I have a new title:

"Why Won't They Let is Talk About the Bombs?"

#1 Song is Won't get Fooled Again by the Who.
You are listening to the wrong song if you think that song is conservative.

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

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!

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?

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
Are 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!

Yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!

Meet the new boss
Same as the old boss

OK, so I did some research on the song.  Lots of interesting stuff over at Wikipedia.

If you didn't know, Michael Moore wanted to use the song as the closing music over the credits for F911.  Townsend refused bc of $$ issues and the fact that Townsend wasn't really impressed with Moore's work.

OK, fine.  That's not neccessarily "conservative" or based on moral values imo.

Of course, no surprise that conservatives searching for a place in the world as they grow more and more unpopular also think it is conservative, "precisely conservative" in fact.

However, all of this aside, what Pete Townsend himself has to say is the most important, and THIS opening line is probably the most important part of his diary entry.

Won't Get Fooled Again has been listed in the UK Independent Newspaper as the number one song with - as I understand it - the political message most often misunderstood - in this case the message is said to be 'conservative', a word that may mean different things in the UK and USA.

Ain't that the truth.

Pete goes on:

Of course the song has no party-allied political message at all. It is not precisely a song that decries revolution - it suggests that we will indeed fight in the streets - but that revolution, like all action can have results we cannot predict. Don't expect to see what you expect to see. Expect nothing and you might gain everything.

The song was meant to let politicians and revolutionaries alike know that what lay in the centre of my life was not for sale, and could not be co-opted into any obvious cause.

Ok, and I have snipped some bc this post is diary length as it is, but here are the final pieces of Townsend's diary from May:

From 1971 - when I wrote Won't Get Fooled Again - to 1985, there was a transition in me from refusal to be co-opted by activists, to a refusal to be judged by people I found jaded and compliant in Thatcher's Britain. Peter Gabriel and I spoke often on the phone about work we were doing with David Astor, Neville Vincent, Donald Woods and Lord Goodman to raise money to help spring Nelson Mandela from gaol in South Africa. We realized quickly that what we were doing was buying guns for the ANC, an organisation that some on the far right believed were no better than the IRA. Nelson was sprung, so everything turned out well. But when in the mid-nineties, one of the very last IRA bombs went off in a theatre in London close to where my musical of Tommy was about to open, I decided my karma had come around full circle.

Not all action to change the world has to be trumpeted from the rooftops by Bono editing the Independent newspaper (though it was a fantastic and audacious stunt equal to Lord Matthew Evans giving me an editorial chair at Faber and Faber in 1985), or from the scaffolding of a rock festival. Roger Daltrey does indeed play rock 'n' roll with Richard "Dirty" Desmond (who owns some big newspapers among other things), but he himself gets down and dirty visiting hospitals where the teenage cancer victims for whom they raise money struggle to survive. He holds them, laughs with them, and gives them hope. This is One-to-One stuff of the kind that I find I am incapable. I can meet and speak with survivors of sexual abuse, drug abuse and the victims of all kinds of domestic violence, but I have what I now know is a quite common problem with those who might suddenly die on me in a hospital, clinic or hospice.

I am just a song-writer. The actions I carry out are my own, and are usually private until some digger-after-dirt questions my methods. What I write is interpreted, first of all by Roger Daltrey. Won't Get Fooled Again - then - was a song that pleaded '….leave me alone with my family to live my life, so I can work for change in my own way….'. But when Roger Daltrey screamed as though his heart was being torn out in the closing moments of the song, it became something more to so many people. And I must live with that. In the film Summer of Sam the song is used to portray white-boy 'street' idiocy; a kind of fascist absurdity, men swinging their arms over air-guitars and smashing up furniture. Spike Lee told my manager that '…he deeply understood Who music….'. What he understood was what he himself - like so many others - had made it. He saw an outrage and frustration, even a judgment or empty indictment in the song that wasn't there. What is there is a prayer.

So, let's go over their "points."  This song is conservative bc the singer yells and calls for people to butt out of his life, the writer doesn't want his song in Michael Moore's movie, and he calls the song a prayer.

I hope conservatives haven't pulled all of their muscles due to this enormous STRETCH.

And yes; had there been a Phish song on there, I would be outside the offices of the NR right now, and no-I wouldn't have flowers or candy for them.

Actually, while there is a lot of stuff from the National Review magazine that is for subscribers only (they're like The Nation and the New York Times that way), the article on conservative rock songs is available, linked by lowell at the top of his piece.  I've copied what Miller said about "Won't Get Fooled Again," because there's nothing about Michael Moore, and as in all of the entries, as far as I can see, nothing about the artist's political propensities, body of work, or intentions.  Just the music.  Looked at in that way, "Won't Get Fooled Again" is as conservative as Miller says it is, expressing disillusion with drastic changes that turn out to be more of the same.  In the same way, Woody Allen's Bananas was conservative, since it showed the rebel who took over as just another power-hungry lunatic.

Also, the choice of the song had nothing to do with Townsend's use or misuse of the song, any more than inclusion of The Pretenders' "My City Was Gone" stemmed from Rush Limbaugh's use of the song on his show.  It's not about the colour of the artist's political skin, but about the content of the song's character. Those who are upset by the presence of particular artists should remember that.  (I was upset because a number of Springsteen songs could have made the list.)  Let's not forget that the things that we have in common are far more numerous and often more important than the things which divide us (to paraphrase Aaron Sorkin) and that art that describes the human experience in a way that conservatives or progressives appreciate is not an impossibility. 

In my experience, conservatives, like most people, generally don't worry as much about the intentions of the artist as about the effect of the work.  Stopping to worry about the public opinions of each musician and director and actor before going on with personal enjoyment would shut us all off from lots of opportunities to gain experience as well as enjoyment from art.  Conservatives who reject the Dixie Chicks, Robert Altman and any Baldwin miss out on some great music, great films like Prairie Home Companion, and even the Adam Baldwin vehicles Firefly and Serenity (even though Adam is not related to Alec.)

A lot of the effect of art is in the eye of the audience:  If I take "Wouldn't It Be Nice" to be about traditional values, and you take it to be about the effect of Victorian mores on human relationships, what of that?  The idea that art must be interpreted only in on, prescribed way is supposed to be the conservative position, no?  Also, your list of songs that don't belong on the list interprets "rock" rather narrowly, I think.  I'm reminded of one of my classes; after I had played "Too Old to Rock and Roll," "Rock and Roll Fantasy" and "Growin' Up" when we were looking at maturity and responsibility issues, a student commented "How are any of those songs Rock and Roll?"  Sure, as Zappa noted, any genre name that purports to include Abba and me is less than meaningful.  As a descriptor.  Still, it's all rock and roll, in one way or another, isn't it?  Look at all the folk music on Lowell's list.

Cheers,

brambo_42

http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=NzZkNDU5MmViNzVjNzkzMDE3NzNlN2MyZjRjYTk4YjE=

The conservative movement is full of disillusioned revolutionaries; this could be their theme song, an oath that swears off naïve idealism once and for all. “There’s nothing in the streets / Looks any different to me / And the slogans are replaced, by-the-bye. . . . Meet the new boss / Same as the old boss.� The instantly recognizable synthesizer intro, Pete Townshend’s ringing guitar, Keith Moon’s pounding drums, and Roger Daltrey’s wailing vocals make this one of the most explosive rock anthems ever recorded � the best number by a big band, and a classic for conservatives.

Taxman
Let me tell you how it will be
There's one for you, nineteen for me
'cause I'm the taxman,
yeah, I'm the taxman

Should five percent appear too small
Be thankful I don't take it all
'cause I'm the taxman,
yeah, I'm the taxman

If you drive a car, I'll tax the street
If you try to sit, I'll tax your seat
If you get too cold, I'll tax the heat
If you take a walk, I'll tax your feet
Taxman

'Cause I'm the taxman,
Yeah, I'm the taxman

Don't ask me what I want it for (ha ha Mr. Wilson)
If you don't want to pay some more (ha ha Mr. Heath)
'cause I'm the taxman,
yeah, I'm the taxman

Now my advice for those who die
Declare the pennies on your eyes
'cause I'm the taxman,
yeah, I'm the taxman
And you're working for no one but me

OK, yeah, the song is about taxes, and conservatives love to tell people that there is nothing more exciting for a liberal, or progressive, or Democratic minded person to do than give away all of their $$ in taxes.  So stupid, and really kind of insulting to everyone's intelligence.

From wikipedia:

Harrison was inspired to write "Taxman" when he discovered how much he was earning after accounting for taxes. Apparently each Beatle kept only 6% of what they earned. As Harrison said, "'Taxman' was when I first realised that even though we had started earning money, we were actually giving most of it away in taxes. It was and still is typical." The reason for this was that due to how much the Beatles were earning, they were in one of the top tax brackets in the United Kingdom. In a 1984 interview with Playboy magazine, fellow Beatle Paul McCartney agreed with Harrison's depiction of the circumstances surrounding the writing of "Taxman": "George wrote that and I played guitar on it. He wrote it in anger at finding out what the taxman did. He had never known before then what he'll do with your money."

On the song, Harrison sings as if he is the taxman, who is depicted as a malicious man looking for ways to rob people of their money, with lines like "If you try to sit, I'll tax your seat". The taxman tells the listener to appreciate that he is not left empty-handed: "Should five percent appear too small / Be thankful I don't take it all" and "one for you, nineteen for me" (referring to the 95% top tax rate at the time in the UK). He even goes as far as advising those who die to "declare the pennies on your eyes." The song closes with the taxman declaring that the listeners are enslaved by him: "And you're working for no one but me."

It should also be noted that "Taxman" bears a striking resemblance to the Batman theme song from the 60's. In the chorus of the song when Harrison says, "Taxman" is where the similarities lie.

"Taxman" featured in Harrison's concert repertoire even after the Beatles had dissolved; on his tour of Japan in 1991 with Eric Clapton, "Taxman" was on the set list. "It's a song that goes regardless if it's the sixties, seventies, eighties or nineties," Harrison declared. "There's always a taxman."

In the U.S., the song is annually featured by radio disc jockeys and TV news reporters in the days leading up to April 15 (or one to three days after the 15th due to weekends and holidays), the date by which U.S. income tax returns must be filed. Some post offices have even been known to sardonically play the song on in-house audio systems for the long lines of bemused last-minute tax filers.

Again, like I said before, not enjoying paying huge taxes (esp those that you pay when you are a pro musician making loads of $$ and having to pay other's salaries and licensing fees, etc.) is certainly not entirely conservative.  Plus the song has a farsical quality to it, and to this day is still played as a joke.  So again; another HUGE STRETCH for conservatives.

4. “Sweet Home Alabama,� by Lynyrd Skynyrd.
A tribute to the region of America that liberals love to loathe, taking a shot at Neil Young’s Canadian arrogance along the way: “A Southern man don’t need him around anyhow.�

OK, so I guess they are remembering the "I'm a little bit country/I'm a little bit rock and roll" Southpark episode.  Go ahead, you can have this song.  It's overplayed, annoying at karaoke bars, and sung by drunk frat boys everywhere anyway.  Take it.

But, just for some fuel for their stupid fire, some people don't find the song conservative at all; in fact, just the opposite.

"Mr Saturday Night Special / Gotta barrel that is blue and cold / ain't good for nothin' / But puttin' a man 6 feet in a hole"

So much for loving the NRA.

6. “Gloria,� by U2. U2 - Under a Blood Red Sky - Gloria
Just because a rock song is about faith doesn’t mean that it’s conservative. But what about a rock song that’s about faith and whose chorus is in Latin? That’s beautifully reactionary: “Gloria / In te domine / Gloria / Exultate.�

OH.  Latin=conservatism

or

Using a dead language=conservatism

or even better

the language of the inquisition=conservatism

Anyone else dumbfounded?

I don't need to go any further with this one, do I?

Of course, that's a song that most Dylan-heads try to not to think about too much.

It's funny how so many liberals, err, progressives forget that Dylan and the members of U2 are evangelically Christian.  Wonder why?  For some strange reason that fact causes such consternation among many of their fans, so much so that they'll even deny that it's true.

Odd thing.

But thanks for being so liberal and Democratic in your response!  :)

...reports in the mid-80s that Dylan had affiliated himself informally with the Chabad or Lubavitch branch of Hasidic Judaism. Although it is unclear to what extent he has been involved with this movement, he has appeared on fundraising telethons supporting the organization, and reports continue to be published indicating that he sometimes attends services at Chabad synagogues on major Jewish holidays. Dylan's son, Jakob--at whose bar mitzvah in Jerusalem Dylan was photographed wearing tefillin and a traditional Jewish prayer shawl--has also stated that he was raised with both Jewish and Christian traditions.

50. “Stand By Your Man,� by Tammy Wynette. Tammy Wynette - Tammy Wynette: Tammy's Greatest Hits - Stand by Your Man
Hillary trashed it � isn’t that enough? If you’re worried that Wynette’s original is too country, then check out the cover version by Motörhead.

That is a country song, and a bad one.

49. “Abortion,� by Kid Rock.
A plaintive song sung by a man who confronts his unborn child’s abortion: “I know your brothers and your sister and your mother too / Man I wish you could see them too.�

Um, real rock and roll died long before Kid Rock came along.  I have to give him a tiny bit of credit bc he performed onstage with Phish in Vegas, but other than that (and that is not the topic at hand) I have no use for him.  And no; that song is not conservative, nor is it a rock song.  Not liking the fact that abortions happen is NOT OVERALL CONSERVATIVE.  We are PRO-CHOICE, not PRO-ABORTION.  I am so tired of repeating the OBVIOUS FACT OF THAT MATTER for people that refuse to listen.

43. “Wonderful,� by Everclear. Everclear - The Best of Everclear - Wonderful
A child’s take on divorce: “I don’t wanna hear you say / That I will understand someday / No, no, no, no / I don’t wanna hear you say / You both have grown in a different way / No, no, no, no / I don’t wanna meet your friends / And I don’t wanna start over again / I just want my life to be the same / Just like it used to be.�

Everclear is not rock and roll.  Everclear is crap.

41. “The Icicle Melts,� by The Cranberries. The Cranberries - No Need to Argue - The Icicle Melts
A pro-life tune sung by Irish warbler Dolores O’Riordan: “I don’t know what’s happening to people today / When a child, he was taken away . . . ’Cause nine months is too long.�

The Cranberries are alternative music.  Not rock music, and again; see what else I had to say about the conservative=no abortion deal.

29. “Rime of the Ancient Mariner,� by Iron Maiden. Iron Maiden - Live After Death - Rime of the Ancient Mariner
A heavy-metal classic inspired by a literary classic. How many other rock songs quote directly from Samuel Taylor Coleridge?

No, metal bands are not classis American Rock and Roll.  At all.  And now the title of a song makes it conservative? 

23. “Brick,� by Ben Folds Five. Ben Folds Five - The Best of Sessions at West 54th, Vol. 1 - Brick
Written from the perspective of a man who takes his young girlfriend to an abortion clinic, this song describes the emotional scars of “reproductive freedom�: “Now she’s feeling more alone / Than she ever has before. . . . As weeks went by / It showed that she was not fine.�

BFF is a jazz quintet, not a rock band.  It doesn't even sound remotely like Rock and Roll.

17. “Stay Together for the Kids,� by Blink 182. Blink-182 - Blink-182: Greatest Hits - Stay Together for the Kids
A eulogy for family values by an alt-rock band whose members were raised in a generation without enough of them: “So here’s your holiday / Hope you enjoy it this time / You gave it all away. . . . It’s not right.�

Blink 182 would collectively kick the ass of anyone who called them a rock band.  They are awesome, but they are just simply not rock and roll.  And there is nothing conservative about them.  Being pro-family isn't conservative.  If it were, they would let gays get married and adopt.  So, really, they are anti-family, and this song is not.  So, they lose this song on two counts.

9. “Don’t Tread on Me,� by Metallica.
A head-banging tribute to the doctrine of peace through strength, written in response to the first Gulf War: “So be it / Threaten no more / To secure peace is to prepare for war.�

Definitely more rock and roll than iron maiden, but still not really rock and roll.  It's closer, but there is still not quite a cigar-but I know that this will definitely be the band that people most disagree with me on the rock and roll vs heavy metal, and that's fine.  Now if you actually look at all of the lyrics, you will see it is not neccessarily "conservative."  Flags do not=conservativism.  Don't Tread On Me is the original battle cry of the colonists of the Revolutionary War-hardly conservative to overthrow your govt.  And talk about equlaity and equal rights... 

5. “Wouldn’t It Be Nice,� by The Beach Boys. The Beach Boys - Good Vibrations: Thirty Years of the Beach Boys - Wouldn't It Be Nice
Pro-abstinence and pro-marriage: “Maybe if we think and wish and hope and pray it might come true / Baby then there wouldn’t be a single thing we couldn’t do / We could be married / And then we’d be happy.�

Lyrics:
Wouldnt it be nice if we were older
Then we wouldnt have to wait so long
And wouldnt it be nice to live together
In the kind of world where we belong

You know its gonna make it that much better
When we can say goodnight and stay together

Wouldnt it be nice if we could wake up
In the morning when the day is new
And after having spent the day together
Hold each other close the whole night through

Happy times together weve been spending
I wish that every kiss was neverending
Wouldnt it be nice

Maybe if we think and wish and hope and pray it might come true
Baby then there wouldnt be a single thing we couldnt do
We could be married
And then wed be happy

Wouldnt it be nice

You know it seems the more we talk about it
It only makes it worse to live without it
But lets talk about it
Wouldnt it be nice

This is not a pro life, pro marriage song.  This is a song in tribute to those cutesy high school, early college relationships one may have where thay wish to be older bc the thought of marrying and living with your lusty crush seems really inviting.

There is nothing pro absinance about this song.  In fact, this song may be talking about the fact that after pre marital sex, the couple the singer speaks of is frantically putting on their clothes in the back of a chevy wishing they didn't have to sneak around their parents and have sex in the car.

Another loss.  So far, the conservatives KIND OF have Sweet Home Alabama.

Oh We're Not Gonna Take It
no, We Ain't Gonna Take It
oh We're Not Gonna Take It Anymore

we've Got The Right To Choose And
there Ain't No Way We'll Lose It
this Is Our Life, This Is Our Song
we'll Fight The Powers That Be Just
don't Pick Our Destiny 'cause
you Don't Know Us, You Don't Belong

oh We're Not Gonna Take It
no, We Ain't Gonna Take It
oh We're Not Gonna Take It Anymore

oh You're So Condescending
your Gall Is Never Ending
we Don't Want Nothin', Not A Thing From You
your Life Is Trite And Jaded
boring And Confiscated
if That's Your Best, Your Best Won't Do

oh.....................
oh.....................
we're Right/yeah
we're Free/yeah
we'll Fight/yeah
you'll See/yeah

oh We're Not Gonna Take It
no, We Ain't Gonna Take It
oh We're Not Gonna Take It Anymore

oh We're Not Gonna Take It
no, We Ain't Gonna Take It
oh We're Not Gonna Take It Anymore
no Way!

oh.....................
oh.....................
we're Right/yeah
we're Free/yeah
we'll Fight/yeah
you'll See/yeah

we're Not Gonna Take It
no, We Ain't Gonna Take It
we're Not Gonna Take It Anymore

we're Not Gonna Take It, No!
no, We Ain't Gonna Take It
we're Not Gonna Take It Anymore

just You Try And Make Us
we're Not Gonna Take It
come On
no, We Ain't Gonna Take It
you're All Worthless And Weak
we're Not Gonna Take It Anymore
now Drop And Give Me Twenty
we're Not Gonna Take It
oh Crinch Pin
no, We Ain't Gonna Take It
oh You And Your Uniform
we're Not Gonna Take It Anymore

Lies, all lies.

LOL.

12. “Neighborhood Bully,� by Bob Dylan. Bob Dylan - Infidels - Neighborhood Bully
A pro-Israel song released in 1983, two years after the bombing of Iraq’s nuclear reactor, this ironic number could be a theme song for the Bush Doctrine: “He destroyed a bomb factory, nobody was glad / The bombs were meant for him / He was supposed to feel bad / He’s the neighborhood bully.�

Oh.  My.  GOD.  He did not just say that a Dylan song should be the Bush theme song.  Oh, it is so on.

Oh, and that's right; the only people who are "pro-Israel" are conservatives.  Riiiiiiiiiiight.....

28. “Janie’s Got a Gun,� by Aerosmith. Aerosmith - Young Lust: The Aerosmith Anthology - Janie's Got a Gun
How the right to bear arms can protect women from sexual predators: “What did her daddy do? / It’s Janie’s last I.O.U. / She had to take him down easy / And put a bullet in his brain / She said ’cause nobody believes me / The man was such a sleaze / He ain’t never gonna be the same.�

Ok, first of all, what the hell is inherrantly "conservative" about killing your father who molested you?  Are you kidding me?  THAT's "conservative?"

Oh, please.

And furthermore, the "right to bear arms" actually does not make murder legal, and in the real world, had "Janie" killed him, she would probably be serving a jail sentence.  Get it through your heads cons: murder if effing MURDER.  OK?  Get it now?  Just bc someone does something terrible to me does not give me the right to kill them.

But hey; if you don't like our laws here in America, you can git out...