A nice set, but very much like the regular program WDRV playlist methinks.
BOS vote for "I'd Love to Change the World" featuring the best Eric Clapton solo not actually by Eric Clapton.
What's the group consensus on the "dykes and fairies" line? It's always rubbed me the wrong way, but I don't know if it's most fairly interpreted as
(a) anti-gay commentary;
(b) look-how-complicated-and-diverse-this-world-is bewilderment; or
(c) observation sung in character that shouldn't be taken personally
... ?
I've settled on B but wonder about A often enough. I don't think the song works if he is singing 'in character'; this is one of those really earnest songs that nobody makes anymore.
I think we've discussed this song before and I still say that it is certainly not an idealistic/lefty song. "Tax the rich/feed the poor/till there are/ no rich no more" is a "libertarian" sentiment at best (in other words, "what happens when there are no more rich people to tax? then who feeds the poor, smartass?"). Of COURSE that dykes/fairies comment is anti-gay -- this was barely 3 years after Stonewall, gay rights as an issue had barely registered at that point.
ha! i always heard it (and sang it) as "tax the rich, feed the poor, don't make ronald rich no more." but it amounts to to same meaning. i've always "wondered" about the dykes and fairies line, too. mostly because i love singing along to the song. and i don't love being a hater.
HOWEVER...
i posit we interpret it as a, b, and c, seeing as how each verse seems to be sung from a different perspective. let's observe:
Everywhere is freaks and hairies
Dykes and fairies, tell me where is sanity
Tax the rich, feed the poor
Till there are no rich no more
Id love to change the world
But I dont know what to do
So Ill leave it up to you
Population keeps on breeding
Nation bleeding, still more feeding economy
Life is funny, skies are sunny
Bees make honey, who needs money, monopoly
Id love to change the world
But I dont know what to do
So Ill leave it up to you
World pollution, theres no solution
Institution, electrocution
Just black and white, rich or poor
Them and us, stop the war
Id love to change the world
But I dont know what to do
So Ill leave it up to youthe first verse - the ultra-con verse - is in stark contrast with the third verse. i don't think super rich ultra-cons are joining hands with super-impoverished black schoolchildren to stop the war.
and the second verse, with it's stoner (or just blissfully ignorant) "sunny skies" and "bees" contrasts with both the "sanity" sought in the first verse, and with the worry of "no solution" in the third verse.
i could go on, but i'm going to listen to that killer guitar solo now...
eta: conclusion: so, see, each group wants to change the world, but they don't know how, so they leave it up to the other groups. which is pretty accurate.
oh, and the guitar solo rocks.