Our most Reagenesque vinyl
So remember this?:
http://thenewmeat.livejournal.com/104419.html
We finally listened to Wini Beatty's "Folk Music for Taxpayers." And yes, it was terrible, though not just in the ways that I expected it would be terrible. First, it turns out that it's not really folk music at all. Wini Beatty just takes old standards and alters the lyrics slightly to be about pet right wings causes, so it's more like filk than folk. And we all know that filk is the lowest form of music. Just to let you know the level of wit we're talking about here, Beatty performs "Deck the Halls with Boughs of Holly" as "Deck the Halls with liberal folly" and "Greensleeves" as "Greenstamps." Oh ho ho, how droll!
It's also a live performance so Ms. Beatty's charming witticisms are frequently punctuated by hearty guffaws from the audience. There's really no song on this album that goes longer than 20 seconds, so I'll give her points for brevity. That's about the only good thing I can say about it, because, wow, I think I'd rather get punched in the neck with a blunt saw than listen to this tripe again. Beatty trots out the usual conservative boogiemen, mostly having to do with the horrors of public assistance programs. (Remember that this album came out in 1966, so it's interesting to see that this old Republican song and dance hasn't changed a note since then). Most of the ditties are pretty forgettable, although "Oh, Medicare" (sung to the tune of "Oh, Tannenbaum") managed to get me frothingly angry. Basically, Beatty sings about how it's so awesome that you can get sick and not have to pay for medical attention. "Why be a healthy lunatic?" she crows, "How wonderful when you get sick and never have to pay the bill!" Fuck you, you shrill harpy. What's your argument here, that people are purposely getting sick because they realize that they can get free medical coverage? Is that seriously what you're saying? Because I know that most conservative arguments against public assistance rely on fictitious anecdotes about welfare fraud, but saying that people are getting sick to get free meds is so dumb as to defy words. Also, I should note that, ignoring that, there are A LOT OF THINGS that medicare won't pay for, so acting like it's a FREE PILLS AND MONEY DISPENSING SYSTEM is especially heinous.
The audience especially loves Beatty's opening number "Potomac River," which goes on about how politicians promise lower taxes but then always raise them once they get elected. Haha, ain't that the truth? Thanks, Wini Beatty, I'm glad we have a shrewd political pundit like you to point out that astute observation. Boy, the politics, they are annoying, huh? Mayeb next you can tell us about how airline food tastes bad.
Also, "Hammers and Sickles" tells us that the Y is a commie plot. And then there's "I'd Rather Do it Myself," yet another entry in the 'fuck poor people, BOOTSTRAPS BOOTSTRAPS BOOTSTRAPS' catalogue. "McNamara Built a Car" (sung to the tune of "Old McDonald") is kind of a weird one, since it's all about how Robert McNamara greenlighted the Edsel while working at Ford (Though in reality, Mcnamara opposed the Edsel and worked to stop production even before the first car was finished). Then the song continues on to note that McNamara went to work in Washington with "A Cuba, Cuba here and a Cuba, Cuba there. Here a Cuba, there a Cuba, everywhere a Cuba, Cuba!" Cuz he was involved in the Cuban Missile Crisis, I guess. I dunno, I can't really tell what the song is trying to say, other than that McNamara is a muck-up because he was involved in a company that made a crappy car and an administration that managed to avoid turning Cuba into a global thermonuclear war. Also, if you really want to fault McNamara, there's kinda something else you might want to mention *cough*Vietnam*cough*
There's more, but I can't take any more of this crap.
http://thenewmeat.livejournal.com/104419.html
We finally listened to Wini Beatty's "Folk Music for Taxpayers." And yes, it was terrible, though not just in the ways that I expected it would be terrible. First, it turns out that it's not really folk music at all. Wini Beatty just takes old standards and alters the lyrics slightly to be about pet right wings causes, so it's more like filk than folk. And we all know that filk is the lowest form of music. Just to let you know the level of wit we're talking about here, Beatty performs "Deck the Halls with Boughs of Holly" as "Deck the Halls with liberal folly" and "Greensleeves" as "Greenstamps." Oh ho ho, how droll!
It's also a live performance so Ms. Beatty's charming witticisms are frequently punctuated by hearty guffaws from the audience. There's really no song on this album that goes longer than 20 seconds, so I'll give her points for brevity. That's about the only good thing I can say about it, because, wow, I think I'd rather get punched in the neck with a blunt saw than listen to this tripe again. Beatty trots out the usual conservative boogiemen, mostly having to do with the horrors of public assistance programs. (Remember that this album came out in 1966, so it's interesting to see that this old Republican song and dance hasn't changed a note since then). Most of the ditties are pretty forgettable, although "Oh, Medicare" (sung to the tune of "Oh, Tannenbaum") managed to get me frothingly angry. Basically, Beatty sings about how it's so awesome that you can get sick and not have to pay for medical attention. "Why be a healthy lunatic?" she crows, "How wonderful when you get sick and never have to pay the bill!" Fuck you, you shrill harpy. What's your argument here, that people are purposely getting sick because they realize that they can get free medical coverage? Is that seriously what you're saying? Because I know that most conservative arguments against public assistance rely on fictitious anecdotes about welfare fraud, but saying that people are getting sick to get free meds is so dumb as to defy words. Also, I should note that, ignoring that, there are A LOT OF THINGS that medicare won't pay for, so acting like it's a FREE PILLS AND MONEY DISPENSING SYSTEM is especially heinous.
The audience especially loves Beatty's opening number "Potomac River," which goes on about how politicians promise lower taxes but then always raise them once they get elected. Haha, ain't that the truth? Thanks, Wini Beatty, I'm glad we have a shrewd political pundit like you to point out that astute observation. Boy, the politics, they are annoying, huh? Mayeb next you can tell us about how airline food tastes bad.
Also, "Hammers and Sickles" tells us that the Y is a commie plot. And then there's "I'd Rather Do it Myself," yet another entry in the 'fuck poor people, BOOTSTRAPS BOOTSTRAPS BOOTSTRAPS' catalogue. "McNamara Built a Car" (sung to the tune of "Old McDonald") is kind of a weird one, since it's all about how Robert McNamara greenlighted the Edsel while working at Ford (Though in reality, Mcnamara opposed the Edsel and worked to stop production even before the first car was finished). Then the song continues on to note that McNamara went to work in Washington with "A Cuba, Cuba here and a Cuba, Cuba there. Here a Cuba, there a Cuba, everywhere a Cuba, Cuba!" Cuz he was involved in the Cuban Missile Crisis, I guess. I dunno, I can't really tell what the song is trying to say, other than that McNamara is a muck-up because he was involved in a company that made a crappy car and an administration that managed to avoid turning Cuba into a global thermonuclear war. Also, if you really want to fault McNamara, there's kinda something else you might want to mention *cough*Vietnam*cough*
There's more, but I can't take any more of this crap.