there's a woman in the kitchen cleaning' up evening slop
And he looks at her and says:
"Hey darling, I can remember when you could stop a clock"
Oh but ain't that America, for you and me
Ain't that America, we're something to see baby
Ain't that America, home of the free, yeah
Little pink houses for you and me, oh for you and me
Well there's a young man in a T-shirt
Listenin' to a rock 'n' roll station
He's got a greasy hair, greasy smile
He says: "Lord, this must be my destination"
'Cause they told me, when I was younger
Sayin' "Boy, you're gonna be president"
But just like everything else, those old crazy dreams
Just kinda came and went
Oh but ain't that America, for you and me
Ain't that America, we're something to see baby
Ain't that America, home of the free, yeah
Little pink houses, for you and me, oh baby for you and me
Well there's people and more people
What do they know, know, know
Go to work in some high rise
And vacation down at the Gulf of Mexico
Ooo yeah
And there's winners, and there's losers
But they ain't no big deal
'Cause the simple man baby pays the thrills,
The bills and the pills that kill
Oh but ain't that America, for you and me
Ain't that America, we're something to see baby
Ain't that America, home of the free, yeah
Little pink houses for you and me, ooo, ooo yeah
Ain't that America, for you and me
Ain't that America, hey we're something to see baby
Ain't that America, oh the home of the free,
Yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah
Little pink houses babe for you and me, ooo yeah ooo yeah
