Best/Favorite Songs of great social and political import.........

OW38B
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Edited Date/Time 4/28/2024 9:29am

This should be interesting look into the psyche of your average Vital MXer...

=========================================================

Janis Joplin-Mercedes Benz

I'd like to do a song of great social and political import
It goes like this
Oh Lord, won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz?
My friends all drive Porsches, I must make amends
Worked hard all my lifetime, no help from my friends
So, oh, Lord, won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz?
Oh Lord, won't you buy me a color TV?
Dialing For Dollars is trying to find me
I wait for delivery each day until three
So, oh, Lord, won't you buy me a color TV?
Oh, Lord, won't you buy me a night on the town?
I'm counting on you Lord, please don't let me down
Prove that you love me and buy the next round
Oh, Lord, won't you buy me a night on the town?
Everybody
Oh, Lord, won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz?
My friends all drive Porsches, I must make amends
Worked hard all my lifetime, no help from my friends
So, oh Lord, won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz?
That's it

 

 

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Spurdo
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4/28/2024 10:30am

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OW38B
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4/28/2024 10:48am
Spurdo wrote:

For those of us not familiar, can you help a brother out with some context, please?

sumdood
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4/28/2024 10:56am
Spurdo wrote:

OW38B wrote:

For those of us not familiar, can you help a brother out with some context, please?

Squint your eyes, the bass player turns into Jesus

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The Shop

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4/28/2024 11:37am
 

 

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308
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4/28/2024 11:48am
 

 

308
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4/28/2024 11:52am Edited Date/Time 4/28/2024 12:00pm
 

 

 

 

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4/28/2024 12:05pm

How about Jefferson Airplane White Rabbit

"Feed your head" (learn something)

Lyrics

One pill makes you larger
And one pill makes you small
And the ones that mother gives you
Don't do anything at all
Go ask Alice
When she's ten feet tall

And if you go chasing rabbits
And you know you're going to fall
Tell 'em a hookah-smoking caterpillar
Has given you the call
Call Alice
When she was just small

When the men on the chessboard
Get up and tell you where to go
And you've just had some kind of mushroom
And your mind is moving low
Go ask Alice
I think she'll know

When logic and proportion
Have fallen sloppy dead
And the White Knight is talking backwards
And the Red Queen's off with her head
Remember what the dormouse said
Feed your head
Feed your head

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sumdood
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4/28/2024 12:26pm Edited Date/Time 4/28/2024 12:29pm

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/IP6OGmRZbb8?si=llnnMh7PAw1I8oIL" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Here's a super important song about rising prices

Well I went up dancing up in Encinitas, thought I'd kick up my heels

Myrtle Diesel was playing a gig and it sounded like a helluva deal

I was low on cash I was high on weed, looking for women and more

My eyes were shining and my toes were tappin' as I hit the bar room door

It cost a dollar a half just to get inside, dollar eighty to free my mind 

Hadn't been there but just five minutes, and I was ten dollars behind

Well I thought these prices seem awfully high, I spoke up to the barkeep

He just grinned his grin and wiped his chin and said honky tonks aint cheap

He said honky tonks aint cheap no more, and dancing don't come free

Gotta pay the fiddle for to tune your head, and part of the price pays me

He said country music is hot right now, the bands got a steady beat

So Encinitas aint cheap no more, and dancing don't come free

Well I spied a lady sitting across the room, thought I'd ask her to dance

Shined my boots and I slicked my hair, straightened my coat and pants

Well the band was hot but the lady was hotter, I knew I had me a score

Thought I'd buy a couple of rounds, and waltz her right out the front door

Well the drinks kept coming and my money kept going, she kept throwing em down

I know no more money, then no more honey, and I just bought my last round

I said well lets dance, she said one more drink, I said lord have pity on me

She just grinned her grin and wiped her chin and said I don't dance for free

She said Encinitas aint cheap no more, and I don't dance for free

Gotta pay the fiddle for to tune your head, and part of the price pays me

She said country music is hot right now but not as hot as me

So Encinitas aint cheap no more, and I don't dance for free 

 

OW38B
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4/28/2024 12:43pm
Spurdo wrote:

OW38B wrote:

For those of us not familiar, can you help a brother out with some context, please?

sumdood wrote:

Squint your eyes, the bass player turns into Jesus

Sorry Bro not seeing it. Huh

OW38B
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4/28/2024 12:44pm
308 wrote:
   
 

 

Nice, forgot about that one.

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plowboy
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4/28/2024 12:50pm

Not sure about "great" but I remember a Vietnam protest song "Tame the Lion".  It was memorable to me at the time..."72 I think.

TXDirt
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4/28/2024 12:54pm Edited Date/Time 4/28/2024 12:56pm

Without a doubt I think this is the best political song ever made. And is in my top 50 all time songs.

 

 

 

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sumdood
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4/28/2024 1:02pm
OW38B wrote:
Sorry Bro not seeing it. 

Sorry Bro not seeing it. Huh

It takes awhile, give it some time and then blink your eyes really fast, see if that works  

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OW38B
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4/28/2024 1:05pm
OW38B wrote:
Sorry Bro not seeing it. 

Sorry Bro not seeing it. Huh

sumdood wrote:

It takes awhile, give it some time and then blink your eyes really fast, see if that works  

Are you high Bro? Seems like you are no?

OW38B
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4/28/2024 2:06pm

Bob Dyan - Desire - Hurricane

Pistol shots ring out in the barroom night
Enter Patty Valentine from the upper hall
She sees a bartender in a pool of blood
Cries out, "my God, they killed them all"
Here comes the story of the Hurricane
The man the authorities came to blame
For somethin' that he never done
Put in a prison cell, but one time he coulda been
The champion of the world
Three bodies lyin' there, does Patty see
And another man named Bello, movin' around mysteriously
"I didn't do it" he says, and he throws up his hands
"I was only robbin' the register, I hope you understand"
"I saw them leavin'" he says, and he stops
"One of us had better call up the cops"
And so Patty calls the cops
And they arrive on the scene
With their red lights flashin' in a hot New Jersey night
Meanwhile, far away in another part of town
Rubin Carter and a couple of friends are drivin' around
Number one contender for the middleweight crown
Had no idea what kinda shit was about to go down
When a cop pulled him over to the side of the road
Just like the time before and the time before that
In Paterson that's just the way things go
If you're black you might as well not show up on the street
'Less you want to draw the heat
Alfred Bello had a partner and he had a rap for the cops
Him and Arthur Dexter Bradley were just out prowlin' around
He said "I saw two men runnin' out, they looked like middleweights
Jumped into a white car with out-of-state plates"
And Miss Patty Valentine just nodded her head
Cop said "Wait a minute, boys, this one's not dead"
So they took him to the infirmary
And though this man could hardly see
They told him he could identify the guilty men
Four in the mornin' and they haul Rubin in
They took him to the hospital and they brought him upstairs
The wounded man looks up through his one dyin' eye
Say "Why'd you bring him in here for? He ain't the guy"
Here's the story of the Hurricane
The man the authorities came to blame
For somethin' that he never done
Put in a prison cell, but one time he coulda been
The champion of the world
Four months later, the ghettos are in flame
Rubin's in South America, fightin' for his name
While Arthur Dexter Bradley's still in the robbery game
And the cops are puttin' the screws to him, lookin' for somebody to blame
"Remember that murder that happened in a bar?"
"Remember you said you saw the getaway car?"
"You think you'd like to play ball with the law?"
"Think it mighta been that fighter that you saw runnin' that night?"
"Don't forget that you are white"
Arthur Dexter Bradley said "I'm really not sure"
The cops said "A poor boy like you, could use this break
We got you for the motel job and we're talkin' to your friend Bello
You don't want to have to go back to jail, be a nice fellow
You'll be doin' society a favor
That son of a bitch is brave and gettin' braver
We want to put his ass in stir
We want to pin this triple murder on him
He ain't no Gentleman Jim"
Rubin could take a man out with just one punch
But he never did like to talk about it all that much
"It's my work" he'd say, "and I do it for pay
And when it's over I'd just as soon go on my way"
Up to some paradise
Where the trout streams flow and the air is nice
And ride a horse along a trail
But then they took him to the jailhouse
Where they try to turn a man into a mouse
All of Rubin's cards were marked in advance
The trial was a pig-circus, he never had a chance
The judge made Rubin's witnesses drunkards from the slums
To the white folks who watched, he was a revolutionary bum
And for the black folks he was just a crazy nigger
No one doubted that he pulled the trigger
And though they could not produce the gun
The D.A. said he was the one who did the deed
And the all-white jury agreed
Rubin Carter was falsely tried
The crime was murder one, guess who testified?
Bello and Bradley and they both baldly lied
And the newspapers, they all went along for the ride
How can the life of such a man
Be in the palm of some fool's hand?
To see him obviously framed
Couldn't help but make me feel ashamed to live in a land
Where justice is a game
Now all the criminals in their coats and their ties
Are free to drink martinis and watch the sun rise
While Rubin sits like Buddha in a ten-foot cell
An innocent man in a living hell
Yes, that's the story of the Hurricane
But it won't be over 'til they clear his name
And give him back the time he's done
Put in a prison cell, but one time he coulda been
The champion of the world

 

 

Spurdo
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4/28/2024 2:43pm

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sumdood
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4/28/2024 4:00pm
OW38B wrote:
Sorry Bro not seeing it. 

Sorry Bro not seeing it. Huh

sumdood wrote:

It takes awhile, give it some time and then blink your eyes really fast, see if that works  

OW38B wrote:

Are you high Bro? Seems like you are no?

I hope you are, kind of scary if not Cheerful

1
OW38B
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4/28/2024 4:17pm
sumdood wrote:

It takes awhile, give it some time and then blink your eyes really fast, see if that works  

OW38B wrote:

Are you high Bro? Seems like you are no?

sumdood wrote:
I hope you are, kind of scary if not 

I hope you are, kind of scary if not Cheerful

And you came in this thread why again?

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308
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4/28/2024 4:23pm
Spurdo wrote:

They really lit that place up 🔥

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sumdood
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4/28/2024 4:52pm
OW38B wrote:

Are you high Bro? Seems like you are no?

sumdood wrote:
I hope you are, kind of scary if not 

I hope you are, kind of scary if not Cheerful

OW38B wrote:

And you came in this thread why again?

I felt bad watching you talk to yourself in your Jackie Boy Smith post.  

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plowboy
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4/28/2024 4:54pm
Spurdo wrote:

Probably the coolest meme ever.

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4/28/2024 9:17pm
plowboy wrote:

Not sure about "great" but I remember a Vietnam protest song "Tame the Lion".  It was memorable to me at the time..."72 I think.

I feel like all the music from that era is it. Pin all of them on the wall and throw a dart. Great music from that time and coalesced a whole generation. That ironically are now "the man" they protested against. Oh how times change.

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OW38B
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4/28/2024 9:22pm
sumdood wrote:
I hope you are, kind of scary if not 

I hope you are, kind of scary if not Cheerful

OW38B wrote:

And you came in this thread why again?

sumdood wrote:

I felt bad watching you talk to yourself in your Jackie Boy Smith post.  

Stay tuned!

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Magoofan
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4/28/2024 10:34pm Edited Date/Time 4/28/2024 10:35pm

...and now for something totally out of left field: 

 

Depeche Mode -  People are people.   (A blast from the 80's new-wave past....and the only difference is the world is full of so much more hate now)

People are people, so why should it be
You and I should get along so awfully?
People are people, so why should it be
You and I should get along so awfully?



So we're different colours and we're different creeds
And different people have different needs
It's obvious you hate me, though I've done nothing wrong
I've never even met you, so what could I have done?



I can't understand
What makes a man
Hate another man
Help me understand


People are people, so why should it be
You and I should get along so awfully?
People are people, so why should it be
You and I should get along so awfully?


(Help me understand)
(Help me understand, help me understand)


Now you're punching and you're kicking and you're shouting at me
I'm relying on your common decency
So far it hasn't surfaced, but I'm sure it exists
It just takes a while to travel from your head to your fists (Head to your fists)


I can't understand
What makes a man
Hate another man
Help me understand


People are people, so why should it be
You and I should get along so awfully?
People are people, so why should it be
You and I should get along so awfully?



I can't understand
What makes a man
Hate another man
Help me understand
I can't understand
What makes a man
Hate another man
Help me understand
I can't understand
What makes a man
Hate another man
Help me understand
I can't understand
What makes a man
Hate another man
(Why should it be?)
Help me understand
I can't understand
What makes a man
(Why should it be?)
Hate another man
Help me understand
I can't understand
What makes a man
(Why should it be?)
Hate another man
Help me understand

 

Well done video...

 

 

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indy_maico
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4/29/2024 5:13am
 

 

I was thinking of things that I hate to do
Sex with your parents
Things you do to me or I do to you, baby
Sex with your parents

Something fatter or uglier than rush rambo
Something more disgusting than robert dole
Something pink that climbs out of a hole
And there it was - sex with your parents

I was getting so sick of this right wing republican shit
These ugly old man scared of young tit and dick
So I try to think of something that made me sick
And there it was - sex with your parents

Now these old fucks can steal all they want
And they can go and pass laws saying you can't say what you want
And you can't look at this and you can't look at that
And you can't smoke this and you can't snort that
And me baby - I got statistics - I got stats
These people have been to bed with their parents

Now I know you're shocked but hang and have a brew
If you think about it for a minute you know that it's true
They're ashamed and repelled and they don't know what to do
They've had sex with their parents
When they looked into their lovers eyes they saw - mom
In the name of the family values we must ask whose family
In the name of the family values we must ask - senator

It's has been reported that you have had
Illegal congress with your mother, - sex with your parents
Ah, senator
An illegal congress by proxy is a
Pigeon by any other name, - sex with your parents

Senators you polish a turd
Here in the big city we got a word
For those who would bed their beloved big bird
And make a mockery of our freedoms
Ah, without even using a condom
Without even saying "no"
By God we have a name for people like that
It's - hey motherfucker

2
7I3N
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4/29/2024 5:49am
 

 

"Lives In The Balance"
 

I've been waiting for something to happen
For a week or a month or a year
With the blood in the ink of the headlines
And the sound of the crowd in my ear
You might ask what it takes to remember
When you know that you've seen it before
Where a government lies to a people
And a country is drifting to war

And there's a shadow on the faces
Of the men who send the guns
To the wars that are fought in places
Where their business interest runs

On the radio talk shows and the T.V.
You hear one thing again and again
How the U.S.A. stands for freedom
And we come to the aid of a friend
But who are the ones that we call our friends
These governments killing their own?
Or the people who finally can't take any more
And they pick up a gun or a brick or a stone
There are lives in the balance
There are people under fire
There are children at the cannons
And there is blood on the wire

There's a shadow on the faces
Of the men who fan the flames
Of the wars that are fought in places
Where we can't even say the names

They sell us the President the same way
They sell us our clothes and our cars
They sell us every thing from youth to religion
The same time they sell us our wars
I want to know who the men in the shadows are
I want to hear somebody asking them why
They can be counted on to tell us who our enemies are
But they're never the ones to fight or to die
And there are lives in the balance
There are people under fire
There are children at the cannons
And there is blood on the wire
RACERX69
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4/29/2024 6:54am
 

 

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AZ35
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4/29/2024 7:42am

Not political, but a huge socially impactful song was Toby Keith's "Courtesy of the Red, White, and Blue" that he put out after 9/11.

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