you see it every year up here in canada on canada day, where neil is somewhat of a future saint in certain broad circles. stumbling, drunk, through the streets, clad in nationalist paraphernalia - flags on sticks, on shirts...
none of them seem to know any of the lyrics, though. well, beside the chorus.
wait. this is a significant cut. no wonder. you know. i'm not old enough to remember hearing this on the radio. was it always cut like this? does that explain it? have most people not even heard the full song?
the bridge is really key.
blake
+ deathtokoalas It may be sarcasm and parody of blind nationalism but who really cares. Every one has there own interpretation of what a song means. Me myself as a conservative like to view it at face value only noticing the good parts about America. If you wanna get deep into music go right ahead but like I said every song has a different meaning to every person.
deathtokoalas
+blake it's more than sarcasm. how do you interpret a line like:
"that's one more kid that will never go to school, never get to fall in love, never get to be cool"
in any remotely positive way? you can't. you've just never paid attention.
it's not like it's a shift in politics, or that neil young was unknown, either. he'd been successfully singing songs like this for 20 years at the point of this release.
but, i've met people that think "southern man" is pro-confederate, too.
trev
+deathtokoalas Just the same with Born in the USA by Bruce Springsteen. It seems America doesn't do irony.