David,

What do you think of the 50 top Conservative Rock songs

Some interesting songs. Graham Parker's "You can't be too strong" is a favourite of mine, put on ATW Jukebox as while ago.

Graham Parker had a nice response to his inclusion

At the bottom of the version of the list that I saw, there was also an address to send your nominations for Liberal rock songs. I'll betcha anything I don't make that, even though there's a lot to choose from; let's start with "Here It Comes Again," Slash And Burn," and "Short Memories," for instance.

For some reason I like the Coldplay song "Fix You" even though I don't like Coldplay and the lyrics are odd. I don't enjoy some of their more simpleminded politics, but live and let live.

As for the Conservative list of rock tunes it seems a bit of a stretch. Not since Reagan quoted Springsteen have I seen such overreaching. But fun list to read and disagree with.

>>What do you think of the 50 top Conservative Rock songs<<

Someone will have to try a bit better than that, Henry. All this guy has proven is that he totally misunderstands some prominent rock lyrics, and if he has to go for these it shows just how few conservative goods songs there are.

Doesn't seem like plagiarism, but the other song is not that bad.

I'm sure we can think of some better conservative songs.

"You're not the boss of me" by TMBG perhaps.

Actually it's difficult to improve on this list.

example:

27. Band-Aid
"Do They Know Its Christmas?"
"Well tonight thank God it's them/instead of you" I don't think I've ever seen a better summation of the conservative view of the rest of the world. If this were truly a liberal song it would be called "Do They Know It's a Holiday."

As an aside Emmylou Harris has a new album out and it is sublime.

My Back Pages by Dylan has to be the most conservative of them all. He'd seen through the left by 1964.

Equality I spoke their word as if a wedding vow

Ah but I was so much older then I'm younger than that now.

How about "Let's Work" from Jagger's Thatcherite phase:

Let's Work
No sitting down on your butt
The world don't owe you
No sitting down in a rut
I wanna show you
Don't waste your energy
On making enemies
Just take a deep breath
And work your way up

Let's work, be proud
Stand tall, touch the clouds
Man and woman, be free
Let's work, kill poverty.

----

Then of course there's always this classic:

Don't know much about history
Don't know much biology
Don't know much about a science book
Don't know much about the French I took

:)

Henry,

Really?

Lies that life is black and white
[...]
Good and bad, I define these terms
Quite clear, no doubt, somehow.
Ah, but I was so much older then,
I'm younger than that now.

In fairness there is a Dylan song for everybody. I even like his born-again stuff. Another one from Jon Swift's list:

13. Bob Dylan
"Gotta Serve Somebody"
Bob Dylan used to write good, Christian songs with words you can understand. What happened to him?

Henry, how could I fail to think of Dylan!. Some of his from the period are truly conservative ("To Ramona", "It ain't me, babe"...).

But actually, I think it's wrong to say Dylan had "seen through the left" in 1964. I don't think he was even aware of the "Left-Right" dichotomy as such; Civil Rights was the big issue of the day, and it was a question of being political - with all the compromises that entailed - or not.

Being political meant being compartmentalised, and that was something he was always very much against; whether being rejected as a Communist by conservatives because you believed in fellowship (in "Talkin World War III Blues") or simply for being different. (Have a look , or better a listen to this wonderful ballad for a laugh), or being rejected by the civil-rights politicos for not being politically virtuous enough. My Back Pages is IMO about the loss of this personal freedom, the right to be plural, and the loss of natural humanity that all political involvement brings.

It could be about political myopia from either side, as Frank suggests.

Well I like Neighbourhood Bully personally, which i'm pretty sure wont be on Frank or Noel's playlist :)

My favourite 'conservative' rock song has to be Stuck Mojo's 'Open Season'. It'll make some of you giggle, and some of you will probably burst a blood vessel...

As far as Coldplay go, well this doesnt surprise me. I think they are whiny muppets at best, and it isnt like they dont have form when it comes to using other people's riffs, such as when Chris Martin's songwriting let him down and he had to begging to Kraftwerk to nick theirs. I am a huge Kraftwerk fan and i took it personally that they mangled a gorgeous song like Computer Love and turned into an insipid pop tune like Talk.

DSD,

"Well I like Neighbourhood Bully personally, which i'm pretty sure wont be on Frank or Noel's playlist :)"

Funny. That song was literally on my ipod playlist last night. With all the talk of Dylan I bought 'Infidels' on itunes and played that and Jokerman ;-)

Frank

Really?

Really!

The quotes you use are all part of Dylan's perception of the people he was moving on from and they were the left. You could argue that they could apply to the right too in general but not in this case.

Of course Dylan is also an opponent of globalisation. .

Workingman's Blues #2 from Modern Times could be said to show that it is the one thing the great man has been politically consistent about.

North Country Blues (1964)

They complained in the East,
They are paying too high.
They say that your ore ain't worth digging.
That it's much cheaper down
In the South American towns
Where the miners work almost for nothing.

Union Sundown (1983)

Well, my shoes, they come from Singapore,
My flashlight's from Taiwan,
My tablecloth's from Malaysia,
My belt buckle's from the Amazon.
You know, this shirt I wear comes from the Philippines
And the car I drive is a Chevrolet,
It was put together down in Argentina
By a guy makin' thirty cents a day.

Well, it's sundown on the union
And what's made in the U.S.A.
Sure was a good idea
'Til greed got in the way.

Workingman's Blues #2

There's an evenin' haze settlin' over town
Starlight by the edge of the creek
The buyin' power of the proletariat's gone down
Money's gettin' shallow and weak
Well, the place I love best is a sweet memory
It's a new path that we trod
They say low wages are a reality
If we want to compete abroad

Conservative rock? (I have a picture in my head of Daniel O'Donnell!)

In fairness, socialist rockers the Manic Street Preachers have a a couple of right-wing songs on their seminal album "The Holy Bible". "Archives of Pain" is basically a pro-death penalty rant and "PCP" laments political correctness.