Thursday, April 3, 2008
She's one of my favorite singers, she's on my iPod, Tuesday Night Music Club is a work of art - but sometimes she says the looniest things.
Music writer Irwin C. asked:
Can someone please explain these lyrics to me?
Way back in the year of 2017
The sun was growing hotter
And oil was way beyond its peak
When crazy Hector Johnson broke into a refinery
And the black gold started flowing
Just like Boston tea..
...Gasoline
Will be free, will be free
Gasoline
Will be free, will be free
When the Mounties stormed the palace of the Saudi family
They held them up for ransom
Without disturbing their high tea
But their getaway was shaky
They stalled in the Riyadh streets
Cause you can't make it very far
When your tank is on empty...
...Gary ran a market way down in Tennessee
Where all the farmers got together and talked about this great country
But when the government turned its back on farming
Man, what I hear
They dragged the pumps out of the ground
With a big vintage John Deere
I've got soldiers on my payroll
Standing guard on my front drive
Snipers on the roof poised at those
Who don't want me alive
Cause they audited my taxes
My family under threat
Cause I've got a message and a megaphone
And I'll scream it to the death
Gasoline
Will be free, will be free
To me, it sounds like Sheryl (or her friend Rafael) has been watching too many Mad Max movies while reading misanthropic peak oil conspiracist James Kunstler, who does indeed have a megaphone which he uses to scream his mesage "to the death".
In any case, the government hasn't turned its back on farming. However, according to Cinnamon Stillwell, the farmer-friendly ethanol boom has had some unintended consequences.
Scientists predict that the Gulf of Mexico, already polluted by agricultural runoff from the United States, will only get worse as demand for ethanol, and therefore corn, increases...
When you've managed to survive a variety of predicted apocalypses (apocalypsii?) you become more cynical about predictions like Crow's. The future is never as exciting as promised. It's more a series of slowly repaired unintended consequences than soldiers on one's payroll and snipers on the roof. But at least her apocalypsii have a beat that you can dance to.
