In honor of vulture capitalist Mitt Romney campaigning in Michigan today, here’s James McMurtry singing “We Can’t Make It Here.” We heard this on the Sirius radio driving around for no reason today, blood for oil, etc. Happy Friday or whatever. [Buy This Record]
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{ 89 comments }
A one anna a two….
Anna two was the name of the dog after Roof.
Cool. An anthem for the GOP convention.
Right after, "Jose, can you see?"
When do they do the Macarena?
In Tampa? She's out in the bus out front
The Hermanator does have the entrepreneurial spirit, doesn't he?
James McMurtry = son of Lonesome Dove author.
Mitt Romney = sonofabitch.
We used to play this game in the eighties.
James McMurtry = son of Lonesome Dove author (Larry McMurtry)
Larry McMurtry = College friend of Ken Kesey
Ken Kesey = worked in Menlo Park CA Psychiatric Hospital
Menlo Park CA Psychiatric Hospital = Republican Presidential Candidates (should be in)
Poor Mitt. I mean, billionairin' ain't easy!
rMoney doesn't have the processing power to handle music.
He's more comfortable in EBCDIC terminal mode.
As someone born after after the Ebcdic, bit, growing up on ASCII, what, with the dbcs hacks, and going full frontal with Unicode, I think my flabber just got gasted.
This comment submitted via 80-column punch card.
too soon!
Especially the DIC part.
ETA: If only he was terminal.
Only in the MIDI format.
128 instruments that are vaguely reminiscent of the real thing. oh, and helicopter sounds.
“Sampled” sounds caused MIDI die faster than the 1981 release of “The Jackson 4”.
Mittens is also trying to make up with the Michigan auto industry by talking about how his wife "drives a couple of Cadillacs, actually". Really:
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/mitt-romney-un...
How's that super-rich, out-of-touch with normal Americans thing working for him again?
Hey, what American wouldn't want to drive a Cadillac?
Except, you know, all of them, Katie.
Mittens is without a doubt the most tone-deaf, out-of-touch 1 percenter since that French king who got his head separated from his shoulders.
JOHN KERRY LIBEL!
Speaking of John Kerry, my wingnut brother was once skiing in Aspen – he does alright working for Big Pharma, makes more than he deserves – and Kerry was there. He was actually mad that Kerry was taking a vacation skiing – because only wingnuts can take vacations skiing?, I guess. I'll never get their logic.
It was owned by Teresa whose first husband was H.J. Heinz III, Senator from PA who died in a helicopter crash in 1991 and grandson of another Senator Heinz who was the only son of the founder of H J Heinz & Co. Teresa's youngest son from Henry is a hedge fund CEO of a hedge fund he created. Guess what percentage bracket their family worth in?
A phrase to quote to Romney.
"This is the ballistic trajectory of the point. This is you described in Cartesian co-ordinates. If you pay attention, you will note that there is no intersection."
Paraphrasing: My old lady drives a couple of Cadillacs, and I have a [AMERICAN_VEHICLE], [AMERICAN_VEHICLE], and a [AMERICAN_VEHICLE], so we've pretty much covered the entire American auto industry in terms of owning y'all's products, know what I mean, you representatives of the one percent, wink, wink, nudge?
I wonder how he can talk without vomiting at himself.
Easy. He has
learnedhad his programming updated to not hear any words his vocal orifice emits.Will work for $10,000 friendly wager money.
"per minute."
Mitt will buy two copies of this song, one for each of his wife's Cadillacs!
What's the plural here? The number of wives or the number of Cadillacs per wife?
Yes.
Cheap bastard will bootleg it.
McMurtry the Younger has held infinite appeal for me since I discovered his music late 1990s. His style is like John Prine meets Southwestern Rockabilly John the Baptist, a mix of sweet and bitter news going down.
First time I saw him back then, he pulled a Miles Davis on the crowd and faced the backdrop. Then he got way pissed when we didn't give him an encore. He's more than made up for it since then, but he was genuinely upset at us!
Sounds like Mittens is the Bain of working folk in McMurtry's song.
HA! That MUST be Twatted. Your permission, kind sir?
Absolutely. Twat away.
DONE, dood.
I use Twitter solely for political activism, which means I block RWNJs and I mostly won't follow people who have nothing interesting to say about politics, so I don't think this will result in an influx of desperate RWNJ trolls. Although I sure hope it gives this song a hella lot more exposure.
♫♪ Corporations are people too, my friend
I visit my money in Switzerland ♫♪
…
If you want some, you can suck my dick.
Don't whine to me about getting sick.
Gonna push that pedal down to the floor.
The dog ain't on the roof anymore.
One of the best things on youtube.
Should I hate a people for the shade of their skin
Or the shape of their eyes or the shape I'm in
Should I hate 'em for having our jobs today
No I hate the men sent the jobs away
P.S. I rate for this version.
~
Tone Deaf Irony Impaired Mittens should probably lead off with the Boss' anthem, "Born In the USA."
The fact that Raygun supporters missed the ironic tone of that song and lyrics still makes me laugh.
Wut, you srsly thought they *ever* listen to us? They liked the words they saw and thought it had a pretty tune. They don't give a shit about the artist who created it, or what it *means.*
Worst part about it is that if someone were to sing this at the Reeps' convention, some smart ass would reply by playing Mo' Money Mo' Problems…
I just want to know if the fat lady is going to join in.
Why are the mother and child in the photo just sitting there when they could be working?
This is how I imagined Gisele Bundchen would look after the Patriots got through with her.
We can still make some Rock n' Roll though.
/snark off/
Occasionally, a song can cause my hair to stand on end.
/snark on/
Piloerection, indeed.
Well, that was cheerful and uplifting. Too soon to drown myself in alcohol? It IS Friday.
It is?
FUCK! I started a day late!
After thinking about it, I want to know why the nym isn't cogito ergo bilbo. I think, therefore I be baggins.
Oh, fuck to the no. I started hours ago.
You see, it is music like this that is exactly the reason Rick Santorum doesn't want anyone to go to college.
That's some great left-wing redneck-style populism. I was a little disappointed to learn that McMurtry's dad is famous novelist Larry McMurtry and his mom was an English professor. Not really redneck Ursprung. But maybe they'll listen.
I find it hugely and painfully ironic that the *true* elites of this world — the extremely wealthy who control most of its resources — have somehow managed to convince the vast majority of our fellow-idiots that those of us who have strugged to learn a few things in our lives and treasure this little knowledge and art that we have attained are the TRUE elite who are somehow manipulating said fellow-idiots to their detriment and our profit.
I heard it first, dag-nabbit, you kids think you invented everything, I been listening to McMurtry since afore you was borned. He has a song called "Where's Johnny" thats kinda my life story, except not.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDMNKpyvVoM&fe...
Everybody ought to listen to "Choctaw Bingo," too. And then go listen to a bunch of Dave Alvin, and get drunk on bourbon.
And then you sneak in and wire our bedrooms for video, you think we don't know this, Prommie? YOU THINK WE DON'T KNOW YOUR SECKRIT PLAAAAAAAN?
Oh yeah, "bulletholes in the mailbox" all that old stuff.
I mostly feel like Dave Alvin & McMurtry, Todd Snider, Prine, Robert Earl, etc are MY secrets, dammit! I WANT MY SINGERSONGWRITERS BACK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I'd give it a 75,I found it a little hard to dance to.
Damn my boss – he refuses to let me open up a few (= a whole bunch of) cool ones before I leave for the afternoon and start my indrunktrination. Talk about linkies I shouldn't have clicked on!
"We Can't Make it Here Naivete" — comment by the author:
http://www.jamesmcmurtry.com/blog.html
Welp, I'm truly sorry to have to leave y'all like this, but Ihave just fallen in love. Will write after Mr. McMurtry has me hauled off to the hoosegow for stalking, if they have a wireless connection. It's been wonderful.
Here's another singer/songwriter for ya, Steve Earle.
Harlan Man followed by The Mountain. Always in that order. Or you can listen to it like this, if you prefer. I picked the wrong week (and Saturday) to be absent…
All I can say is, I'm glad we got Internet-gay-married, if this is the result. More people should try it. Thanks, Biffster.
One thing I did not find in this beautiful piece of music is naivete. And I'm glad that JM addresses any a-hole critic who would bring it on. They never did like gritty, American country (i.e. not overproduced, homogenized, glossy Nashville dreck) Rock 'n Roll. Naivete is the hallmark of teabaggers and Föx viewers everywhere. And worse yet the MSM propagates the sad myth that only journalists and pundits can explain reality to us. So, go ahead James, open the high hat, play it through a Fender, Made in the USA, amp, and keep on R-O-C-K in the USA.
Beautiful, RSBJ(r.).
Well that was fun. Now if only I could stub a toe, get a toothache and maybe a sinus infection I could call it a full day.
Don't forget about the dog dying, the pickup truck breaking down, and the spouse leaving you*.
*Ordered, worst to best news.
Go outside and check the sky. The wind circulating around the diverted storm had these birds — too far away to identify — just hovering on the air current. Not even once did I see them flap a wing. Circling like vultures then spreading and continuing north, about 20 then dispersed to three. An ideal antidote for McMurtry sadz-face-inspired lyrics!
/Opus's "Dandelion Break"
How did civilization survive morning commutes without satellite radio?
Lotsa bird-flipping and occasional associated gunfire in these parts.
I see absolutely NO evidence that it *did.*
I'm trying to get a candidate to use Springsteen's "We Take Care of our Own" to kick off his campaign this year. Also revive the attempt to get a Congressional Resolution honoring the Boss and a national hero Of hundreds passed routinely over the years the Republicans killed it.
"The Republicans killed it. "
A meme is born.
So, let me guess, Ken Layne wrote this? Because I'm getting that familiar "time to down a fifth of scotch, snort a matchbox full of coke, pull out the razors, cut a little, and then bring out the guns" vibe.
Buddy, can you spare a buy-out?
Out-of-touch assholes are people, too, my friend.
So Kerry shouldn't have been allowed to ski? Dubya and Kerry were both 1 percenters, but I didn't see wingnuts like my brother complaining about Dubya's wealth. Now they do the same thing with Michele Obama, who they think should dress in rags and never go on vacation.
Well, Michelle is Blah, you know.
It must really gall these teatarded motherfuckers that a Black woman can be educated, intelligent, middle-class, gracious, charming, social, fashionable, a leader, outspoken. They must think women who are not blond white foxbotz or corporate wifeys should have a mop in one hand, a bucket in the other, a do-rag round they haid, and a big old sign on their vagina saying KEEP OUT THIS MEANS YOU.
I was giving the history I remember from when Republicans were raking Kerry over the coals because his wife was rich. Another case of IOKIYAR.Some others:George W. Bush used his father’s Congressional Influence to get an Air National Guard position and thus avoiding being sent to Vietnam. John Kerry serves a total of 19 months in combat theaters, is awarded one Silver Star, two Bronze Stars and two Purple Hearts and gets “Swift Boated”John McCain is born in Panama and by no US legislation or US Court decision is considered to be a ‘natural born citizen of the United States’ and his presidency would raise the possibility that he could not serve but Barack Obama was born in Hawaii, produces a birth certificate and has to withstand allegations about its authenticity which never presented a single fact to support the allegation.Republican Senator David Vitter by his own admission goes to a prostitute while married, has said prostitute dress him in diapers so he can soil them and have her clean and change him as part of a sex act and he still sits in the Senate. Anthony Weiner sends a picture of the bulge in his underwear and is hounded out of office.Sorry, got to go double up on my blood pressure medication.
As Sarah Palin would say, eh, true. Rmoney's turning into a Simpons' character right before our eyes.
Nicely summarized.
I dropped out the issue that both Dubya and Cheney were TX residents and considered by TX to be citizens; thus, in 2000 the Republican National Convention nominated a President and Vice President, which “inhabited the same state.’ If elected Texas Electors would be constitutionally required to not vote for both Dubya and Cheney. However, just get a Wyoming judge to sweep it under the rug with the ruling that (despite the fact Cheney voted in TX in 1999) because Cheney was a long time owner of an undeveloped ‘ranch’ he was a Wyoming resident by Wyoming law. The question wasn’t Texas law or Wyoming law it was what the Constitution could be interpreted to require, “of whom one at least shall not be an Inhabitant of the same State with [the Electors] themselves”. And, because of Texas election law (and the law of several other states) Texas Electors could not ‘split’ their ballot. Imagine if Texas Electors were to be ruled ineligible to cast a ballot by the Senate Pro Temp (Vice President Al Gore)? The whole Florida debacle would now be a difficult to find foot note in history. In 2000 I was doing a lot of work for a Congressman when I lived in his district and implored him, unsuccessfully, to take up the issue. The wimp didn’t want to rock the boat (and probably would have had little effect because very few other democrats got concerned about the subterfuge.) Now he is being redistricted out and instead of going up against a standing Republican in November, he is moving so he can primary a standing democrat. Mrs. Curley and I brokered this guy’s first step on the ladder to his present position. I may go work for the other guy.
You aren't the only one who gets seriously torqued by this politics-as-usual bs. I hope your "other guy" kicks the wimp's ass all the way back to wardheeler.
Just to clarify, the other guy is not the inevitable Republican candidate. I’m referencing the democrat who sits in the district and is now being primaried. He is a good man regardless of his political views and my old ‘buddy’ is a pusillanimous, little prick.
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