LIVING WITH WAR TODAY
source: http://www.neilyoung.com/lwwtoday/lwwvideos/therestlessconsumer_wm.html
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- covelogibbs
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That plaintive refrain sums up my own sentiments about practically everything seen on commercial television and in the movies these days, as well as what's printed in most newspapers and aired on the radio.
Today, Corporate America, ably aided and abetted by its ingenious Madison Avenue marketing strategists, offers a quick fix for just about every fear, weakness, obsession, and troublesome condition known to humankind.
Young and awkward? Drink Coors Beer, you'll be the life of the party. Worried about under-performing in the bedroom? There's a little purple pill made just for that. Got unsightly wrinkles? Try "Wrinkles-Away," it works like a charm. And, finally, want to impress that special someone with an enduring token of your affection? Give her diamonds, the gift that will last forever.
But Young was protesting more than just the herding of an entire people into the cattle pen of mindless consumerism. He was also singing about the making and marketing of criminal wars, such as the current one in the Middle East that Washington sold to the American people.
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covelogibbs
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Mr. Young said that he made "Living With War" not with a plan, but on an impulse. "I don't know what actually did it," he said. "It happened really fast, faster than I think I've ever experienced. There was just a kind of a wave."
As in the 60's, protest songs risk self-righteousness and preaching only to the converted. Only the most generalized ones outlast the interest in whatever headlines inspired them. There's not a lot of mystery to the songs on "Living With War"; they make their points as forthrightly as possible. Yet in the Internet era information not just songs but blogs, videos, photos, drawings, e-mail jottings is in the paradoxical position of being published worldwide and perhaps archived forever, but also being impulsive and ephemeral. A song for the Internet doesn't have to be one for the ages. Like an old broadside, it just has to get around for its moment, for right now. "Living With War" irate, passionate, tuneful, thoughtful and obstinate is definitely worth a click.
- 4 years ago
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covelogibbs
