A Pilgrim’s Digression

I need a fix cause I’m goin down

After a coffee-less day yesterday, this morning, I could go on no longer. I am supposed to cut down on my caffeine this week, but that can’t possibly mean no caffeine at all. Can it? One cup in the morning can’t hurt. Besides, it isn’t Starbucks, just regular coffee; and I drank it while eating a bowl of Special K with strawberries. That’s gotta count for something. That cereal is like eating a pure bran horse turd, even with dehydrated strawberries to sweeten it. I guess I ought to resign myself to a life of bran cereal and Boca Burger, but I cannot give up coffee.

Last night, I had a cup of green tea before I went to bed. I slept badly and got up early for work again. Maybe I should have skipped the tea, but I had a bit of a headache and I thought the tea might help. I figured I was suffering from caffeine withdraw. In times past, I could drink coffee before going to bed and still sleep peacefully. Unless getting older is weakening my resistance to caffeine, I don’t think my caffeine has anything to do with my sleeplessness. Last night, for example, I woke up thinking about my work day ahead of me. I think that when I wake up, I just start thinking and my mind does not go back to sleep.

And yes, I am listening to the White Album on my iPod today, as you might guess from the first line of this post. I am up to 1968 on my Beatles playlist. “Happiness Is A Warm Gun” … what a great song. I also like the lines Lennon speaks later in the song: “When I hold you in my arms / and I feel my finger on you trigger / I know nobody can do no harm / Because happiness is a warm gun mama.” Practically every line in the song is a double entendre. Michael Moore uses this song to great effect in Bowling For Columbine, especially in the scene in which a buxom woman in a bikini fires an enormous machine gun.

And while I am on the subject of music, there is something that has irritated me for some time, and I have been meaning to write about it. I am irritated by how this election year, politicians and one conservative talkshow host in particular have blatantly misused one of my favorite songs, “Fortunate Son,” by Creedence Clearwater Revival.

Every morning, I wake to WMAL, a local talk radio station on the AM dial; and every morning I hear a commercial for Sean Hannity in which the background music and first couple verses of “Fortunate Son” are interspersed with Hannity blusteringly defeating some caller in rhetorical combat. The only verses we hear are “Some folks are born made to wave the flag / Ooh, they’re red, white, and blue.” Given only that much of the song–which is really all that Hannity can use out of context–one would think “Fortunate Son” is a pleasant, patriotic tune.

Additionally, I know that John Kerry has also used the song to introduce himself at campaign rallies. How appropriate is this song for Kerry? To my mind, no more appropriate than Ronald Reagan using “Born in the USA” back in ‘84. Do these men ever listen to their campaign theme songs? Or do they think somehow they are turning the song’s meaning on its head by appropriating it for their own use. Here are the lyrics to the song “Fortunate Son.” Judge for yourself:

Some folks are born made to wave the flag,
Ooh, they’re red, white and blue.
And when the band plays “Hail to the chief”,
Ooh, they point the cannon at you, Lord,

It ain’t me, it ain’t me, I ain’t no senator’s son, son.
It ain’t me, it ain’t me; I ain’t no fortunate one, no,

Yeah!
Some folks are born silver spoon in hand,
Lord, don’t they help themselves, oh.
But when the taxman comes to the door,
Lord, the house looks like a rummage sale, yes,

It ain’t me, it ain’t me, I ain’t no millionaire’s son, no.
It ain’t me, it ain’t me; I ain’t no fortunate one, no.

Some folks inherit star spangled eyes,
Ooh, they send you down to war, Lord,
And when you ask them, “How much should we give?”
Ooh, they only answer More! more! more! yoh,

It ain’t me, it ain’t me, I ain’t no military son, son.
It ain’t me, it ain’t me; I ain’t no fortunate one, one.

It ain’t me, it ain’t me, I ain’t no fortunate one, no no no,
It ain’t me, it ain’t me, I ain’t no fortunate son, no no no.

I realize the song is a Vietnam War protest song, which does reflect Kerry’s past (though not the past he most wants us to recall, which is the past in which he fought in the Vietnam War John Fogerty protested). So I can sort of understand Kerry’s use of the song. Anyway, Kerry was not a Senator’s son; he was an Ambassador’s son. And Kerry wasn’t born with a silver spoon in his mouth, he just married the owner of the whole damned set of silverware. Yet I can almost justify Kerry’s use of the song. Hannity’s use of it is shockingly brazen, though. I am thinking about writing Fogerty, if I can discover to where to address my letter.