Writing protest songs is like falling off a log for Jackson Browne. Regardless of your politics this is good music. Browne ends this performance by riffing on a great song called I am a Patriot from his album World in Motion (originally written by Little Steven of E Street Band Fame).
Speaking of the song I am a Patriot, there’s a lyric that pretty much sums up my feelings about Occupy Wall Street, along with Jackson’s lyrics in his new song.
I am a Patriot lyric
And I ain’t no communist
And I ain’t no capitalist
And I ain’t no socialist
And I ain’t no imperialist
And I ain’t no democrat
Sure ain’t no republican
I only know one party
And it is freedom
Although I agree with some of the sentiment of Occupy Wall Street – the crowd got it about half right. And I’m with 80% of Americans who aren’t getting behind half right. Occupy Wall Street feels too much like a made for TV [insert Internet] event with no soul.
Let’s try again. First attempts are rarely good. Let’s call this round practice for what we’ve really got to do with our country. We’re on to something, now we just have to find the right balance. That’s when everyone shows up. The reaction to SOPA and PIPA is far more universal because regular people could see how imbalanced it was. It’s the same thing that we were calling bullshit on with OWS, just expressed more articulately. More action, less words. Less b.s.
In the mean time, I’ll leave the dogma to the extremists. Like Hollywood, the music industry and old big business, they’re quickly becoming irrelevant, unprofitable, deaf to what matters to us.
As for me, I’m going to sing this part of Little Steven’s song especially loud:
“I am a patriot, and I love my country!”
~ julian
Via Bob Lefsetz