but roughly 26 months between Supreme Court decision and Iraq invasion, and still I can't find a recognizable Bush protest song until 2005, unless you count Michael Franti
Greenday in September 2004?
There was Patti Smith's "Radio Baghdad" in April of 2004:
Suffer not Your neighbor's affliction
Suffer not Your neighbor's paralysis
But extend your hand Extend your hand
Lest you vanish in the city And be but a trace
Just a vanished ghost And your legacy
All the things you knew Science, mathematics, thought
Severely weakened Like irrigation systems
In the tired veins forming From the Tigris and Euphrates
In the realm of peace All the world revolved
All the world revolved Around a perfect circle
City of Baghdad City of scholars
Empirical humble Center of the world
City in ashes City of Baghdad
City of Baghdad Abrasive aloof
Suffer not Your neighbor's paralysis
But extend your hand Extend your hand
Lest you vanish in the city And be but a trace
Just a vanished ghost And your legacy
All the things you knew Science, mathematics, thought
Severely weakened Like irrigation systems
In the tired veins forming From the Tigris and Euphrates
In the realm of peace All the world revolved
All the world revolved Around a perfect circle
City of Baghdad City of scholars
Empirical humble Center of the world
City in ashes City of Baghdad
City of Baghdad Abrasive aloof
Oh, in Mesopotamia Aloofness ran deep
Deep in the veins of the great rivers
That form the base Of Eden
And the tree The tree of knowledge
Held up its arms To the sky
All the branches of knowledge All the branches of knowledge
Cradling Cradling
Civilization In the realm of peace
All the world revolved Around a perfect circle
Oh Baghdad Center of the world
City of ashes With its great mosques
Erupting from the mouth of god Rising from the ashes like
a speckled bird Splayed against the mosaic sky
Oh, clouds around We created the zero
But we mean nothing to you You would believe
That we are just some mystical tale We are just a swollen belly
That gave birth to Sinbad, Scheherazade We gave birth
Oh, oh, to the zero The perfect number
We invented the zero And we mean nothing to you
Our children run through the streets
And you sent your flames Your shooting stars
Shock and awe Shock and awe
Like some, some Imagined warrior production
Twenty-first century No chivalry involved
No Bushido
Deep in the veins of the great rivers
That form the base Of Eden
And the tree The tree of knowledge
Held up its arms To the sky
All the branches of knowledge All the branches of knowledge
Cradling Cradling
Civilization In the realm of peace
All the world revolved Around a perfect circle
Oh Baghdad Center of the world
City of ashes With its great mosques
Erupting from the mouth of god Rising from the ashes like
a speckled bird Splayed against the mosaic sky
Oh, clouds around We created the zero
But we mean nothing to you You would believe
That we are just some mystical tale We are just a swollen belly
That gave birth to Sinbad, Scheherazade We gave birth
Oh, oh, to the zero The perfect number
We invented the zero And we mean nothing to you
Our children run through the streets
And you sent your flames Your shooting stars
Shock and awe Shock and awe
Like some, some Imagined warrior production
Twenty-first century No chivalry involved
No Bushido
Oh, the code of the West Long gone
Never been Where does it lie?
You came, you came Through the west
Annihilated a people And you come to us
But we are older than you You come you want to
You want to come and rob the cradle
Of civilization And you read yet you read
You read Genesis You read of the tree
You read of the tree Beget by god
That raised its branches into the sky Every branch of knowledge
Of the cradle of civilization
Never been Where does it lie?
You came, you came Through the west
Annihilated a people And you come to us
But we are older than you You come you want to
You want to come and rob the cradle
Of civilization And you read yet you read
You read Genesis You read of the tree
You read of the tree Beget by god
That raised its branches into the sky Every branch of knowledge
Of the cradle of civilization
Of the banks of the Tigris and the Euphrates
Oh, in Mesopotamia Aloofness ran deep
The face of Eve turning What sky did she see
What garden beneath her feet The one you drill
You drill Pulling the blood of the earth
Little droplets of oil for bracelets Little jewels
Sapphires You make bracelets
Round your own world We are weeping tears
Rubies We offer them to you
We are just Your Arabian nightmare
We invented the zero But we mean nothing to you
Your Arabian nightmare
Oh, in Mesopotamia Aloofness ran deep
The face of Eve turning What sky did she see
What garden beneath her feet The one you drill
You drill Pulling the blood of the earth
Little droplets of oil for bracelets Little jewels
Sapphires You make bracelets
Round your own world We are weeping tears
Rubies We offer them to you
We are just Your Arabian nightmare
We invented the zero But we mean nothing to you
Your Arabian nightmare
City of stars
City of scholarship
Science City of ideas
City of light City
City of ashes That the great Caliph
Walked through His naked feet formed a circle
And they built a city
A perfect city of Baghdad
In the realm of peace
And all the world revolved
And they invented And they mean nothing to you
Nothing to you Nothing
City of scholarship
Science City of ideas
City of light City
City of ashes That the great Caliph
Walked through His naked feet formed a circle
And they built a city
A perfect city of Baghdad
In the realm of peace
And all the world revolved
And they invented And they mean nothing to you
Nothing to you Nothing
Go to sleep Go to sleep my child
Go to sleep And I'll sing you a lullaby
A lullaby for our city A lullaby of Baghdad
Go to sleep Sleep my child
Sleep Sleep
Run Run
Go to sleep And I'll sing you a lullaby
A lullaby for our city A lullaby of Baghdad
Go to sleep Sleep my child
Sleep Sleep
Run Run
You sent your lights Your bombs
You sent them down on our city Shock and awe
Like some crazy T.V. show
You sent them down on our city Shock and awe
Like some crazy T.V. show
They're robbing the cradle of civilization
They're robbing the cradle of civilization
They're robbing the cradle of civilization
They're robbing the cradle of civilization
They're robbing the cradle of civilization
Suffer not The paralysis of your neighbor
Suffer not But extend your hand
Suffer not But extend your hand
Try Rickie Lee Jones in October of 2003 with her album THE EVENING OF MY BEST DAY which included "Little Mysteries:"
A gypsy boy came up to you
With a newspaper spread across his arm
To hide his fingers in your pocket...
Meanwhile, in another part of town
I buy a ticket for a game
And la petite femme, smoking les gitanes Is writing down my name
Oh, little mysteries, little mysteries
Yeah, little mysteries, little mysteries
A plane goes down in kc, mo
In a simple twist of fate
A trail of lies leads us to Orlando
But we are days too late
For a certain brother down in Florida
Famous for his cake
And when the boys came over from Texas
They said "we'll take everything we can take..."
Oh, little mysteries, little mysteries
Yeah, little mysteries, little mysteries
Nobody wants to know
Nobody wants to see
Now four years later
Another senator hits the ground
And she also wrote the song "Tell Somebody (Repeal The Patriot Act)" on the same album:
Now they want us to just get in line
Behind a president
When you know they spent milions of dollars
Condemning and accusing
The last one from the other side
Behind a president
When you know they spent milions of dollars
Condemning and accusing
The last one from the other side
Tell somebody, tell somebody
Tell somebody
What's happening in the USA
Tell somebody, tell somebody
Tell somebody
What happened in the USA
Tell somebody
What's happening in the USA
Tell somebody, tell somebody
Tell somebody
What happened in the USA
Tell somebody, tell somebody, tell somebody...
I want to know how far you will go
To protect our right of free speech
Because it only took a moment
Before it faded out of reach...
To protect our right of free speech
Because it only took a moment
Before it faded out of reach...
Oh, tell somebody, tell sombody right now
Tell somebody
What happened in the USA
I want to read about it in the news
I want to hear about it on tv, yeah
What happened in the USA
When they ask you
What happened in the USA
Tell sombody.
They'll want to know, oh people
Tell somebody
What happened in the USA
I want to read about it in the news
I want to hear about it on tv, yeah
What happened in the USA
When they ask you
What happened in the USA
Tell sombody.
They'll want to know, oh people
The depth of our democracy
Is only as good as the voices of protest she protects
Voices of protest - rise!
Is only as good as the voices of protest she protects
Voices of protest - rise!
There's Pearl Jam with "Bu$hleaguer" off RIOT ACT (released in November of 2002).
Two months before that, Ani DiFranco's SO MUCH SHOUTING, SO MUCH LAUGHTER featured "Self-Evident" which includes:
And the shock was subsonic
And the smoke was deafening
Between the setup and the punch line
Cause we were all on time for work that day
We all boarded that plane for to fly
And then while the fires were raging
We all climbed up on the window sill
And then we all held hands
And jumped into the sky
And the smoke was deafening
Between the setup and the punch line
Cause we were all on time for work that day
We all boarded that plane for to fly
And then while the fires were raging
We all climbed up on the window sill
And then we all held hands
And jumped into the sky
And every borough looked up when it heard the first blast
And then every dumb action movie was summarily surpassed
And the exodus uptown by foot and motorcar
Looked more like war than anything I've seen so far
So far
So far
So fierce and ingenious
A poetic specter so far gone
That every jackass newscaster was struck dumb and stumbling
Over 'oh my god' and 'this is unbelievable' and on and on
And I'll tell you what, while we're at it
You can keep the pentagon
Keep the propaganda
Keep each and every tv
That's been trying to convince me
To participate
In some prep school punk's plan to perpetuate retribution
Perpetuate retribution
Even as the blue toxic smoke of our lesson in retribution
Is still hanging in the air
And there's ash on our shoes
And there's ash in our hair
And there's a fine silt on every mantle
From hell's kitchen to Brooklyn
And the streets are full of stories
Sudden twists and near misses
And soon every open bar is crammed to the rafters
With tales of narrowly averted disasters
And the whiskey is flowin'
Like never before
As all over the country
Folks just shake their heads
And pour
And then every dumb action movie was summarily surpassed
And the exodus uptown by foot and motorcar
Looked more like war than anything I've seen so far
So far
So far
So fierce and ingenious
A poetic specter so far gone
That every jackass newscaster was struck dumb and stumbling
Over 'oh my god' and 'this is unbelievable' and on and on
And I'll tell you what, while we're at it
You can keep the pentagon
Keep the propaganda
Keep each and every tv
That's been trying to convince me
To participate
In some prep school punk's plan to perpetuate retribution
Perpetuate retribution
Even as the blue toxic smoke of our lesson in retribution
Is still hanging in the air
And there's ash on our shoes
And there's ash in our hair
And there's a fine silt on every mantle
From hell's kitchen to Brooklyn
And the streets are full of stories
Sudden twists and near misses
And soon every open bar is crammed to the rafters
With tales of narrowly averted disasters
And the whiskey is flowin'
Like never before
As all over the country
Folks just shake their heads
And pour
So here's a toast to all the folks that live in Palestine, Afghanistan,
Iraq, El Salvador
Iraq, El Salvador
Here's a toast to the folks living on the pine ridge reservation
Under the stone cold gaze of Mt. Rushmore
Under the stone cold gaze of Mt. Rushmore
Here's a toast to all those nurses and doctors
Who daily provide women with a choice
Who stand down a threat the size of Oklahoma City
Just to listen to a young woman's voice
Who daily provide women with a choice
Who stand down a threat the size of Oklahoma City
Just to listen to a young woman's voice
Here's a toast to all the folks on death row right now
Awaiting the executioner's guillotine
Who are shackled there with dread and can only escape into their heads
To find peace in the form of a dream, peace in the form of a dream
Awaiting the executioner's guillotine
Who are shackled there with dread and can only escape into their heads
To find peace in the form of a dream, peace in the form of a dream
Cause take away our PlayStations
And we are a third world nation
Under the thumb of some blue blood royal son
Who stole the oval office and that phony election
I mean
It don't take a weatherman
To look around and see the weather
Jeb said he'd deliver Florida, folks
And boy did he ever
And we are a third world nation
Under the thumb of some blue blood royal son
Who stole the oval office and that phony election
I mean
It don't take a weatherman
To look around and see the weather
Jeb said he'd deliver Florida, folks
And boy did he ever
And we hold these truths to be self evident:
Number one, George W. Bush is not president
Number two, America is not a true democracy
Number three, the media is not fooling me
Cause I am a poem heeding hyper-distillation
I've got no room for a lie so verbose
I'm looking out over my whole human family And I'm raising my glass in a toast
Number one, George W. Bush is not president
Number two, America is not a true democracy
Number three, the media is not fooling me
Cause I am a poem heeding hyper-distillation
I've got no room for a lie so verbose
I'm looking out over my whole human family And I'm raising my glass in a toast
Prior to that, in July 2002, George Michael's "Shoot The Dog" was released -- there's the Beastie Boys "In A World Gone Mad" (March, 2003), Zach de la Roche and DJ Shadow's "March of Death" (right before the start of the Iraq War), Lucy Kaplansky's "Line In The Sand" (February 2004), Dan Bern's entire MY COUNTRY II album (August 2004), Public Enemy's "Son of a Bush" (July 2002) . . .
We could go on and on.
I don't know why you'd want to ignore Michael Franti and Spearhead's "Bomb The World." Yes, Michael did make an ass out of himself and a joke of his so-called issues from 2009 through 2016 but that really doesn't make 2003's "Bomb The World any less powerful.
Meanwhile, someon explain to the child who wants to talk like he knows when he doesn't know s**t that Neil Young's song "Ohio" was not released "13 months after" the incident. May 4, 1970 was the slaughter at Kent State. May 20, 1970 was when the song "Ohio" was recorded by Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young. By the start of June 1970, the single was released and being played and rising on the charts.
Nothing he Tweets is accurate and this is a topic he elected to bring up himself. The age of stupidity, that's what so many are pulling us into.
