© 2020 - 2021 Ronnie Lutes
This episode we are talking about Tiananmen Square protests in 1989 and the damage it caused.
Lyrics
In the month of May, in the glory of the day Came the descendants of a hundred flowers And their fight it did begin with the aging Mandarin And they fought with an extraordinary power Everyone was smiling, their hearts were one In Tiananmen Square
And…
In the month of June, in the darkness of the moon Went the descendants of a hundred flowers And time may never tell how many of them fell Like the petals of a rose in some satanic shower Everyone was weeping in all of China And Tiananmen Square
And…
And even the moon on the fourth day of June Hid her face and did not see Black sun rising over Tiananmen Square
Links
Thanks for listening
This is the end… beautiful friend… the end… my only friend… the end… at least of this season. Season 1 is over.
Today I talk about Sneetches, Right Guard, the Republic of Biafra, and Pol Pot. Enjoy…
Holiday in Cambodia by The Dead Kennedys.
Lyrics
So, you’ve been to school for a year or two And you know you’ve seen it all In daddy’s car, thinkin' you’ll go far Back east, your type don’t crawl
Play ethnicity jazz to parade your snazz On your five-grand stereo Braggin' that you know how the niggers feel cold And the slums got so much soul
It’s time to taste what you most fear Right Guard will not help you here Brace yourself, my dear Brace yourself, my dear
It’s a holiday in Cambodia It’s tough, kid, but it’s life It’s a holiday in Cambodia Don’t forget to pack a wife
You’re a star-belly sneetch, you suck like a leech You want everyone to act like you Kiss ass while you bitch so you can get rich But your boss gets richer off you
Well, you’ll work harder with a gun in your back For a bowl of rice a day Slave for soldiers till you starve Then your head is skewered on a stake
It’s a holiday in Cambodia Where people dress in black A holiday in Cambodia Where you’ll kiss ass or crack
Links
Thanks for listening…
Today we are talking about a legendary singer/songwriter and a legendary human being. We are talking about the person that was the inspiration for the beginning lines of this very podcast that you hear every week and that you just heard. It is from his iconic line, “Hello, I’m Johnny Cash”.
Homework
The Ballad of Ira Hayes by Johnny Cash is off his album Bitter Tears: Ballads of the American Indian.
Lyrics Discussed
Gather round me people there’s a story I would tell
About a brave young Indian you should remember well
From the land of the Pima Indian
A proud and noble band
Who farmed the Phoenix valley in Arizona land
Down the ditches for a thousand years
The water grew Ira’s peoples' crops
Until the white man stole the water rights
And the sparkling water stopped
Now Ira’s folks were hungry
And their land grew crops of weeds
When war came, Ira volunteered
And forgot the white man’s greed
And
There they battled up Iwo Jima’s hill
Two hundred and fifty men
But only twenty-seven lived to walk back down again
And when the fight was over
And when Old Glory raised
Among the men who held it high
Was the Indian, Ira Hayes
And
Then Ira started drinking hard
Jail was often his home
They’d let him raise the flag and lower it
Like you’d throw a dog a bone!
He died drunk one morning
Alone in the land he fought to save
Two inches of water in a lonely ditch
Was a grave for Ira Hayes
Call him drunken Ira Hayes
He won’t answer anymore
Not the whiskey drinking Indian
Nor the Marine that went to war
And lastly
Yeah, call him drunken Ira Hayes
But his land is just as dry
And his ghost is lying thirsty
In the ditch where Ira died
Other Links
I don’t like Mondays, well actually they are fine I suppose. This week we talk about Ethiopian Christianity, Band Aid, Live Aid, Famines, and Brenda Spencer.
Homework
I Don’t Like Mondays by The Boomtown Rats.
Lyrics Discussed
_The silicon chip inside her head Gets switched to overload And nobody’s gonna go to school today She’s going to make them stay at home
And daddy doesn’t understand it He always said she was as good as gold And he can see no reason ‘cause there are no reasons What reason do you need to be shown?_
And
_(Tell me why) I don’t like Mondays (Tell me why) I don’t like Mondays (Tell me why) I don’t like Mondays I wanna shoot
The whole day down
The History
Brenda Spencer: She Asked For a Radio, He Got Her a Gun
Cleveland Elementary School Shooting
1993: Convicted school shooter Brenda Spencer speaks with San Diego News 8 - Part 1
Other Links
Live Aid concert raises $127 million for famine relief in Africa
This week I talk less about Missouri, well actually no Missouri at all. This week is about Ben Franklin, Ponce de Leon, Robotron, George Orwell’s 1984, Isaac Newton, and Galileo… whew
And Cheech Wizard
Homework
The Sounds of Science by the Beastie Boys is off their second album Paul’s Boutique.
Lyrics Discussed
Now here we go dropping science, dropping it all over
Like bumping around the town like when you’re driving a Range Rover
Expanding the horizon and expanding the parameters
Expanding the rhymes of sucka MC amateurs
Naugles, Issac Newton, a scientific EZ
Ben Franklin with the kite, gettin’ ova with the key
And
Ponce De Leon, constantly on
The fountain of youth, not Robotron
Peace is a word I’ve heard before
So move and move and move up on the dance floor
Cuz I’m gonna die, gonna die one day
Cuz I’m goin' and goin' and goin' this way
And
I got science for any occasion
Postulating theorems, formulating equations
Well, Cheech Wizard in a snow blizzard
Eat a chicken gizzard with a girl named Lizzy
Dropping science like Galileo dropped the orange
The History
Other Links
Cookie Puss Ice Cream Cake by Carvel
Cookie Puss by The Beastie Boys
Williams Robotron Promotional Video
My Playlist is Killer Merchandise
My Playlist is Killer Playlist
This week I talk about some more Missouri melodrama. This time it’s Times Beach. Times Beach was a newspaper promotion that turned a floodplain into a town, into a national disaster, into a floodplain, and into a state park.
Homework
Ten Second News by Son Volt is off their first album Trace. Also it is Shawna Lutes and my favorite traveling music.
Lyrics Discussed
When you find what matters is what you feel It arrives and it disappears Driving down sunny 44 highway There’s a beach there known for cancer Waiting to happen
And
And it’s hard enough soaking up billboard signs You scorch and drown alive, never knowing why The levee gates are open wide There’s a cough in the water and it’s running into town
The History
Ill-Fated Times Beach, Missouri
Waste-oil hauler Russell Bliss, who allegedly sprayed dioxin-contaminated oil…
Other Links*
My Playlist is Killer Merchandise
My Playlist is Killer Playlist
This week I talk about some earth shaking material (ugh). I discuss the New Madrid Earthquakes of 1811-1812. The song is by one of my top 5 bands, maybe top band, Uncle Tupelo.
Homework
New Madrid by Uncle Tupelo is off their album Anodyne.
Lyrics Discussed
All my daydreams are disasters She’s the one I think I love Rivers burn and then run backwards For her, that’s enough
And
They all come from New York City And they woke me up at dawn
And
Caroms over the landfill Buries us all in its broken back There’s a man of conviction And although he’s getting old
Mr. Browning has a prediction And we’ve all been told So come on back from New York City Roll your trucks in at dawn_
The History
Iben Browning, New Madrid Incident
Other Links
My Playlist is Killer Merchandise
What WasTed Bundy’s Execution Like?
Today Ronnie talks about a little Ice-T, a little PMRC, and a little naked RATM. This could be interesting… or boring. This episode does not have a parental advisory.
Homework
Freedom of Speech by Ice-T is off his album The Iceberg/Freedom of Speech.
Lyrics Discussed
Freedom of Speech, let ‘em take it from me
Next they’ll take it from you, then what you gonna do?
Let ‘em censor books, let ‘em censor art
PMRC, this is where the witch hunt starts
You’ll censor what we see, we read, we hear, we learn
The books will burn
You better think it out
We should be able to say anything, our lungs were meant to shout
Say what we feel, yell out what’s real
Even though it may not bring mass appeal
Your opinion is yours, my opinion is mine
If you don’t like what I’m sayin’? Fine
But don’t close it, always keep an open mind
A man who fails to listen is blind
We only got one right left in the world today
Let me have it or throw The Constitution away
The History
PMRC’s ‘Filthy 15’: Where Are They Now?
1985 PMRC/Senate Hearings: Then and Now
Dee Snider’s PMRC Senate Hearing Speech Full
Frank Zappa’s PMRC Senate Hearing Speech
John Denver’s PMRC Senate Hearing Speech
Other Links
Thanks for listening and have a great couple of weeks.
This week I talk about the iconic southern rock anthem Sweet Home Alabama and the “feud” with Neil Young. I also spend some time discussing the Governor of Alabama, George Wallace. The co-authors of Sweet Home Alabama tell vastly different stories about the controversial lines about Governor Wallace in the song.
Homework
Sweet Home Alabama by Lynyrd Skynyrd is off their album Second Helping.
Lyrics Discussed
Well I heard mister Young sing about her Well, I heard ole Neil put her down Well, I hope Neil Young will remember A Southern man don’t need him around anyhow
And
In Birmingham they love the governor (boo, boo, boo) Now we all did what we could do Now Watergate does not bother me Does your conscience bother you? Tell the truth
The History
Was There Really A Feud Between Neil Young and Lynyrd Skynyrd?
Sign up at Black Lives Matter
Other Links:
In this week’s episode I talk about Neil Young’s song, Southern Man . I discuss the 3 iterations of the Ku Klux Klan. I discuss the book, The Clansman: A Historical Romance of the Ku Klux Klan, and the movie, The Birth of a Nation, that brought the Klan back from extinction. The we go positive with Daryl Davis and discuss the Black Lives Matter movement.
Homework
Neil Young Southern Man is off of the album After the Gold Rush
Lyrics Discussed
I saw cotton and I saw black. Tall white mansions and little shacks. Southern man, when will you pay them back?
Southern man, better keep your head. Don’t forget what your good book said. Southern change gonna come at last. Now your crosses are burning fast. Southern man.
The History
Ku Klux Klan The Clansman: A Historical Romance of the Ku Klux Klan The Birth of a Nation
Sign up at Black Lives Matter