UPDATED
President Trump and 1st Lady Melania Trump at Mount Rushmore on July 3, 2020
Photo by
Alex Brandon
On July 3, 2020,
Donald Trump used 3 Neil Young songs at the Mount Rushmore Event: “Rockin In The Free World” (2X, before and after), “Like a Hurricane”and “Cowgirl in the Sand”.
And -- again -- Neil Young has expressed his strong opposition to Donald Trump's use of his music,
tweeting:
“This is NOT ok with me…” (More details, footage and commentary
here.)
All of which -- naturally -- created much angst and drama across the lands. In fact,
our TW tweets saw the highest number of impressions ever since we started using the tweetverse.
(Incidentally,
numbers add up to nothin'.)
Now, onto the TW Comment of the Moment on
Donald Trump Uses 3 Neil Young Songs At Mount Rushmore Event by Greg "A Friend Of Yours":
For starters, I guess I would agree that the polite, gracious thing to do would be to honor someone’s request when it comes to something like this, but then Donald Trump is not a polite, gracious man when it comes down to brass tacks, which is exactly the mindset the powers behind him had in mind when they approached him to run for the Presidency, something he had to be convinced into doing.
He’s clearly not a politician, he’s a disrupter- again something his backers were looking for, something long honed as a negotiating tactic in order to bring out people’s real positions, and real objections. Bluster, bad manners, self aggrandizing statements, buffoonery, and more- crazy like a fox.
What is the urgent crisis at hand requiring brass tacks? Well, take a look at what Rockin’ In The Free World chronicles (incidentally, a song that calls out the man many people believe JFK Jr.- a close personal friend of Trump, had identified as being at the very center of his fathers public execution- a man whose party aligned politics, along with the democrats, is the very thing that Trump is standing up against, but never mind that for now). Whatever else you think about the songs meaning, its upshot is that despite all the attacks on freedom, you have to still stand up and fight for what you think is right, and wrong or right, many people believe this is exactly what Trump is doing, including myself. As I’ve said elsewhere, how is it that no one short of a Donald Trump could be found to lead the charge of the behind the scenes patriots in this last ditch effort to oppose the tyranny of globalism, and the Federal Reserve Bank? "Drain the swamp," rend asunder the Deep State, the Shadow Government. How is it that no one possessed of any backbone, not bought and paid for, no establishment figure not compromised in one way, shape, or form, can be found to do the right thing?
Can anyone deny that the country is not in a metaphorical “Hurricane” at the moment? Notwithstanding Neil’s objections, I think the song choices are right on.
The more pertinent to me song choice is Devils Sidewalk, a metaphor for the battle raging against good and evil, a battle that clearly defines the Civil War and second American Revolution the country is currently right smack in the middle of, in addition to the larger struggle being waged on a world wide basis- a struggle that traces its origins all the way back to the Tower of Babel, but, better not go there, except to say that Thrashers oft alluded to “Big Shift” weighs in the balance- the Great Awakening, the much needed shift in consciousness, Ascension, etc.
Anyways, I thought about it for a bit last night after reading this post, and the comments, and though I didn’t have the time to really go into it, from my memory of Devils Sidewalk I wasn’t perplexed by the song choice at all. Nor was I surprised by the other choices, although Cowgirl In The Sand?, that doesn’t quite fit in other than “Be on my side, I’ll be on your side,” I guess. Dunno. Sure, for the average person, heck, even for some Neil fans, it’s a relatively obscure cut off a relatively obscure album, but evidently Trump is not the average person when it comes to knowledge of Neil, and very likely neither is someone(s) somewhere on his campaign team.
Just take a close look at the incredible lyrics. It describes the devil dining on the “streets of hate,” and the captain sounding the warning to a crew who would rather focus on a “woman delicious.” Never mind, there is no metaphorical devil, no streets of hate. Some things aren’t getting better or worse, and there’s nothing to avoid, as long as we have so many toys to enslave- I mean, divert our attention. “There’s a garden growing… And a million weeds… With no way of knowing… Who has done which deed.” Sound like an “invisible enemy,” sound like something Trump is always on about? An enemy that, throughout republican and democrat administrations alike, has successfully sought to destroy America’s industrial base, so that globalism’s new engine of empire, China, can be built up? You wouldn’t want to trumpet those sentiments walking into a car factory in Michigan, would you? There is so much more to say, but I’ll leave it at this- there is a lot of grist for the mill here, and strange as it may seem, there is more than enough there in the lyrics to match up with the real world crisis that Trump and his backers are trying to wage war against, whether you like him or not, and you will never understand the man and what he is attempting to do, if you don’t understand the battle against evil that is being waged. But, if you just can’t stomach so disagreeable a man co-opting songs that make the honest attempt to call out evil for what it is, then ignore it.
Don’t give it the attention that will blow it up into something more than it is. But, again, notwithstanding Neil’s objections, I’m fine with it.
A Friend Of Yours
Thanks so much for sharing the comments here AFOY. It's been awhile and we appreciate your dropping by with your thoughts.
There's just so much to unpack in all of this that probably for the 1st time in 25 years of running TW, we're totally scattered on where to turn next while watching this slow motion train wreck. If only Neil and the Horse had been on the road this summer as planned, we would be out on the rail flying our colors. But, alas ...
We did
make a few comments and asked some questions after our
annual 4th of July post got clobbered to the back seat by the latest Donald-Neil news. So if you missed that in all of the fireworks, check that post out on
A Happy 4th of July To All of Our "Children of Destiny": Stay Calm & Enjoy - UPDATED.
So, -- FWIW -- what's happening here? Because, whatever it is, it ain't exactly clear.
There are those that do not see this as much more than just a political appropriation of an artists work by a politician. Another ripoff, so nothing new, really. But it strikes us all as a bit too odd and almost contrived.
Last week, Young criticized Trump‘s leadership of the U.S. in a lyrical rewrite of his 2006 track “Lookin’ for a Leader” during
Porch Session earlier this week. (See link for lyrics update.) Now Trump's Mount Rushmore event. What will be next in this 4 year battle of ever escalating tensions?
Can a Neil-Donald truce be achieved? Should someone hold peace talks between the two? Maybe Willie could volunteer to moderate?
When this all started at the v
ery beginning of Trump's campaign with his escalator ride to the strains of RITFW, it seemed rather straightforward. Candidate A purchases playback rights to a song library. simple. Neil's music is in that library for anyone to purchase, no matter the cause.
As we understand things (and please correct us) if Neil doesn't want his music used for event playback purposes, he has to withdraw from the arrangement. From what we gather, Neil has asked a specific candidate not to be allowed to purchase his music. But again that's not how the system works. It's all or none. He can't allow
Bernie Sanders to purchase his music rights and not someone else. Again, please correct us. (Note, as background, some of the intricacies of licensing music are discussed here in 2016 on
"'Fuck You, Donald Trump" Says Neil Young Onstage; Posts Video Clip to His Facebook Page.)
Also,
NASA Played Neil Young's "Rockin' In The Free World" Prior to SpaceX Launch at end of May.
In 2019,
US President Trump Has Been Listening to New Neil Young & Crazy Horse Album "COLORADO" (Kiddingly)
And,
Donnie, Ronnie & Neil + Merry: Southern Man and The Un-Civil Wars of Donald Trump & Neil Young or Rebels with Causes w/ Northern Man.
Back in 2015,
Neil Young to Donald Trump: This Note is NOT for You!.
FWIW:
"There's something happening here. What it is, ain't exactly clear"
Labels: donald trump, neil young, politics, rockin in the free world, songs
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