Politics and Music

Did ya’ll know that Neil Young was for a time a "Reagan Democrat"? Disappointing.

For years I greatly admired Joan Baez as an "activist" (I don’t care for the term, as it feels to me somewhat pejorative), but didn’t care for her artistically (too much vibrato in her voice). But I have recently found her very alluring (upon hearing her recording of Dylan's "Sad Eyed Lady Of The Lowlands"), and am in the process of exploring her recordings.

I immediately took to Iris Dement, as did Merle Haggard (he recorded her astounding song "No Time To Cry", as heartbreaking a song as I have ever heard). My love and respect for her only increased when I heard her "Wasteland Of The Free", a scathing indictment of the Christian Right, who responded to the song by ostracizing her (she was brought up Pentecostal). She’s too honest for them.

@sns

Yep, that was an early impression on a young mind, always equated that with the ’rule of man’, the rule of law is delusion. Observe the present Supreme Court as they ignore Stare Decisis for evidence of this.

Stare Decisis is like the person who makes a wrong turn which leads him in the opposite direction of his destination, yet continues on their erroneous path. That is stare’ decisis in action. The later decision to overturn the  Democrat lead Dredd Scott decision of 1857 was also a break from Stare Decisis and a welcomed one by every black America because it restored their freedom

@artemus_5 Which only makes my point, good or bad, the rule of man holds as final arbiter for law.

@bdp24

A lot of Democrats were Reagan Democrats, so don’t hold that against Neil. Reagan won 49 states in the 1984 election and you don’t do that without a lot of support from the opposite side. Why did so many Democrats like Reagan even though they disliked his economic policies? Because he was an effective communicator and he was wiling to compromise to get things done. He and Tip O’Neill worked together and both compromised, something which since the days of Newt Gingrich you no longer see. Reagan also started us down the path of ending the Cold War and kept inflation low. If you want to pick out a villain, Gingrich is the one to choose.

Politics and art are nearly inextricably linked.  Witness what happened when people did not stand at attention during the playing of the National Anthem.

Context is important, but any song can be politicized.  A few examples:

Dolly Parton "9 to 5"

Bruce Springsteen "Born In the USA"

Billie Holiday "Strange Fruit"

The Clash "London Calling"

Duke Ellington "Black, Brown And Beige"

Bob Dylan "Blowing In the Wind"

George Cohan "Yankee Doodle Dandy"

Aretha Franklin "Respect"

Stevie Wonder "Livin' In the City"

The Who "My Generation"

The Band "The Night They Drove Ol' Dixie Down"

Marvin Gaye "Inner City Blues"

Village People "Y.M.C.A."

Jimi Hendrix "Machine Gun"

Rolling Stones "Under Cover Of the Night"

Gang Of Four "Call Me Up"

They even politicized "A Whiter Shade Of Pale".

Clearly, history has shown music and politics cannot be separated.  In that case, I agree with Frogman's above comments.