Tom Waits: Road to Peace

Submitted by GregoryHeller on November 12, 2006 - 9:44pm.

I just downloaded and listened to the new Tom Wiats track "Road to Peace" (i got it free from eMusic.com, you can also get it from Pitchfork Media for free (Waits has released it for free along with a few other tracks). I had no idea what I was in for. The song is a ballad about the conflict in the Middle East, particularly the Arab Israelli conflict and the resent war between Israel and Hamas. It is defitely worth a listen.

It seems like there might be a resurgence of the "political ballad". Earlier this year, Neil Young released an entire album of "war protest" songs called "Living With War". I've got to say though, as much of a Neil Young fan as I am, I found "Road to Peace" to be far more compelling.

Return of the political ballad...
Submitted by roach on November 14, 2006 - 10:59am.

There does seem to be a recent upsurge in the number of good (read: non-cheezy) political anthems. One of my favorites is Texas singer-songwriter James McMurtry's "We can't make it here anymore". I saw him perform it at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville with his band (The Heartless Bastards) in September. It was pretty amazing.

An excerpt from the lyrics:

Should I hate a people for the shade of their skin
Or the shape of their eyes or the shape I'm in
Should I hate 'em for having our jobs today
No I hate the men sent the jobs away
I can see them all now, they haunt my dreams
All lilly-white and squeaky clean
They've never known want, they'll never know need
Their sh@# don't stink and their kids won't bleed
Their kids won't bleed in the damn little war
And we can't make it here anymore

Will work for food
Will die for oil
Will kill for power and to us the spoils
The billionaires get to pay less tax
The working poor get to fall through the cracks
Let 'em eat jellybeans let 'em eat cake
Let 'em eat sh$%, whatever it takes
They can join the Air Force, or join the Corps
If they can't make it here anymore

Full lyrics here.