New Music: "There's a Tumor in the White House"
Hello love,
I’d read so many interviews where Neil Young or others had posted the question - “Where are the protest songs? Why aren’t people writing them anymore?”. When I actually met Neil after his show at Rogers Arena in Vancouver, I so badly wanted to tell him that there were some of us still at it. But of course, I just thanked him for the great show and then clammed up.
For a long time, I've understood the decline of "protest songs" in pop culture through two lenses:
It's not a lack of supply, it's a lack of demand. If you look for it, there is an incredible amount of articulate social criticism in music, but even if it gets popular, it's not accepted as such...
because...
They don't sound how they did in the 60s. It's not white people with guitars at the helm of the counter-establishment anymore. It's not Dylan or Baez or Mitchell or Young. It's Kendrick Lamar and Lizzo. And when the actual members of society who have lived injustice most personally speak out, there's no white knight to pin a medal on - so it's just seen as "edgy".
Click here to listen to "There's a Tumor in the White House"
Generally, in my songwriting, I’ve aimed for the timeless approach with social criticisms and political notions - never too on the nose, and never too specific.
But we’ve got this bully in the highest seat using the lowest form of mudslinging and name-calling and unfortunately it just seems to keep working for him. The poor man’s rich man. The weak man’s strong man.
I just wanted to call a spade a spade - bootlickers, chokeholders, chest-puffers… Is it ironic? I don’t know. Is it a joke? I worry that it might not be.
Anyhow - not that anybody asked for it. And not that many people will care. But this song pretty much sums up how I'm feeling in this moment. I'll put the lyrics down in the bottom of this email.
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As always, thanks for your ears and your eyes.
Much love,
x
Dan
There's a Tumor in the White House
There's a tumor in the White House
There's a blowhard at the gate
Chokeholders in the squad car
Bootlickers on parade
Yeah, there's a tumor in the White House
He's getting bigger every day
Chestpuffers on the TV
Always got so much to say
So if you're buyin' what they're sellin'
But some part of you remains
Go on and call your friend Llewellyn
Maybe he feels the same
And if you're tired of the peril
And the rhetoric and the shame
Go on and call your old Aunt Carol
Maybe it's not too late
'Cause there's a Tumor in the White House
There's a fascist at the bank
Flagwavers in the court house
Why do assholes get their way?
So if you've eaten the mythology
And now you've got a belly ache
Go on and call your old friend Dorothy
Maybe she feels the same
And if you're tired of the peril
And the bullshit and the hate
Go on and call your Uncle Darryl
Maybe it's not too late
Maybe it's not too late
I really hope it's not too late