Obama/DiFranco '08

I get chills every time I listen to Ani DiFranco's song Self-Evident.  There's something about it...this beatnik attitude and sound that makes my blood boil with my loathing for the current administration.  It starts off with her just talking in beat (I'm sure there's a poetic term for this, but it's been over a year since my creative writing days) about 9/11, about being there in NYC whenever it happened and the nation's reaction.  This is moving enough, but then she also adds her criticism on society during this section...

"...the day that America fell to its knees

after strutting around for a century 

without saying thank you

or please..."

and

"...and every borough looked up when it heard the first blast

and then every dumb action movie was summarily surpassed..."

The second half of the song focuses on all the problems with the Bush administration.  DiFranco, a huge women's rights activist, praises "the nurses and doctors who daily provide women with a choice," and then moves on to tackle issues like the death penalty and the Patriot Act.  The part that really gets me, sends shivers down my spine, is, of course, an attack on Bush.

"...it doesn't take a weatherman to know the weather

Jeb said he'd deliver Florida, folks and boy did he ever

we hold these truths to be self-evident

number one: George W. Bush is not president..."

And, as her strongest section, it gives the song its title.  Another part that I just have to include in this blog combines DiFranco's stance against the war with her tendency to man-hate...

"...so it's time to pick through the rubble, clean the streets, and clear the air

get our government to pull its big dick out of someone else's desert

put it back in its pants..."

This song pretty much hits all of my beliefs head-on (apply directly to the forehead).  It reassures me in my political leanings and let's me know that I'm not alone in my criticism.  You can hear tons of (mainly) women cheering DiFranco on in the background in the version I have, and it makes her points even more palpable.  I don't think this song would recruit others to the liberal "cause," but it just reinvigorates those who already believe the same way.  In this way, I don't think any protest song will suddenly alter someone's opinion, but it can provide a point to rally around to those already convinced.  Also, protest songs let you know that you are being heard, even if only through someone else's song.  That is the beauty of it.

So if you're an angry liberal, definitely listen to Self-Evident.  Or if you just hate Bush, listen to it.  In that case, most of the country would enjoy it.