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AnonymousThe "Just Say Mao" CD's second song: "In a Matter of Speaking"
In a matter of speaking, I just want to say
That I could never forget the way
You told me everything by saying nothing.
In a matter of speaking, I don't understand
How love in silence becomes reprimand
But the way I feel about you is beyond words.
Oh give me the words
Give me the words that tell me nothing.
In a matter of speaking, semantics won't do
In this life that we live, we only make due.
And the way that we feel might have to be sacrificed.
So in a matter of speaking, I just want to say
That, like you, I should find a way
To tell you everything by saying nothing.
AnonymousHere are the lyrics for the album's 3rd song, "Accidentally 4th Street":
Well, we're looking at the cover,
Spending all our time just staring at the magazine.
Well, look who's on the cover,
Wasting all our time, some pseudo-fascist hero machine.
Well, that's no space for a human being.
That man is not a hero or saint.
When somewhere in deepest America
Grown men weep at the sound of his name,
So it goes...
All the girls named "Gloria"
Sing sweetly out of key.
The sun rose in the west today,
Accidents in the land of the free.
Well, I grew up where they showed you the body count
In color on the dinner TV.
And I've been numbed so insensitive
That all I can think about is you and me.
Children from the best homes, they all have guns and butter.
They have their share of murder blue.
Well, it's not such a wiggy-awesome-good-time
When a shopping mall militia points their cannons at you.
So it goes...
Everyone believes in the stories 'bout the Cadillacs.
Everybody's got enough to eat
And people always keep their eyes glued to the ground
When a desperate man, he's gotta cling to the street.
And I swear to myself, I will help them
I will be an upstanding man.
But when I walk by and I hear them cry
That money just sticks to my hand.
What's wrong with me?
AnonymousThis song, as the others leading up to song 4, thematically curse the ones in charge, the ones who care of nothing but themselves. Again, these songs were not necessarily written with Mao in mind, but there seems to be patterns that are revealing themselves as to why each song, in itself, was chosen for the album.
"Thrash" by Underworld
Oh, when you feel like it, just do it.
You never move around it; you walk through it.
Well, you don't give a damn, where it came from.
'Cause everybody gonna have to chew your junk.
Does it feel right?
Well, let's jump, let's jump to a blazing beat.
When you close your eyes or strap into your seat,
You got the throttle wide open. I heard your engines scream.
It's a terrifying scene. Do you know what I mean?
Well, let's funk. Let's funk in my car.
Let's jump to the nearest star
'Cause you won't get far with all that trash
When all you do is thrash!
Motivator is the name of the game
And if you wanna know, you're the biggest pain!
You pull the plug out when the chips are down.
You stand on my face and kick me when I'm down!
AnonymousErasure... Another of my favorite bands from the 80's. Here's "Pistol," a song somewhat militant, but definitely one sarcastically disputing the need for order. Rebellion is in order:
Blue boy, go get your gun.
Hands together, we can have some fun.
Out tonight and the beat goes on.
We don't need no intervention.
Keep your cover on information.
We got boys down at the station.
Take the floor, break the law.
Call it crime prevention.
Got a grip on the population.
Know your name and number, darling.
You need cooperation
Gotta pay for your own protection.
And the state's too scared to mention.
Take the floor, break the law.
Gonna cut out all emotion.
Let's shake up this commotion.
Shake, now, like a soldier, darling.
AnonymousThis 6th song, "Insha-Allah," makes reference to someone--anyone, for that matter, I'm assuming--who has made grave mistakes in life and who needs a big, fat hug! I don't know if Mao was intentionally thought of--my guess is "no"--but nevertheless this song is one of hope, that ammends may be made.
Every time you feel like you cannot go on,
You feel so lost that you're so alone,
All you see is the night and darkness all around,
You feel so helpless,
You can't see which way to go,
Don't despair and never lose hope
'Cause Allah is always by your side.
Insha Allah you'll find your way.
Every time you can make one more mistake,
You feel you can't repent
And that it's way too late.
YOu're so confused, wrong decisions you have made
Haunt your mind and your heart is full of shame,
Don't despair and never lose hope
'Cause Allah is by your side.
AnonymousIn response to Craig's post about the songs in the 80s cd compilation, it's interesting to look at the lyrics of these songs from the 80s as almost 'cold-war' music. In my English classes we look at Cold War Literature often i.e. short stories by Bradbury and Phillip K. Dick, but music is another aspect we haven't looked at yet. Depeche Mode was the first concert I went to in middle school, and it's interesting to think the lyrics were influenced by communist/anti-capitalist ideals unlike for example the more obvious "Imagine" by Lennon. It makes sense however, as I've been rewatching 80s films I've been noticing a lot more references to the Cold War either intended for the film's plot or just a reflection of the times that I never noticed as a kid watching them. It seems the same applies to music from the era.
AnonymousThrowing Muses' "Dizzy." I'm not sure exactly how, if at all, it ties in, but here are the lyrics:
Along the Palo Duro canyon
Red river shows so many eyes./
One eye squinting, shaded from the sun, shoot me.
Black as oil, his skin glistened
Restless as the reed between his lips blew.
It's just that mean, old Texas sun.
It makes me dizzy, dizzy, dizzy in my head.
"What day is this?" I, quiet, asked the sky.
"What time is it?" he asked me, sitting up.
Love that villain on the run.
He's got me spinning 'round and falling on my head.
"What are you running from?" I asked the white boy.
"From the guys who chase me there." Come. Run.
I need your dark skin to sit beside me in my car,
light up my cigar,
I'll light you.
He said, "You're only an Indian in Oklahoma."
"You could be melting in America."
White on red, melt with my skin.
These two hearts will beat along the walls of our hotel.
I need your dark skin.
The last I saw of Oklahoma,
A gas station fading in the dusk.
"Goodbye, my father," I thought. I'm carrying the light,
The light of my Comanche.
Make sure the dog remembers me.
I dream the sand beneath your feet.
I hold the light.
AnonymousMorrissey..."Lucky Lisp"... Without having researched this song much, I do get the feeling of sarcasm, almost to the point of applauding the naked emperor as he sports his new robes. Who wants a lisp anyway? And why would it be lucky to have one?--unless, of course, it's sarcasm.
When your gift unfurls,
When your talent becomes apparent,
I will roar from the stalls.
I will gurgle from the circle.
The saints smile shyly down on you.
Oh, they couldn't get over
Your nine-leaf clover.
Oh, lucky lisp was not wasted on you.
Lucky lisp was not wasted on you.
When your name's the best,
Will my name be on your guest list?
And I will roar from the stalls.
Ooh, the balcony fool was me, you fool!
Jesus made this all for you, love (you, love)
He couldn't get over
Your grandma's omen.
AnonymousThe Ocean Blue's "Between Something and Nothing."
Words that form a sentence,
Words that form a phrase,
In a poem or a letter,
Could not convey the meaning of what this man has done.
In a painting, on a canvas,
And as the color's fading,
They dictate my mood.
Can you see me? Are you near me?
I find myself on canvas.
I find myself onstage.
Can you see me? Are you near me?
And I long to know you're real,
And I long for you to be a part of me,
And in the fading twilight,
I sit and stare at her,
In all her beauty, her beauty.
You know, I have to wonder
Why all great men must die
And leave their treasure, they leave their treasure.
Anonymous"The Bongiorni" PDF, I thought, could be used as a good "into" activity for The Good Earth. Before we teach anything we must make our content relatable to our students. Maybe before my students and I read the two, I can have them go home and check out where their toys, appliances, and clothes were made from. We can have a running list of how other countries directly affect America in commerce and consumption.
AnonymousIce-T's "The Hunted Child." This rap is long. It's narrative, in form, about a young man growing up in poverty and desperately trying to find his way, to make ends meet, to survive. Crime is his only outlet. he's on the line for murder. I think that the final verse may have correllations:
(The science of Capitalism--which you teach to the youths on the streets today, with the ends-justifies-the-means mentality--ain't happenin')
I'm sweatin' heavy 'cause my face is on TV.
Everybody in this whole world's after me.
Since I was young, I never had a damned thing.
At Christmastime I'd hate to hear the bells ring,
'Cause in the ghetto, Santa ain't got a dime.
Your mother's standin' in the welfare line.
The way the youth survive is crime.
My life is over so I might as well speak my mind.
I killed a brother 'cause this system had me geared to kill,
'Cause what I call home, you call hell.
My ghetto quarters ain't no better than a jail cell,
But there's a message in this story that I'm tryna tell:
We're just brothers on the streets killin' brothers.
This system has us geared to kill one another,
Sellin' dope to poison each other.
The plan of The Man, word to the mother!
But I'm a sucker 'cause I fell into their plan.
187, I killed a brother man.
My life on earth was hell, you understand? But when I die, I'm going to hell again.
I'm the hunted child.
AnonymousChristianity... When all else fails, I imagine. The Replacements' song "Date to Church"... Someone's been bad: Satan's even had his eye on him!
Take your honor fast
I'm going to a little Mass
Come along, it can't hurt,
We're on a little date to church!
Let me tell you now,
Old Satan's lookin' out for you.
He'll get you by the night's through.
Oh, we haven't much time alive.
Take me down the hall, sitting in a pew,
Well, ain't we the chosen few?
Might not help, but it can't hurt
On a little date to church
Deliver us, Reverend!
AnonymousStraw Man: [font=sans-serif]The so-called typical "attacking a straw man" argument creates the illusion of having completely refuted or defeated an opponent's proposition by covertly replacing it with a different proposition (i.e., "stand up a straw man") and then to refute or defeat that false argument ("knock down a straw man") instead of the original proposition.[/font]
[font=sans-serif]
[/font]
[font=sans-serif]I present Lou Reed:[/font]
[font=sans-serif]
[/font]
[font=sans-serif]We who have so much, to you who have so little,[/font]
[font=sans-serif]To you who dont have anything at all...[/font]
[font=sans-serif]We who have so much more than any one man does need,[/font]
[font=sans-serif]And you who dont have anything at all, ah.[/font]
[font=sans-serif]
[/font]
[font=sans-serif]Does anybody need another million dollar movie?[/font]
[font=sans-serif]Does anyone need another million dollar star?[/font]
[font=sans-serif]Does anyone need to be told over and over[/font]
[font=sans-serif]Spitting in the wind comes back at you twice as hard?[/font]
[font=sans-serif]
[/font]
[font=sans-serif]Strawman, going straight to the devil.[/font]
[font=sans-serif]Strawman going straight to hell.[/font]
[font=sans-serif]
[/font]
[font=sans-serif]Does anyone really need a billion dollar rocket?[/font]
[font=sans-serif]Does anyone need a $60,000 car?[/font]
[font=sans-serif]Does anyone need another president?[/font]
[font=sans-serif]Or the sins of Swaggart parts 6, 7, 8 and 9?[/font]
[font=sans-serif]
[/font]
[font=sans-serif]Does anyone need yet another politician[/font]
[font=sans-serif]Caught with his pants down and money sticking in his hole?[/font]
[font=sans-serif]Does anyone need another racist preacher?[/font]
[font=sans-serif]Spittin' in the wind can only do you harm.[/font]
[font=sans-serif]
[/font]
[font=sans-serif]...[/font]
AnonymousI found it a bit ironic that Morrissey is on the compilation, considering his more recent comments about the Chinese being a "subspecies." Here's a link to his interview.
http://www.theguardian.com/music/2010/sep/03/morrissey-china-subspecies-racism
Anonymoushttps://gma.yahoo.com/blogs/abc-blogs/koreans-slap-bill-gates-rude-handshake-113610749--abc-news-topstories.html
I decided to do some more research about "handshakes" and other formalities as a sign of foreign relations. In this article Bill Gates is seen as insulting the South Korean President because his hand is in his pocket during the greeting. 