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About the songs
One
long-term goal for the Songs of Conscience
site is to explore
the
different
varieties of social action songs, what
works best for what kinds of audiences
and context, and so forth. Toward this
end, this first "sampler" which
was released shortly before the November
election included four songs from a
close friend of mine,
the reclusive and mysterious songwriter
Ishmael
Moongoose. The following comments are
unedited, serving as a touching and
heartbreaking snapshot of pre-election
enthusiasm and optimism...
These
songs all deal with themes important to
our
upcoming
election,
all
from a
clearly progressive point of view
but with different slants, use of songwriterly
techniques and tone of voice. Ishmael
has strong partisan
feelings about the coming election (of the
Democratic
persuasion, to be clear right
off
the bat) and has chosen to express
himself in song. As I believe
freedom of speech is important in this country,
more now than ever, I am happy
to
champion his work here, along
with the work of others that
I admire and respect. Anyone
wishing to contact Ishmael about his work
can do so at:
i s h m a e l m o o n g o o s e <AT> s o n g s o f c o n s c i e n c e .c o m
At
least one of them ("October Surprise")
will surely lose its topical relevance (we
hope) after Halloween! (Editor's note: Oh,
did it ever! 3/9/05) Here
are some of Ishmael's
comments on the songs:
"October
Surprise" — deals with what is
by now common folklore swirling around,
that Bush and
his cronies have got something up their
sleeve which they can unveil just before
the election, to turn the tide if it seems
things might not be going their way. In
talking this over with various friends,
the question came up: If Karl Rove were
working for the Democrats, how would he
handle a problem like that? The answer—he
certainly wouldn't sit around waiting for
it to happen and then try to declare
it politically motivated; that's the same
"deer in the headlights" reactive
kind of thinking that's gotten us moshed
so many
times in the past. No—a true Rovian
approach would be pre-emptive;
after all, we've been told countless times
now that
the best defense is a good offense. This song
is penned in that proactive spirit.
"Your
Kind of Strong" — New York Times Magazine
(Oct 17, '04) included the article "Without
a Doubt" by journalist
Ron Suskind (a co-author with former Bush
Administration Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill
of the eye-opening book The Price
of Loyalty). In this article Suskind
reports an astounding conversation with
a White House senior advisor to Bush who
mocks Suskind and all who are with him in
the so-called "reality-based community,"
people who "believe that solutions emerge
from your judicious study of discernible
reality." This conversation has attracted
much attention since, showing up in speeches
by Gore and others and attaining
rapid-fire "meme" status, as one of the
most chilling
statements of the values and thinking at
work in the Bush Administration, a weird
through-the-looking-glass twist on New-Age
"you make your own reality" run amok (in
every sense of the word). Of course, such
certainty is very reassuring to many—hence
the rebuttal offered in this song.
"Knocking
on Doors" — a tribute to the countless
thousands of volunteers and election workers
who have been doing the in the trenches
work of face to face contact with voters.
A typical songwriter strategy, of course:
do an ounce of real work and then weigh
in with a pound of reflection on same...
But thank you, thank you, thank you to those
that have been putting in the hours, days,
weeks and months...
"The
Mechanic" — One of the arguments for keeping
Bush in place I've heard is that: "he's
gotten us into this mess, so we better let
him get us out of it." I realized that this
logic had caused me trouble
in the past with some of my auto mechanics.
Goes to show that a metaphor is, as they say, a double-edged sword that cuts
both ways...
Enjoy
the songs and take them in the spirit of
cheerful partisanship intended!
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