Paranoia Strikes Deep
Here's a delightful piece about the state of our Bill of Rights in our tortured democracy. Via Kevin Drum I see that in Boulder, Colorado a high school band has been paid a visit by the Secret Service for planning to perform Dylan's antiwar polemic "Masters of War" in a school talent show after "some students and adults who heard the band rehearse called a radio talk show Thursday morning, saying the song the band sang ended with a call for President Bush to die."
"Masters of War" is of course from Dylan's seminal second album The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan, an album fully awash in the current events of its times, and specifically the Cuban missile crisis. On the liner notes to the LP the young Dylan wrote that "A Hard Rain's a Gonna Fall" was his reaction to the crisis and that each line was the title of a song that he would not get the chance to write. The song that got the students in trouble is Dylan's acerbic take on what Eisenhower, in his farewell address to the nation in 1961, dubbed "The military-industrial complex." Eisenhower warned:
Dylan was as caustic as he's ever been, singing directly to the puppeteers, "And I hope that you die/ And your death'll come soon/ I will follow your casket/ In the pale afternoon/ And I'll watch while you're lowered/ Down to your deathbed/ And I'll stand o'er your grave/ 'Til I'm sure that you're dead."
Never mind the fact that this song was written no later than 1963 (the year the album came out). Never mind the fact that the writer of the song has been nominated for a Nobel prize for literature every year since 1997. Never mind the fact that the song is addressed to anonymous illuminati types. Never mind the fact that this is one of the most famous protest songs of the of the 20th century. Never mind the fact that George W. Bush was but a teenager at the time the song was written. Never mind the fact that W.'s father hadn't yet run for public office at the time the song was written. Never mind the song's continued relevance today as our country is engaged in endless imperial wars. Never mind the song's continued relevance today vis a vis Sidemouth's friends at Halliburton. Never mind the the historical artistic trajectory, from de Sade to the 2 Live Crew, of artists coming up against the power of the state. Never mind the first amendment. Never mind it all.
Despite this all, some lunatic students and parents took the last verse of the song to be a direct threat against the president of the United States. But what's even more disturbing is the Secret Service of the United States thought this was something that needed to be investigated. Personally, I don't think that there should be a law against threatening the president's life. (In fact, I'm gonna do it now-- I'm gonna kill me the motherfucking president!) But even so, even if the song's lyrics were explicitly "I'm gonna kill George W. Bush, 43rd president of the United States, this Saturday at 2:00 p.m. EST," this still falls under an increasingly threatened pillar of "free" society, namely artistic expression. It's a slippery slope from here to the gulags, I'm afraid, but maybe I'm just paranoid.
The band's name is Coalition of the Willing, and I wish them luck.
"Masters of War" is of course from Dylan's seminal second album The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan, an album fully awash in the current events of its times, and specifically the Cuban missile crisis. On the liner notes to the LP the young Dylan wrote that "A Hard Rain's a Gonna Fall" was his reaction to the crisis and that each line was the title of a song that he would not get the chance to write. The song that got the students in trouble is Dylan's acerbic take on what Eisenhower, in his farewell address to the nation in 1961, dubbed "The military-industrial complex." Eisenhower warned:
"In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist. "
Never mind the fact that this song was written no later than 1963 (the year the album came out). Never mind the fact that the writer of the song has been nominated for a Nobel prize for literature every year since 1997. Never mind the fact that the song is addressed to anonymous illuminati types. Never mind the fact that this is one of the most famous protest songs of the of the 20th century. Never mind the fact that George W. Bush was but a teenager at the time the song was written. Never mind the fact that W.'s father hadn't yet run for public office at the time the song was written. Never mind the song's continued relevance today as our country is engaged in endless imperial wars. Never mind the song's continued relevance today vis a vis Sidemouth's friends at Halliburton. Never mind the the historical artistic trajectory, from de Sade to the 2 Live Crew, of artists coming up against the power of the state. Never mind the first amendment. Never mind it all.
Despite this all, some lunatic students and parents took the last verse of the song to be a direct threat against the president of the United States. But what's even more disturbing is the Secret Service of the United States thought this was something that needed to be investigated. Personally, I don't think that there should be a law against threatening the president's life. (In fact, I'm gonna do it now-- I'm gonna kill me the motherfucking president!) But even so, even if the song's lyrics were explicitly "I'm gonna kill George W. Bush, 43rd president of the United States, this Saturday at 2:00 p.m. EST," this still falls under an increasingly threatened pillar of "free" society, namely artistic expression. It's a slippery slope from here to the gulags, I'm afraid, but maybe I'm just paranoid.
The band's name is Coalition of the Willing, and I wish them luck.
posted by captionjockey at 12:44 PM
