INNER CITY BLUES THEN IS ALL AMERICA’S BLUES NOW

March 18, 2008 by PT Rothschild.

MARVIN GAYE WROTE IT DECADES AGO & IT’S STILL TRUE


As this next election draws closer a host of different issues surround it and the candidates running for office. For all my young readers, this whole current mess regarding the ‘war’ (invasion), the recession (Yes, Virginia, there is a recession going on, thanks to greedy oil men and the ‘war’), local things [like the fatal shooting by a (off duty) cop against an unarmed citizen], and tax relief, may seem very contemporary. However, like Obama said in his landmark speech on race, delivered today (I believe), things have become stagnant in this country, and they’ve been that way for a long time. As if to backup this point, just the other day I was listening to some Marvin Gaye and one song in particular hit me. It hit me because I remembered when I first heard it, and what was going on then, which is remarkably similar to what is going on now. Presented here are the prophetic words penned by that genius singer/songwriter:

INNER CITY BLUES (MAKE ME WANNA HOLLER)

Rockets, moon shots

Spend it on the have-nots

Money, we make it

‘Fore we see it, you’ll take it

Inflation, no chance

To increase finance

Bills pile up, sky high

Send that boy off to die

Hang ups, let downs

Bad breaks, set backs

Natural fact is

Honey, that I can’t pay my taxes

Crime is increasing

Trigger happy policing

Panic is spreading

God knows where, where we’re heading

Oh make me wanna holler

The way they do my life, oh baby.

It was the ‘inner city’ blues then but now, thanks to past administrations, and particularly the Bush Administration, the above refrain has become the ‘all American’ blues, sung in chorus to Bush’s ‘haves’ and ‘have-mores’. The coming election is the most critical in this nation’s history and gives ample reason why, around here we say, ‘the only bush we trust is hers, ‘cause a vote for McCain means more of the same’.

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