"Political Song 4 Grammy Winners 2 Sing" genre: Acoustic
	lo fi play (dial-up) hi fi play (broadband) download (3.4 MB)	email track to a friend	add to My.MP3
	I was inspired by the insipid, neutered proceedings of the 2003 Grammy Awards to write a song entitled “Political Song for Grammy Winners to Sing.” While it is most likely not quite smooth enough to satisfy today’s demanding pop audience, perhaps someone like songwriter of the year Jesse Harris can slick it down and add the catchy middle eight it needs to foster mass appeal. In the meantime, should you find any merit in the attempt, feel free to distribute it at will.
	Credits: Produced by Dave Mortenson, engineered by Mike Davison
	Story Behind the Song Major Label Music: More Effective Than State Censorship? “Freedom of speech” in popular music has come to be symbolized largely by the expression of obscenities. While this is in itself nothing new (witness 2 Live Crew in the 1980s), it seems to have become epidemic in that it has virtually drowned out any other use of “free speech.” Consider, if you will, the music of such luminaries as Eminem or Kid Rock. It certainly is true that in the past, figures such as Lenny Bruce used obscenity as a tool to expose greater truths and to expand the permissible language of entertainment --- but in the major label rock, rap and R&B of today, there is often no further goal than the obscenities themselves. Even when modern pop music is “smooth” (and free of coarse vulgarities strictly for their own sake), it is in fact so infuriatingly bland as to be obscene anyway. Why does this matter, you might wonder, and what on earth does it have to do with the anti-war movement or the struggle for social justice? Think back to last week for a moment, to the 45th Annual Grammy Awards. There were, that I saw, three “anti war” statements amid the drivel: two so garbled as to be nearly incoherent, and Sheryl Crow sporting a “No War” guitar strap that, due to her long hair, looked more like “O War.” But, I hear you ask, isn’t pop music about entertainment? And inspiration? After all, Neil Portnow, Recording Academy president, stated at the Grammys, “As we navigate through global issues unlike those during any time in history…we will do our part to provide the emotional touchstones which have always made our art form unique.… I send this message…to the billions of citizens of the world whose lives continue to be uplifted by the music that we create.” And: “Tonight our brilliant and talented artists pledge to deliver what they do best: to inspire, energize and comfort people everywhere with the timeless magic that is music.” Well, tell that to a mother and father in Serbia, Iraq, or Afghanistan --- or in fact any country that has been saturated by U.S. depleted uranium missiles --- who have just had the grotesque misfortune to have given birth to a pitiful, misshapen lump of human flesh instead of a child. Feeling blue? Why, just put on John Mayer’s award-winning “Your Body is a Wonderland” and you’ll be feeling inspired and energized in no time. Never mind that you’ll most likely never have a normal child and that you’ll probably die of cancer --- feel uplifted! Which brings me to my point. As the Montreal instrumental band Godspeed You! Black Emperor were kind enough to demonstrate on the back cover of their latest release, all the major labels can be tied to the same multi-national conglomerates that control the defense industry. Which makes it unsurprising that almost no pop stars are established enough to make anti-war statements over the presumable objections of their corporate masters --- Sheryl Crow or Madonna aside. What is surprising, however, is that all the current crop of “stars” seem to care about is themselves --- despite the worldwide devastation the current administration threatens to unleash. Norah Jones seemed as surprised as anyone would be to receive so many Grammy awards, but all she could muster was some sort of comment about “weird times.” Or, as Kid Rock said on Monday, “Why is everybody trying to stop the war? George Bush ain’t been saying, ‘You all make shit records.’ Politicians and music don’t mix. It’s like whisky and wine.” Note to Bob Dylan, Phil Ochs, Bruce Cockburn, Michael Franti, Bob Marley, The Minutemen, Billy Bragg, Bad Brains, Michelle Shocked, Bob Geldof, Woody Guthrie, Discharge, Gil Scott-Heron, Public Enemy, John Lennon, Joe Strummer, The Last Poets: it’s like whisky and wine. Duh! Let’s face it: if you’re a musician not on a major label, it’s very, very difficult to reach a mass audience and be heard, no matter what you wish to say. If the “artists” signed to major labels whose job it is to “inspire, energize and uplift the billions of citizens of the world” have nothing to say about pressing current events, such as the looming destruction of Iraq by depleted uranium missiles (in an unprovoked invasion that goes against the Nuremberg Articles that America itself helped put in place after Germany had invaded its neighbors in a similar fashion), then no one is going to hear about those events at all --- at least not in the pop music most people have access to. I would suggest to all of you involved in the peace movement that it is worth your time to consider the political impact of your listening habits. It has been said that all art is political, even non-political art, inasmuch as choosing to say nothing about the state of the world when you are in a position to virtually block out almost all other voices is indeed a political act. If we choose not to support the current crop of shallow, narcissistic pop stars or the major labels they record for, we are at least not censoring ourselves. I was inspired by the insipid, neutered proceedings of the 2003 Grammy Awards to write a song entitled “Political Song for Grammy Winners to Sing.” While it is most likely not quite smooth enough to satisfy today’s demanding pop audience, perhaps someone like songwriter of the year Jesse Harris can slick it down and add the catchy middle eight it needs to foster mass appeal. In the meantime, should you find any merit in the attempt, feel free to distribute it at will.

Copyright notice. All material on MP3.com is protected by copyright law and by international treaties. You may download this material and make reasonable number of copies of this material only for your own personal use. You may not otherwise reproduce, distribute, publicly perform, publicly display, or create derivative works of this material, unless authorized by the appropriate copyright owner(s).