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Date: Mon, 1 Aug 1994 00:41:53 -0500
From: de l`abattoir <del>
Subject: Fishian Politics
BertieV[at]-remove-aol.com concerning "why vote for the lesser evil" on the t-shirt
> I'd STRONGLY like to voice an opinion AGAINST anything political on the shirt.
> in over ten years of listening to and loving his
> music, this is the only truly major complaint I've ever had about him.
John, i understand your concerns - i wouldn't want anything stupid
or personally offensive to end up on my sleeve, either.
could you help by giving some citations?
i will start by clarifying some things as i understand them..
off the top of my head, these tunes may be interpretted as being political:
Jazz Butcher -v- Prime Minister
it is taking a piss. implies that criminals could
run the government. same era as Death Dentist and other
sing-along tunes.
Next Move Sideways
he is bewildered with the changes due to governmental policies
occuring around him and he is powerless to change them.
no recommendation as to retribution, just observation.
Hysteria
he has a distaste for aspects of life on the West Coast.
i interviwed pat in 1989, and remember confronting him with the
visciousness of this song. he argued that, yes, there are
bad things there, so he will tell them (book burnings, etc),
but he also tells the good ("what for did we come here? i guess
we came here to learn"). although Hysteria may be a place,
it may also be his reaction: admittedly hysterical.
New Invention
thatcherite politics as a "bad cover version" of reganite
politics. why import Axl Rose?
Line Of Death
this song came out BEFORE the gulf war, though just by months.
Filth
same vein. it is obvious there is loathing for the military.
let's make generalizations about the dupe in the submarine.
Kids In The Mall
well, it reads line newspaper reports of changes to
capitalism in the old red state. is it a good thing?
perhaps you can count Bubonic Plague and Daycare Nation as being somewhat
political, as they fall into the standard JBC "report aspects of what
we see". he's a vegetarian, and it slips out in tunes, too.
i would fault the guy if he were to write obvious statements
(vote Demo/Commie!). but it appears to me that he is just "reporting"
(filtered, sure) life around him.
"why vote for the lesser evil" (and "no more years") are actually taken
from a joke/radical Californian political party flyer from the previous
US election. i was led to believe that it was not his own view, and he
wondered how these people would react when they found their beloved slogan
had been lifted.
i think it would be good to hear pat's defense of these charges,
as others here have had issue with ambiguous lyrics (Re: President Chang).
-david
"you're only as good as your last god damned mistake" - bark psychosis