The Cease and Desist Playlist

So the idea for this blog came to me when John Fogerty asked Donald Trump to STOP playing his song, Fortunate Son, at Trump's rallies.

In October 2020, Fogerty announced he was sending a cease-and-desist letter to Trump, saying that Trump "is using my words and my voice to portray a message that I do not endorse". Fogerty noted that it was quite the opposite - the song's lyrics were meant as a critique of how wealthy people are unfairly able to avoid the draft or pay their share of taxes. Wikipedia

Some folks are born silver spoon in hand

Lord, don't they help themselves, no

But when the taxman come' to the door

Lord, the house lookin' like a rummage sale, yeah

In total Trump irony- the son of a wealthy man who avoided the draft with his 'bone spurs' military deferment story and later, his famous tag line of calling people who couldn't get out of the Vietnam war, "suckers" and "losers." 

Fogerty, as a young and inexperienced person in the music business with his band, Creedence Clearwater Revival, signed all his publishing rights away to his record company Fantasy Records. Fortunate Son has been used in commercials like Wrangler® Jeans against Fogerty's objections. Eventually, like many artists who finally attain wealth themselves, Fogerty was able to fight the long protracted legal battle and win back his publishing rights.

This got me thinking about the very nature of writing a song, it's kind of weird proposition for the artist. First, you go about the creative process individually or collaboratively of composing the music and writing the lyrics. This is all very personal, as thoughts and feelings get transformed and expressed through the medium of music. 

From there, the song takes on a life of its own. There is typically: a recording process, a distribution process, and a marketing process. How much control the artist has after the song is created depends on a million different factors that I don't need to go into here. It's safe to say, the artist almost always loses some level of control in how their song is used out in the world. The song is the artist's baby, and then it's not. That is why we have copyright law for artists (and publishers) so they can control in how their song is used.

From a pure creative perspective, there's a great new series on Netflix called Song Exploder that explores the craft of making a song that I think you would enjoy. In watching the R.E.M. episode of how they created the song, Losing My Religion, you not only get to experience the process of making a song but also the many interpretations of the song by the fans. Michael Stipe of R.E.M says the song is about love obsession and the title, 'Losing My Religion' is a southern phrase for losing one's temper. My personal interpretation of Losing My Religion is a literal translation of the song's title with my own experience of growing up in a conservative Christian upbringing and the transition to living on my own. The song has a deep meaning for me and is one of my all-time favorites.

The Alicia Keys episode of making the song, 3 Hour Drive, you experience her collaboration with Sampha in both composing the music and lyrics. Keys writes the song from her perspective of being a new mother of a baby son, and Sampha is dealing with the recent death of his mother. It's literally the circle of life, but without that background knowledge, I would have interpreted the song as an 'I'm on the road love song,' a staple theme in pop music.

So the song is the artist's expression who knows full well that their baby is often crafted as a chameleon of interpretation. Saying that, Bob Dylan quickly comes to mind. This blog is less about creative interpretation and more about the outright misuse by politicians stealing a musician's artistic work without their permission and using it for their own narrow political interpretation and manipulation.

Take Bruce Springsteen's 1984 hit Born In The U.S.A., a catchy title turned into a political speech by Ronald Reagan on the campaign trail after his operatives liked the song's hook, who didn't seem to listen to or comprehend that the lyrics are about a down and out Vietnam War veteran with verses like

Got in a little hometown jam

So they put a rifle in my hand

Sent me off to a foreign land

To go and kill the yellow man

Instead, Reagan goes out and says in a 1984 campaign speech, "America's future rests in a thousand dreams inside your hearts; it rests in the message of hope in songs so many young Americans admire: New Jersey's own Bruce Springsteen. And helping you make those dreams come true is what this job of mine is all about." 

Springsteen just shook his head, yeah like Ronnie's listening to his album Nebraska. Then in 2016, Trump steals another play from Reagan's playbook and started playing Born In The U.S.A. at his own campaign rallies. 

Rather than take legal action, he openly announced his support for Trump's opponent, Hillary Clinton, and even campaigned in support of her. As a result, the song would instead get booed every time Trump would play it at rallies from that point on. Wikipedia

Last Saturday night at Joe Biden's victory speech, Tom Petty's I Won't Back Down comes booming on  right after he finishes his speech. I just burst out laughing as you know Biden's staff is purposely playing one of Trump's cease and desist song's from his rallies. Now Joe, you're my kind of guy!

The family of Tom Petty denounced Trump's use of the song "I Won't Back Down" at political rallies in 2020. The family sent the campaign a cease and desist letter, stating that the song was written for the "underdog" and "common man", and that Trump didn't represent either. Wikipedia

So here's my mix of The Cease and Desist Playlist from the Trump rallies as I do my little part to free this music from the Trump shit show. Here's hoping some of these artists get invited to the White House Inaugural January 20, 2021 and get a chance to perform live at the various celebrations. I also look forward to the tradition of musicians being invited to perform at the White House again. In the playlist, see John Fogerty perform Fortunate Son in the Obama White House in a salute to the military on Veterans Day, and a wonderful example of how protest and institution can meld over time.

 

 References:

• Musicians who oppose Donald Trump's use of their music (Wikipedia)
• 22 artists who have spoken out against President Trump playing their music at his events (Insider)
• Tom Petty’s family ‘touched’ by Joe Biden playing ‘I Won’t Back Down’ (Report Door)

#NewMusicMonday • September • 2020

A YEAR of #NewMusicMondays  

January-March • April-May • June • July-August • September • October • November • My Favorites of 2020

The Immediate Family - Russ Kunkel, Leland Sklar, Steve Postell, Danny Kortchmar, and Waddy Wachtel

I've been working on this playlist for several weeks as these songs are mostly releases from September, 2020. As usual, I'm always discovering groups, albums and songs from earlier releases in the year and have included them here. One such find was discovering the band, The Immediate Family, a group formed of legendary session players who have played on a great number of rock 'n' roll albums. If you've ever listened to a James Taylor, Jackson Browne, or Linda Ronstadt album, you already know these guys very well. Check out their cover of Warren Zevon's Werewolves of London (cowritten by Waddy Wachtel) where Waddy sings a new line, "Except for Steve we've all been fired by James Taylor" that had me laughing out loud. 

Artists from this weeks playlist also include: Bruce Springsteen, Alicia Keys, The Flaming Lips, Fleet Foxes, Waylon Payne, Ben Harper, Joan Osborne, Mike Polizze, Gillian Welch, Sarah Jarosz, Molly Tuttle, and Sierra Ferrell to name the multiple songs.

Enjoy and stay well my friends. 

Live Streaming Music Shows In The Time Of Coronavirus

Before I jump into this week's theme, I want to quickly revisit a blog I did in my- In The Time Of Coronavirus series called, Outdoor Exercise In The Time of Coronavirus: Who was that Masked Man? Here's an update on the subject of mask wearing now that Trump is officially the last man on earth to wear a mask during coronavirus, and as if it's like the second coming of the baby Jesus. Geez, it's only been four+ months as my almost three year grandson even knows the phrase, "mask up". So Trump finally manned up and masked up, so how 'bout trying on the Darth Vader mask next week Donald, great photo op eh?

Meanwhile, California coronavirus numbers are spiking, but I finally do see a change happening in the beautiful exercise land of San Diego as more people are finally wearing masks, but obviously only because of this spike.

Here's my estimated observations since I wrote the blog May 11th with people exercising in my neighborhood of Tierrasanta while wearing a mask:

• Walkers in May - 50% • July - 80% (lifetime walkers figure stuff out while walking, that's why they live the longest)
• Runners in May - 10% • July - 20% (my peeps have let me so down)
• Bicyclists in May - 0% • July - 1% (has the spandex just made them totally indifferent or totally stupid?)

Also, more men are wearing masks since May, including actually wearing the bandana mask instead of it just being a new cowboy fashion statement around the neck. However, the woman walker on the trail is still without a mask, still pulling her shirt up over her face and turning her back to me on the trail, and now I would completely miss it if she ever did anything different upon my arrival.

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Now onto Live streaming music shows.

As you've probably noticed live music shows are booming on social media these days as artists and bands perform for charity, album promotion, or just connecting with fans @home during coronavirus. Most live streaming shows are over an hour, so what I tried to do this week was provide a number of different music shows to choose from (but please knock yourself out if you want to hear them all).

I love NPR Music Tiny Desk Concerts and kind of landed there this week finding new 'Home' shows from 2020. Tiny Desk Concerts typically range from 14 - 20 minutes or so, and that unscripted time format is just one reason why this show is so popular on the Internet.

I have also picked some select song clips from live shows and have sprinkled them throughout including, Live From Here with Chris Thile another of my favorite shows, but sadly just cancelled due to coronavirus. During the pandemic Chris created #livefromhome, I feature several songs here.

Stay well and enjoy my friends. And hey, 'parallel worlds collide' with Ringo and my mom sharing the same birth date, July 7th. Happy Birthday mom and Ringo!

Live Stream Deli Menu 

Women of Heart and Mind

50 Amazing Signs from Women’s Marches Across the Globe

As this year of 2017 wraps up in a couple of weeks, I'm going to pick up with a blog I did in January called, Our Democracy and Takin' It To The Streets. The focus was on the March, 21st Women's March across the world. In the time since, it has been quite a year through the total black hole experience of Donald Trump, and the emergence and sustainability of the #MeToo movement. Even with the dark shadow of Trump, women have emerged from behind all shadows and came to triumph and own this year.

As a man, I've become so sick and tired of male politicians, business moguls, actors and news people evoking their daughters into the public dialog either in their own defense of sexual allegations against them, or pontificating on how they are a protector of women. So, as a father of two daughters, two step-daughters and three granddaughters, I say, BULLSHIT. Men in general need to stop being hypocritical about their simultaneous protection and sexual objectification of women, and simply behave and treat ALL women with respect as equals.

My admiration of women runs deep and started young. I remember when I was probably eleven or twelve years old, I had a paper route. At the end of each month, I would go around and collect the money subscriptions door to door. On occasion, somebody would stiff me by moving out without paying me and I would lose my take as the newspaper delivery rules stated that it was my responsibility to make the collection. On one such occasion, a couple moved and didn't pay me. My mother actually tracked this couple down, took me in her car to their new location, walked with me to the door, and demanded payment when a shocked man opened the door. I'll never forgot the man's expression but better yet, my mom's smile to me on the walk back to the car with the cash in my hand.

As a teenager in the 1970's, I started listening to music as a passion. Men dominated rock 'n' roll but I began listening and buying records by women, especially women singer-songwriters. I loved Carol King, Linda Ronstadt, Carly Simon and Joni Mitchell to name some of the greats of the day. Their perspective in song, helped shape me. If you were a guy back in the day and were into Joni Mitchell, well that didn't hurt in your conversations with girls, but more importantly, Joni made you think about things a little differently than most male songwriters.

During this month, I've watched three TV streaming shows of significance that actually inspired the writing of this post. I recommend you see all three in the weeks ahead. First on Netflix, Godless, a western that turns the "damsels in distress" thing on it's head. Second on Amazon, Good Girls Revolt, a "Mad Men" from a woman's perspective with three key female leads working at Newsweek magazine in 1969-1970. (As a side note- as you watch the opening credits, you'll see a paperboy on his bike throwing a paper somewhere towards a house. I swear to God that kid looked like/was me.) And third on Amazon, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, a housewife in the 1950s decides to become a stand-up comic. In all three shows, the women are front and center, great writing, acting and must sees for watching in the year of 2017.

In putting the playlist together for this post, I couldn't help but notice the increased level of empowerment by women singers as the decades rolled up to current times. I hope you enjoy my mix of old and newer songs performed by women of heart and mind, and if you're a guy out there, there's wisdom to be mined here toward our respect, work, and gift of women in our lives. And, a final thought, women are going to save this world, just as they have always done.