New Single Released on Wilco's Bandcamp

[mpolak21]

A new Wilco song called "All Lives, You Say?" is available for immediate download with a charitable contribution. Proceeds will go to the Southern Poverty Law Center, in the memory of Jeff Tweedy's father, Robert L. Tweedy (1933-2017).  

 

"My dad was named after a Civil War general, and he voted for Barack Obama twice. He used to say 'If you know better, you can do better.' America - we know better. We can do better." - Jeff Tweedy

 

https://wilcohq.bandcamp.com

[TCP]

That's a pretty country Wilco song, I like it. A good cause for a good song!

[lost highway]

"All lives, all lives you say?

I can see you are afraid.

Your skin, so thin

your heart has escaped.

All lives, all lives you say.

You were born at the end of a noose.

What was up came down with the blues. 

But you don't know how to 

sing anything anyway.

So all lives, all lives you say.

 

My, my,

My mind is gone.

It's too hard for me to know

when I'm wrong.

This is the last dying gasp

of a deadly lung

turning blue on a lawn

in the sun."

 

Someone tell me if I misheard something. I think I know who this song is directed at!

[Passenger Sid]

Paste magazine starts their Wilco song blurb with, "The politically charged song..."

 

Who's Jeff singing about? Trump? The extreme whacky right? The extreme whacky left? Bill Belichik? Darth Vader?

 

Not a bad sounding song. Kinda has a Mermaid Avenue vibe.

[chuckrh]

Downloaded it. Will play when the house wakes up. Nice for Jeff to be able to put out a little memorial for his dad.

[lost highway]

Who's Jeff singing about? Trump? The extreme whacky right? The extreme whacky left? Bill Belichik? Darth Vader?

 

 

"Your skin so thin your heart has escaped."

 

I can think of no better indictment of Trump's character.

[chuckrh]

I'm thinking that this & Drive-by Truckers "What it Means" would make an awesome split single for charity....

[Passenger Sid]

"Your skin so thin your heart has escaped."

 

I can think of no better indictment of Trump's character.

 

So Trump was born at the end of a noose? What came down with blues? 

 

I enjoy the song better thinking of Belichik. 

[Passenger Sid]

Tweedy's quote about the song:

 

“My dad was named after a Civil War general, and he voted for Barack Obama twice,” Tweedy said in a statement. “He used to say, ‘If you know better, you can do better.’ America — we know better. We can do better.”

 

 

How do others interpret the quote?

 

I think Jeff is trying to say that we can learn from our mistakes of the past. Or maybe that we all have consciences that guide us...we need to listen it. But it also comes across that if you didn't vote for Obama, you're not enlightened or intelligent.

 

For me, political songs are dicey. I believe the U.S. is filled with a vast majority of heads-in-the-right-place people, whether on the Left or Right. I think nut-jobs on the very extremes of both sides, with today's news cycles and social media, make it SEEM a lot more divisive and ugly that it actually is America.

 

I'd guess 95% Americans or more are for "All Lives", whether black or white or brown or old or unborn.

[brownie]

At its most general, I interpret the quote as saying it is good to be open minded about things. Anything else political, I'd save for the Politics thread.

 

I like the song a lot, both musically and lyrically.

[chisoxjtrain]

Good song, great message. Clearly people who support the current president (and if they do, it is my opinion they are ok with racism/sexism/sexual assault) are not going to like this song very much.

[kidsmoke]

I'm really liking this song! Need to spend some headphones time, to catch all the lyrics. That "thin-skinned" line is brilliant.

 

Somewhere Woody Guthrie is smiling at his legacy...through bands like Wilco.

[ViaNewOrleans]

I LOVE this song.  I wish the band would do a whole album of countryish songs in this vein. 

[lost highway]

I'd guess 95% Americans or more are for "All Lives", whether black or white or brown or old or unborn.

 

Well, from how I interpret the title and the ongoing rhetoric of the "All lives" slogan and its disingenuous application by politicians, maybe I can offer some perspective.

 

The statement of "All Lives Matter" is not an activist statement, or a charitable one. It is a political slogan to combat "Black Lives Matter". It's frustrating because people who work for, or even feel support for BLM's central effort would never suggest any life doesn't matter. It'd be like someone who worked for years to help the people of Sudan and was promoting their cause so a bunch of numbskulls would retort "All countries matter".

 

The irony of the "All Lives Matter" slogan is it is often employed by politicians who would happily empower financial swindlers, and cut people in need from their safety net to save a buck. That might be why the words "you say?" are at the end of the title. If it were cheaper, you could picture the title printed in front of a smug Gene Wilder in Wonka costume (not that we ever need another meme abusing that image).

 

At least, that's my take.

 

While I dodged the allusion to abortion in Passenger Sid's comment, this is still totally political. I'm happy to take it out of Just a Fan and move over to the political thread if moderators feel this is not in the spirit of music appreciation. It's a little tricky with what seems to be the closest thing resembling a political song from the band released with a pretty direct political statement in response to recent horrors.

[Atticus]

I'm confused

[lost highway]

I'm confused

 

Go on.....