New political song I wrote
kenny olav
Posts: 3,319
Consider this a political rant set to music. So naturally it's appropriate for the political board of a band's website. I wrote a song called American Town five years ago and was never satisfied with the lyrics. The music, while only employing three chords, was pretty good, so finally I wrote some new lyrics and recorded them yesterday. I also remixed the whole thing, giving the acoustic guitar more treble and toning down some of the high-end from the lead electric guitar. It took me a good five hours to do everything, so I hope you all enjoy it. But really what I am looking for is crticism, mainly on the merits of the lyrics and of the politics (I'm an anarchist whom for practical purposes votes Dem, maybe Green). And as for the vocals, I realize I wasn't born to sing.
So its the first song here:
http://www.myspace.com/kennyolavmusic
The other songs are crap. Don't listen to them.
Lyrics:
Build us a new shopping mall
And wave your flags all around
But don't bother to fix the dam
If your home is safe and sound
Life in an old American town
We keep you afloat
But you just watch us down
You say
I'm rich because you work hard for me
You can take the bus, I'll take my humvee
I pollute the air that your kids have to breathe
I will never be you, and you will never be me
Home of the brave, land of the free
Free to take advantage of the brave and the weak
They still believe they have democracy
But a slave to money can never be free
Why won't you spare us the misery?
Is our humanity in doubt?
And please exuse if we resort to violence
But fighting your war is the safest way out
Life in a new American town
For every soul that's abused
We'll pay for it somehow
You say
We don't work for you, get the hell off our streets
Go find a job or faith-based charity
Or go ahead and take strike three
That'll give you maximum security
You'll never find the change you need
We got other Projects for this (New American) Century
We pull the strings of 'democracy'
And you're a slave to the money that has set us free
Really, I just think its a pretty good song and I want to show off.
Although, I probably can make it better.
So its the first song here:
http://www.myspace.com/kennyolavmusic
The other songs are crap. Don't listen to them.
Lyrics:
Build us a new shopping mall
And wave your flags all around
But don't bother to fix the dam
If your home is safe and sound
Life in an old American town
We keep you afloat
But you just watch us down
You say
I'm rich because you work hard for me
You can take the bus, I'll take my humvee
I pollute the air that your kids have to breathe
I will never be you, and you will never be me
Home of the brave, land of the free
Free to take advantage of the brave and the weak
They still believe they have democracy
But a slave to money can never be free
Why won't you spare us the misery?
Is our humanity in doubt?
And please exuse if we resort to violence
But fighting your war is the safest way out
Life in a new American town
For every soul that's abused
We'll pay for it somehow
You say
We don't work for you, get the hell off our streets
Go find a job or faith-based charity
Or go ahead and take strike three
That'll give you maximum security
You'll never find the change you need
We got other Projects for this (New American) Century
We pull the strings of 'democracy'
And you're a slave to the money that has set us free
Really, I just think its a pretty good song and I want to show off.
Although, I probably can make it better.
Post edited by Unknown User on
0
Comments
"Hey, if God didn’t want me to wear it so much, he wouldn’t have made them rock so hard."
Nice. Honesty. That's what I'm looking for.
But I am also looking for reasons why you don't like it.
Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth.
-Oscar Wilde
They did a moderately funny, but very true, send up of protest songs...
It was Hugh Laurie (House) with a guitar and harmonica... he started off with "This is a protest song" and would sing a list about all that was wrong with the world... and just as the chorus would come up, it would be somehing like "And all we need to do, is....." and trail off into an unintelliable mumble.
This repeated 3 or 4 times throughout the course of the song.
He must be a liberal artist. Long lists of whats wrong, uber short list of solutions.
www.myspace.com/jensvad
Was it by any chance this song? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rj4jDQrjBco It's from an old episode of A Bit of Fry and Laurie. When I saw it back then, I almost needed diapers
They love you so badly for sharing their sorrow, so pick up that guitar and go break a heart - Kris Kristofferson
♪♫♪♫♫
I'm a bit confused about the lyrics. Are they supposed to be from one guy's (or group's) perspective or different ones? I'm not a native speaker, so that's not critizism, just a question.
I hope I was not too harsh on your singing, I guess I worked for a record company for too long
They love you so badly for sharing their sorrow, so pick up that guitar and go break a heart - Kris Kristofferson
No, I agree with you on the singing. I try my best. I would rather be the guitar player in a band and have a real singer sing my lyrics (and/or his/hers).
It's from two perspectives. Basically a poor person's plea, and then a response by the wealthy elite.
Thanx Kenny, I thought it was great. Your getting yourself quite a library of songs!
The first step in becoming a "good" singer is realizing that you can sing. That goes for anyone. Just add a dash of soul, and let the melody and rhythm of the lyrics bake for a while and it will settle in a groove.
Take "the" out of this lyric:
I will never be you, and you will never be me
Home of the brave, land of the free
Free to take advantage of the brave and "the" weak
Then things like that will come out sharp and cool!
I'd like to see just the whole name in this lyric:
We got other Projects for this (New American) Century
Like this?:
Project for Nu Mer Can Cen tur-eee
You should polish up everything you have and put it on an album soon. I use N-TRACK.
Since the crew of Saturday Night Live lacks the time to write good skits and take ten minutes to read up on our solutions to the worlds problems I should start working them into my songs. Just have to find things that rhyme with:
1. Sustainable farmin' / community supported agriculture (CSA"s) http://www.localharvest.org/csa/
2. Diplomacy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahatma_Gandhi
3. Peace http://www.jesusdressup.com/
4. Changing your Diet http://vegweb.com/
5. Voting with your dollar by making informed purchases
6. Instant Runoff Voting / Ranked Choice Voting http://www.fairvote.org/
7. Open Debates http://www.dixon4senate.com/pressroom/debate_exclusion_statement.shtml
8. Political adds off TV
9. Eliminate private campaign contributions
10. Publicly Funded campaigns http://www.washclean.org/
11. Working together to agree on solutions to solve the worlds problems by no longer tolerating consciously deceptive and immoral conversation strategies in public and private dialogue ( politics )
12. Investment in alternative energy technologies http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2005/s2372.htm (the sun)
13. Or just see: http://www.greenparty.org/values.php
'If my fuckin' ex-wife told me to take care of her dog while her and her new boyfriend went to Honolulu, I'd tell her to go fuck herself." -The Dude
Whisky Drinker, Non-Hunter from Denver.
'If my fuckin' ex-wife told me to take care of her dog while her and her new boyfriend went to Honolulu, I'd tell her to go fuck herself." -The Dude
Whisky Drinker, Non-Hunter from Denver.
But I think you do have something good, keep at it.
surprise! I disagree with all of it!!! but i think it's cool to not only use your talent to transform your opinions into something you feel good about, but that you share them...i'd rather hear about it, than not hear about it...so thanks for sharing.
And I try to make this kind and clear
Just a chance that maybe we'll find better days
Cuz I don't need boxes wrapped in strings
And desire and love and empty things
Just a chance that maybe we'll find better days
Try heroin out..
08/02/07 - LOLLA!!!
It just sounds unpolished. Try tightening it up a little bit and keep working on it. It's a pretty solid foundation, if you ask me.
'If my fuckin' ex-wife told me to take care of her dog while her and her new boyfriend went to Honolulu, I'd tell her to go fuck herself." -The Dude
Whisky Drinker, Non-Hunter from Denver.
Find one article that he's posted about bush planning 9/11.
As I was recording this yesterday, I ended up changing about 1/3 of the lyrics I had before I started recording. And I also changed the way I sang fairly dramatically. Which is why I wanted some feedback, because I feel a need to make it better, but I'm not sure how. I want to make sure the message of the song comes across as strong as possible, and not sound too preachy. Still, I'm a lot happier with it than what it was like originally.
No one has criticized the guitar solos... so I don't know if that means that they're good, or if there's just indifference towards them. The guitar I recorded it with was a piece of shit, but it was all I had. I don't like the tone very much but I think I got some soul out of it.
Seriously, instead of jumping all over the guys back why not offer some insightful advice on what he can do to fix it instead of proving that you're the biggest fucking asshole the world has ever known.
No dude, he's right, I have definately supported the idea that Bush played some kind of role in 9/11 on many occasions. I haven't yet settled on an exact position but I think the top brass in the Bush administration at least knew about it ahead of time and probably played a direct role. I strongly doubt the 'no plane' and 'controlled demolition' theories.
Anyway... there are plenty of threads about that... This thread is about whether or not my music sucks...
Well I wanted to make it clear that I wasn't talking about people who are both brave and weak. (If its possible to be both?) I think actually I should take out the word "weak" because it confuses the issue. However, I needed something to rhyme with "free". And I thought about making the line "free to take advantage of their bravery" ... but would the listener know who "their" refers to? The point of this line is to say that the government takes advantage of brave men who join the military, using them as pawns in their wars for profit. Just as they also take advantage of the "weak"... which could refer to many different people... or all people who are powerless. So it was a line I wrestled with greatly, and if I think of a better way to say it, I will.
As for the other line, maybe I should add 'New American' to it but I couldn't figure out how to sing it... it made the line too long. Although I just thought of it a way I could do it. hmmm.... I also wasn't sure if I wanted to make a direct reference to PNAC or just leave it as a semi-vague nod.
Yep.
Addition of a round chourus and an acoustic solo would be appropriate!
'If my fuckin' ex-wife told me to take care of her dog while her and her new boyfriend went to Honolulu, I'd tell her to go fuck herself." -The Dude
Whisky Drinker, Non-Hunter from Denver.
But I still think it's fairly good.
Even in Bushleaguer, one has to kind of sit down and figure out exactly what Eddie is trying to say. It's real abstract and open to interpretation. That's what makes it art. "A happening tailpipe of a party" That's really putting the whole pollution/oil company perspective into a single line. That's what makes it genius.
But, I give you props for posting it.
http://forums.pearljam.com/showthread.php?t=272825
I do like the guitar though. Almost reminiscent of Neil Young. You say the electric was a crappy guitar, but I like the scratchy tone. The acoustic sounds a bit flat and empty to me though. I don't suppose you have a dobro or something lying around that you could beef it up with?
-C Addison