Music for today: a song from Jerry Bock's Fiorello!
Here's a treat I found yesterday! It's a song from a musical, which is weird, because I hate musicals. I heard the song yesterday on the WFMU show "Give the Drummer Some."
The song is called "Unfair" and it's from the musical Fiorello! which is about New York mayor Fiorello La Guardia. La Guardia was a NYC politician the Republicans pushed to go against Tammany Hall. Once he got elected, he turned against everyone rich and powerful and became a famous populist.
A guy named Tom Bosley plays La Guardia and is the one talking to the 'girls' in the song. (EDIT:// Tom Bosley is the same Tom Bosley who played the dad on Happy Days!)
The song is a fucking firebrand and reminds me of everything that's wrong with the Democrats. This song's spirit and fight and sympathy for the little guy is what I miss today. You don't hear shit like that because of people like Terry McAuliffe and the DNC.
The reason the poor and working class voted against their self-interests is because NO ONE REALLY REPRESENTS THEIR SELF-INTERESTS. As Jello Biafra put it, "My choice is between The Business Party and The Business Party." People aren't stupid. They're uniformed, but not stupid. They don't realize how bad Bush is, but they do realize that neither Bush or Kerry were really for them. They know that both are primarily for Corporate lobbyists and billionaires. Since they don't see any reason to vote from their economic self-interest, they vote for social issues. And frankly, they're afraid of big city social issues.
I should remember this because I'm from the same class. But I'm too far removed to stay in touch with my trailer trash roots. I'm too educated, too citified, too successful, I know too much about Bush, and I'm an atheist. In short, I've rejected my roots for the heathen city life.
I hope you love this song as much as I did:
Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick's "Unfair,"
sung by Tom Bosley from the musical Fiorello! (1959)
The song is called "Unfair" and it's from the musical Fiorello! which is about New York mayor Fiorello La Guardia. La Guardia was a NYC politician the Republicans pushed to go against Tammany Hall. Once he got elected, he turned against everyone rich and powerful and became a famous populist.
A guy named Tom Bosley plays La Guardia and is the one talking to the 'girls' in the song. (EDIT:// Tom Bosley is the same Tom Bosley who played the dad on Happy Days!)
The song is a fucking firebrand and reminds me of everything that's wrong with the Democrats. This song's spirit and fight and sympathy for the little guy is what I miss today. You don't hear shit like that because of people like Terry McAuliffe and the DNC.
The reason the poor and working class voted against their self-interests is because NO ONE REALLY REPRESENTS THEIR SELF-INTERESTS. As Jello Biafra put it, "My choice is between The Business Party and The Business Party." People aren't stupid. They're uniformed, but not stupid. They don't realize how bad Bush is, but they do realize that neither Bush or Kerry were really for them. They know that both are primarily for Corporate lobbyists and billionaires. Since they don't see any reason to vote from their economic self-interest, they vote for social issues. And frankly, they're afraid of big city social issues.
I should remember this because I'm from the same class. But I'm too far removed to stay in touch with my trailer trash roots. I'm too educated, too citified, too successful, I know too much about Bush, and I'm an atheist. In short, I've rejected my roots for the heathen city life.
I hope you love this song as much as I did:
Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick's "Unfair,"
sung by Tom Bosley from the musical Fiorello! (1959)