The Who - Won't Get Fooled Again

J. wrote to suggest a blog:

Hey Marc,

Here's another commie pinko liberal blog you might enjoy following. There are some pretty interesting pieces posted on it.

We're freezing out here in Oklahoma--makes the Fox viewers very smug about being global warming deniers....

Well, I can't help with the weather or the smug Fox fanatics. Climate, after all, is averaged weather, and the globe on average can still be getting toasty even as large swathes of America freeze rock-solid. The conditions are not mutually-exclusive at all. And if the global warming deniers can't grasp that simple fact, then it's time to sell them gold medallions as an investment opportunity. Because someone is gonna get rich (and it isn't the dittoheads).

So, reading the commie pinko liberal blog, per request, I found myself drawn to the post featuring The Who's classic song of political disillusion, "Won't Get Fooled Again".

At the time "Won't Get Fooled Again" came out, in 1971, our family was right in the middle of an abortive move from Corrales, NM, to San Diego, CA. So, for me, the song is about disillusion, but not just political disillusion, but disillusion with many, many things: the idea of California as a Paradise on Earth, for one; the idea that all things come out right in the end, the idea that people are rational and know what they are doing, etc., etc. So, this song is one of the beacons of my life....



Lyrics:

We'll be fighting in the streets
With our children at our feet
And the morals that they worship will be gone
And the men who spurred us on
Sit in judgement of all wrong
They decide and the shotgun sings the song

I'll tip my hat to the new constitution
Take a bow for the new revolution
Smile and grin at the change all around
Pick up my guitar and play
Just like yesterday
Then I'll get on my knees and pray
We don't get fooled again

(small instrumental)

The change, it had to come
We knew it all along
We were liberated from the fold, that's all
And the world looks just the same
And history ain't changed
'Cause the banners, they are flown in the next war

I'll tip my hat to the new constitution
Take a bow for the new revolution
Smile and grin at the change all around
Pick up my guitar and play
Just like yesterday
Then I'll get on my knees and pray
We don't get fooled again
No, no!

(instrumental)

I'll move myself and my family aside
If we happen to be left half alive
I'll get all my papers and smile at the sky
Though I know that the hypnotized never lie
Do ya?

(instrumental)

There's nothing in the streets
Looks any different to me
And the slogans are replaced, by-the-bye
And the parting on the left
Is now parting on the right
And the beards have all grown longer overnight

I'll tip my hat to the new constitution
Take a bow for the new revolution
Smile and grin at the change all around
Pick up my guitar and play
Just like yesterday
Then I'll get on my knees and pray
We don't get fooled again
Don't get fooled again
No, no!

(instrumental)

Yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!

Meet the new boss
Same as the old boss