Think it's because we're so awesome?

I hardly ever talk politics in my LJ, but this was pretty amazing and I'm smiling now hours later thinking about it, and I want to make sure I have it here so that this time next year I can look back and go...yeah.

I listened to the local NPR station (National Public Radio) on the way home this evening and caught a piece of one of those "what the everyday Joe thinks about the upcoming races" kinds of things. The radio was set to scan, and just as it started to hop to the next station, an elderly-sounding, heavily accented voice said, "I'm voting Obama."

Weh?

I popped back to the station and listened to the rest of the piece, and when I got home I pulled into my garage, lowered the door, turned off the engine but left the radio on.

Between homey bits describing the atmosphere of the Bloomer, Wisconsin pie shop they were in, the interviewer spoke to the employees and customers. Most of them sounded in the upper ranges of middle age, with a couple of truly elderly folks tossed in the mix, both men and women. They talked about Hillary and Obama and what a mess the Republicans had made of things, and what they thought -- and hoped -- the two Democratic candidates might bring to the table. The most amazing thing? Republicans, all of them. Also amazing, none of them wavered when asked, "You're a Republican and you're going to vote for a Democrat?"

Without sounding like a huge cheeseball, I can't accurately describe what it felt like listening to those interviews...though I admit I may have teared up just a teeny bit. :-)

One of the truly elderly folks, a man, said he might vote for Hillary, but he was still undecided because the "black boy" had a lot going on upstairs and he just might vote for him instead.

When this man first starting voting, would he have ever have thought a black man could even run for president? Would he ever have thought he'd be voting for that black man -- or a woman! -- for the highest office in the United States someday?

How many of those interviewed, if asked even twelve, eight, four years ago, would have thought they'd consider voting Democrat? And how many of them would ever have thought they'd vote for a woman? A black man?

When the piece was over I kept thinking about it while I walked up to the house, and I thought, this is one of those things that I really wasn't sure I'd ever see in my lifetime, but, yeah. In my lifetime. And that, my friends, is a pretty freakin' amazing thing. :-)

Sitting here thinking about typing this up, I thought about Right Here, Right Now, an oldie by Jesus Jones. The video for this tune featured footage of the Berlin Wall coming down. An oldie, but a goodie, and it sums up how I feel tonight.

( Right Here, Right Now -- Jesus Jones )

I love this song, but it's not so much lyrics plural, for this one that I love, but one line. The title line, actually.

If God made you, he's in love with me.

I absolutely adore that line, and no matter what mood I'm in when I hear it, it never fails to make me smile. It's sweet and wonderful, so much so that even though the rest of the words are kind of 'eh' (for me, your mileage may vary), that one line redeems the rest. Yes, I love it that much. :-)

If God wrote that line, he's in love with me. (heeheehee)

( If God Made You, Five for Fighting )

From glendaglamazon who gakked it From clumsygyrl who got this from without_me: jengrrrl started it: please post a protest song or ANYTHING THAT MEANS NO MORE WAR to you in your own LJ. I'd like to see this grow, for people to see the words that inspired a generation to rebel against the forces in their government that war-mongered and caused the deaths of so many.

I'm posting one for every year that idiot's been in office. Follow the cuts.

I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin'-to-Die Rag
(Country Joe & the Fish)

Yeah, come on all of you, big strong men,
Uncle Sam needs your help again.
He's got himself in a terrible jam
Way down yonder in Vietnam
So put down your books and pick up a gun,
We're gonna have a whole lotta fun.

And it's one, two, three,
What are we fighting for ?
Don't ask me, I don't give a damn,
Next stop is Vietnam;
And it's five, six, seven,
Open up the pearly gates,
Well there ain't no time to wonder why,
Whoopee! we're all gonna die.

Well, come on generals, let's move fast;
Your big chance has come at last.
Gotta go out and get those reds —
The only good commie is the one who's dead
And you know that peace can only be won
When we've blown 'em all to kingdom come.

And it's one, two, three,
What are we fighting for ?
Don't ask me, I don't give a damn,
Next stop is Vietnam;
And it's five, six, seven,
Open up the pearly gates,
Well there ain't no time to wonder why
Whoopee! we're all gonna die.

Huh!

Well, come on Wall Street, don't move slow,
Why man, this is war au-go-go.
There's plenty good money to be made
By supplying the Army with the tools of the trade,
Just hope and pray that if they drop the bomb,
They drop it on the Viet Cong.

And it's one, two, three,
What are we fighting for ?
Don't ask me, I don't give a damn,
Next stop is Vietnam.
And it's five, six, seven,
Open up the pearly gates,
Well there ain't no time to wonder why
Whoopee! we're all gonna die.

Well, come on mothers throughout the land,
Pack your boys off to Vietnam.
Come on fathers, don't hesitate,
Send 'em off before it's too late.
Be the first one on your block
To have your boy come home in a box.

And it's one, two, three
What are we fighting for ?
Don't ask me, I don't give a damn,
Next stop is Vietnam.
And it's five, six, seven,
Open up the pearly gates,
Well there ain't no time to wonder why,
Whoopee! we're all gonna die.

( FREEDOM OF CHOICE - A Perfect Circle )
( BLOWIN' IN THE WIND - Bob Dylan )
( WAR - Edwin Starr )
( IMAGINE - John Lennon )
( FIDDLE AND THE DRUM - Joni Mitchell )

Does anyone have anything by Adam Cohen (Leonard Cohen's son)? I'm listening to a sampler CD I got at the half-price store. Sponsored by / produced by / made for Delia's - the title of the CD is Delia's Super Cute. Gag me. Title aside, it's actually one of the better sampler disks I have. Of eight songs, I actually like five:

Incubus - Summer Romance (Anti-Gravity Love Song)
The Getaway People - Chocolate
David Poe - Moon
Adam Cohen - Sister
Eagle-Eye Cherry - Falling in Love Again

Anyhoo, Adam Cohen. Looks like there's just the one album listed at Amazon (the self-titled Adam Cohen, his 1998 debut), but there's no price given. There are, however, fifty-eight used copies for sale, starting as low as 85 cents.

The song on my sampler is "Sister". I freakin' *love* it. The last lines. The way he sings them...mmmm, and the music there is slightly creepy and vaguely ominous, but so, so good.

Here's the story behind the song: "One of my oldest friends confessed to me, after having dated my sister, that it was the closest he could get to being with me. I felt great relief to document it, my own therapy for the situation."

Muy interesante.

( Sister, Adam Cohen )

So, relative to my last post, joeysdramaqueen and I discussed Live albums. I've seen a few reviews for the last album, V, released before the newest one Bird of Pray (not a typo) that I ordered last night.

V, which I *love* seems to have riled up the critics. "Slick", I think I saw more than a couple of times. Well, I love it. Love, love, love it. And because I haven't done it for a while, I'll have to post a special Live version of Lyrics I Freakin' Love.

But! I decided to put it in because I haven't listened to it in a couple of weeks. It's an enhanced CD and the little startup for a special player always annoys me, so I always cancel the installation. Sure, I need something *else* on my harddrive, thanks. Anyway, I thought I'd explore the CD, take a look around. Did that right-click explore thing on the E drive icon, and saw a folder labeled "Videos." Weh? Woohoo! Triple word score! A video for Simple Creed, one of my favorite songs on the album! And I'd never seen it before! So there's Ed Kowalcyz and the boys rockin' out in the middle of a cornfield in middle America, and Ed's doing his best neo-Jesus impression, calling a gaggle of youngsters forward like Live's version of the Sermon on the Mount.

I love that guy. I think I need to see it again. Go Ed, with your wigglin', spiritually-charged hips!

Aaaaa! According to Amazon, Australian Exclusive Release featuring Their Latest Album Packaged with a Five Track Bonus Disc that Includes Freaks (Radio Edit), Lakini's Juice (Live), Freaks (Album Version), Love My Way (Psychedelic Furs Cover), and Freaks (Remix).

How much would I love to hear the Love My Way cover? I'm dying.

( Lyrics I Love #4 )

I have nothing meaningful to say, so I'll let Dave Matthews speak for me.

Couldn't get enough of this song the first time I heard it. It's such an incredible love letter. He's head over heels drunk with love, and he's letting her know. If someone wrote something like this for me, my heart would stop, and I'd die a little.

Ahhhh, so gorgeous. Love this song.

( Dave's gonna crush me... )