Home > Neil Young’s Songs of Impeachment

Neil Young’s Songs of Impeachment

by Open-Publishing - Monday 1 May 2006
13 comments

Edito Music Governments USA

LET’S IMPEACH THE PRESIDENT / by Neil Young (Streaming Audio)

With Neil Young and Pearl Jam releasing devastating anti-Bush albums in the coming weeks, it looks like rock has rejuvenated its protest past.

By Jan Frel

Only one friend of mine popped the champagne after the Supreme Court’s 5-4 vote in Bush v. Gore effectively sealed the deal that we’d see a right winger in office.

The friend, a fan of ’70s and ’80s punk music, was overjoyed because he told me (I’m paraphrasing), "The music sucks when you have a Democrat in the White House. It was slightly better under Republican nerds like Gerald Ford or that New England prude Herbert Walker Bush. But his son looks like something way worse, way more vicious and sinister than Reagan. The music’s going to be incredible." It was morning in America.

But for some reason that my friend can’t really explain, he doesn’t think that the music — at the popular level at least — has really changed or reacted that much to the Bush years, even as this country transforms at a barreling pace into a bland and grotesque, jock-worshipping business state with moralist pretensions; a true reflection of Bush’s White House. Right around the time we invaded Iraq in 2003, he stopped hunting for the next Dead Kennedys and gave up. He now can be found wandering the world music aisles in the record store, ashamed of what he sees as his country’s musical nonresponse to the Bush Nightmare.

To be sure, mainstream big bands like Green Day have released politically subversive records in the recent past that garnered huge attention and continue to play the radio. But none of them have resonated with the public to produce any kind of movement or social action that has moved American politics. In one song on Green Day’s album, American Idiot, front man Billie Joe Armstrong lamented the lack of public resistance: "Where have all the riots gone?" Like the Dixie Chicks in Bush’s first term, they dissented and we listened, and that’s about it.

But, like Cindy Sheehan, who filled the political vacuum last summer when Washington Democrats were unable to articulate a serious opposition to Bush on Iraq, out comes old ’60s rocker Neil Young into the arena of Bush’s impeachment with his new album, Living with War. Already, Young has made a massive media splash — interviews on the cable networks and front page newspaper articles — and huge public anticipation for its release.

Young’s album, which you can listen to streamed live on his site or no doubt find bootlegs of on the blogs, is scheduled to be released on May 9.

The centerpiece of the album — the song that we’ll hopefully hear blasting on the radio from now until the time George Bush leaves office — is titled in the most straightforward manner, "Let’s Impeach the President." The lyrics of that song, reprinted in full below, first appeared on Fox News — a smart move, considering that that media outlet and its audience are likely going to be the last ones on the planet to agree that impeaching George Bush is a good idea.

The lyrics to "Living with War":

Let’s impeach the president for lying
And leading our country into war
Abusing all the power that we gave him
And shipping all our money out the door
 
He’s the man who hired all the criminals
The White House shadows who hide behind closed doors
And bend the facts to fit with their new stories
Of why we have to send our men to war
 
Let’s impeach the president for spying
On citizens inside their own homes
Breaking every law in the country
By tapping our computers and telephones
 
What if Al Qaida blew up the levees
Would New Orleans have been safer that way
Sheltered by our government’s protection
Or was someone just not home that day?
 
Let’s impeach the president
For hijacking our religion and using it to get elected
Dividing our country into colors
And still leaving black people neglected
 
Thank god he’s cracking down on steroids
Since he sold his old baseball team
There’s lot of people looking at big trouble
But of course the president is clean
 
Thank God

Where have lyrics like that been the past five years? Young himself wondered the same question. "I was waiting for someone to come along, some young singer 18 to 22 years old, to write these songs and stand up," Young told the L.A. Times. "I waited a long time. Then I decided that maybe the generation that has to do this is still the ’60s generation. We’re still here." All 10 of the songs on Living with War directly address the issues of our political era (lyrics to the album here).

Maybe it’s unfinished business between two warring camps from the ’60s generation. Perhaps the Bush presidency is their final symbolic battle — for the rest of us to watch on the sidelines. A lot of the most hated figures in Bush’s administration and its most fervent supporters in the right-wing apparatus came out of the ’60s social movement as well. And they may well bear their resentments not against all of us, but their old nemeses from that time.

Journalist Mark Ames considered the deeper origins of long-standing grudges held by Bush aides like Iraq war architect Richard Perle in his review of the book "An End to Evil," which Perle co-authored: "Indeed, every sad word of ’An End to Evil’ oozes Perle’s... pained, wasted ’60s youth...: wasted in yellow sheet stains, wasted studying maps color-coded with spheres-of-influence, wasted memorizing German armaments, and college years wasted playing Risk in their dorms while the socially successful hippies frolicked and fucked all around them. Perle... will never forgive America for this humiliation and therefore [he] want[s] to egg it on to its suicide by prodding it into a multi-front apocalyptic world war."

But is an album like Living with War or a song like "Let’s Impeach the President" something that’s really going to push the country to actually do that — get rid of the guy? Approval levels for Bush stand today in the low 30s, and while there is some movement to impeach Bush at the local level, D.C. is silent.

The closest thing we’ve seen from the mainstream press in reaction to the disastrous White House since 2001 is the L.A. Times’ call this April for Cheney to resign, which was summarily ignored by the rest of the establishment. But perhaps the contribution of Young’s record will be, as former record executive-turned blogger Howie Klein explained, an articulation for "post-literate" society:

Conventional wisdom has pretty much made it clear that Bush and his regime are incompetent, venal and corrupt, and that his war is one of the most catastrophic foreign policy blunders ever made by a U.S. president. What Neil has done with Living with War is made these ideas easily digestible for post-literate western society at large. He’s managed to create a body of work that will help make it easy for people to talk about the war, Bush’s short-comings and how to deal with them. Virtually no one wants the U.S. to start a (nuclear?) war against Iran — not the citizens of this country and not the professional military. But who’s going to stop Bush and the crazed, obsessed fanatics he’s surrounded himself with? Living with War will filter up into political policy circles, not with answers, but with the questions he’s raised from us and for us.

It’s a valid point. Bush might stand at 32 percent, but there’s no public movement or constant baying to make the broad public case that Bush must go. As Klein writes, Young lays out "a case as strong as anything Henry Waxman is going to do — maybe not as specific— but a lot more poetic." And the truth is that this country is not equipped to hear what a lone Waxman might call for, even if it were impeachment.

Democratic members of Congress like Waxman and John Conyers have introduced countless resolutions in the Bush era calling for investigations, resignations, the lot. And none of it has gone anywhere. An album like Young’s adds a little geist to the H.R. 635. Young’s going to go on tour — titled "Freedom of Speech ’06" — with his old bandmates, Crosby, Stills and Nash starting this summer to promote his album and the movement to get rid of Bush.

But perhaps Young won’t be the only one pumping out straight up, in-your-face dissent on the mass music level. Pearl Jam will release a self-titled album on May 2 that has every sign of being a direct attack on the state of American politics.

Lead singer Eddie Vedder recently told the press, "It’s just not the time to be cryptic. I mean, our tax dollars for this (Iraq) war are being funneled through huge corporations — one of which Dick Cheney used to be head of (Halliburton) — and there’s an even greater disparity between rich or poor in this country. It offends me on a really deep level." Pearl Jam’s tour starts on May 9. Hopefully, by the end of this summer, all of us will have rocked out to the sound of impeachment.

Jan Frel is an AlterNet staff writer.

http://www.alternet.org/story/35572/

Forum posts

  • "Democratic members of Congress like Waxman and John Conyers have introduced countless resolutions in the Bush era calling for investigations, resignations, the lot."

    Both Waxman and Conyers just voted for the "Iran Freedom Support Act". In fact Waxman was a co-sponsor.

    It is becoming clear why their resolutions are going nowhere. Because they are a fake ’opposition’ . They do not want to succeed which is why they do not truly pursue accountability.

  • There are serious bands out there that are totally anti-government and anti-corporation. Just because the mainstream puppet conglomerate radio stations are not playing the music it doesn’t mean that truth is missing in the music industry. People who continue to listen to pop music are brain dead.

    Bands like “System of a Down” are producing double albums, teaching people about what is happening. They have a huge following and have been part of the peace rallies since before the invasion of Iraq (check out their videos). Check out a review of “Hypnotize” at http://www.chycho.com/soad.html

    There are also many other bands, such as “anti-flag”, “immortal technique”, “damian marley” and much much more …

    The problem is not the music; it’s the radio stations. People should turn off mainstream radio and start to download, stream music from sites like http://www.wefunkradio.com/ or tune into coop-radio or university stations.

    Stop trying to look for the truth is outdated, over hyped, bought and paid for corporations. General rule of thumb is that if the radio station you are listening to plays commercials then you are listening to the wrong channel.

    Educate yourselves. If you hear a commercial during a show then you are not listening to an artist, you are listening to a corporation and you are just a simple machine incapable of free thought

  • It’s all part of a plan. Diversion, division, distraction and destruction and lots of Lip Service to quell the sheeps fears. The US media is entirely complicit.

    While i despise Mr bush more than hitler himself, I refuse to give him the credit for any of this destruction although I’ll lay the blame squarely on his shoulders. He’s purely a puppet. A cardboard cutout of a man dressed as a political representative. Completely disconnected from both intelligence and morals. A man used as a tool only. A false facade who does the bidding of a much larger machine. Cheney and Rummy are but cogs in the wheel of this golbal mechanation of systematic repression.

    Within the US the plan is to eliminate the middle class, control all voting, increase the profits for Corporate USA (always on the backs of the poor), eliminate any social programs which might assist or benefit the downtrodden, and encourage religion to bathe the masses in it’s mental moonshine while picking their pockets further.

    Outside the US....well, you’re either with us or you’re with the enemy - meaning that all those who disagree with the NeoCon, Israel first policies ARE the enemy. Those who have the weapons will make the rules.Yes, there’s always the dog and pony show at the UN, but essentially, Bolton will control all real actions and always in favor of the corrupt government of the US and it’s corporate/military wishes. DU munitions will help the mega/Pharma industry as well as the Codex. Both will effectively elminate personal health decisons and place the world under the yoke of the medical industry. New and more dangerous bio/pathogens will be ’introduced’ to perpetuate subservience to big pharma.

    It’s all a plan. PNAC spelled it out years back but no one took it to heart. Now, it’s too late. Global dominion under the boot of ’democracy’.

    • I couldn’t agree more with the above assessment. My fear is that this song is being allowed because it will only further stoke the fires of unrest in the US, playing into the hands of those who are looking to completely shred the fabric of American society after bleeding the economy dry and destroying the US army. Not much different from the kind of hijacking of Russia’s Duma and destruction of its social fabric in 1917, leading to the tyranny of communism.

      For those who would take issue with identifying the Zionists behind this current US fiasco, it is important to note that there are a great many Jews who want nothing to do with their plans, and who will suffer tremendously along with the rest of the American people if their plans for the US are brought to completion. For those who want to wake up to what’s really going on, listen to this 40 minute clip of ex-Zionist Benjamin Freedman on the real causes of WWI, WWII and Middle East Wars at:
      http://www.erichufschmid.net/BenjaminFreedmansSpeech16.mp3
      Solid further info is available at www.iamthewitness.com -one of the few uncompromised sites still telling the truth.

    • Your assessment seems spot on the mark. If the population does not awaken from its slumber then it will be too late to stand there with mouth agape and ask "what happened" when their freedoms, money and country have been looted and trashed.

  • Why does Mr. Young look like the Grinch in that photo?

    • To some superficial shallow people, looks are all that matters. To some Bush Butt Kissers, other’s looks can be a major focus in their attempt to distract from thoughts of relevance or importance.......what’s the ugliest part of your body?....some say your nose, some say your toes, but I think its your mind (Frank Zappa).

    • Would you have any opinion if there was no photogragh ?

    • I liked Mr. Young when it was CSNY. Personally whether it’s Neil or any other musician makes no difference to me. Protest songs are just that - songs. Peter Paul and Mary are old folks now and they’re still singing ’puff the magic dragon’. They stopped growing in the 60’s. I hope that doesn’t happen to Young. There comes a time to retire - when you’ve outlived all your children.(in this case your children being your music and its current-ness)

      This photo just makes him look like the Grinch. That’s all.

    • With bushie balls as president for the last 5 years, we ALL should look like the grinch. As for dyed-in-the-wool republi-fucks like you, ignorance is bliss. Just maybe you’ll see the light before ’08.

      And maybe that’s just wishful thinking on my part.

  • "The friend, a fan of ’70s and ’80s punk music, was overjoyed because he told me (I’m paraphrasing), "The music sucks when you have a Democrat in the White House. It was slightly better under Republican nerds like Gerald Ford or that New England prude Herbert Walker Bush. But his son looks like something way worse, way more vicious and sinister than Reagan. The music’s going to be incredible." It was morning in America."

    Well, the friend is a bit of a dork. The Sex Pistols, the Clash, and Joy Division all started when Carter was in power. And of course, Neil came up when Johnson was in... So did the Stones and the Beatles. Bob Dylan? He got kind of big when Kennedy was around.

  • Sorry to piss in your wine but I would have preferred it if US performers would have the guts to stand up when it counts (and when its dangerous) than 3 years after the fact.
    We bombed Yugoslavia, Afghanistan and Iraq illegally and the only guy I can think that had the guts to stand up were Eminem and George Micheal. Real progressive types.

    Most of the ’progressive’ artists were too busy (like Tom Petty, being the dancing monkey for an arms magnate) when it was dangerous to for ones career to speak.
    Now, when Bushies ratings are down, all those brave souls are coming out because they feel safe now.
    Bravo.

    Dont get me wrong, Young is not in the class of the pop sellouts who last year gave a big BJ to Bush and Blair (smack in the middle of the Downing street memo scandal) and meekly towed the corporate line instead of standing up.
    Most people who knew anything about 3rd world debt, knew fully well what the PR campaign was all about and those who didnt probably didnt know or care that Wolfowitz, the architect of the american plan, was the head of the World Bank. And we all know that Wolfie is all about kindness and humanity.
    Oh my bad...that was Bush and Blair they were describing.

    Anyyyyways, Young’s motives might be good but there have been way too many poseurs who’ve finally grown balls (or sensed the winds change) that I am weary of all of them now and greet them with a big "Where the F*** were you till now?".
    There are tons of bands that are not on the MTV/Clearchannel dials that have been vocally anti-war, we just dont have a chance to hear them. Many of them have used this new technology called the in-ter-net and have distributed songs, podcasts and videos about the various wars, occupations and invasions online in real time.

    Not 3-4 years later.

    Maintstream musicians are definitely not the people I wait for to get my social cues. It doesnt mean that bands like Antibalas, Franti/Spearhead, La Chango Family, Fermin Muguruza dont exist or matter socially but in the high finance world of tour sponsorships and stadium leases, there are a lot of things were the mainstream artists cant do d*ck or dont want to do anything to hurt their careers.

    derek