Thursday, April 2, 2009

Hey, Mr. Newsman

From Portable, page 199.

Kampf's work is alluring to the political activist in me-- it has a Son of Liberty vibe to it, I think (well, if you ignore the mentions of Commies-- he never says that he isn't, though he is "fighting for his freedom"). One part in particular, I think, symbolizes the problem the hippies were facing: "Yes, my hair is long, and I haven't shaved in days, (2x)/ But fighting for my freedom/ While clean-cut kids just look the other way." At this time, you could go along with the culture (the clean-cut kids) and work with the system, or be in the counterculture ("my hair is long") and work against the system. The last stanzas are timeless, though, and presents a strong truth: "But you don't need no tuxedo/ when you're fighting for the rights of man." Democracy is made of up every man, not just those who are within accepted society; and without every man, democracy falls (look what's happening now!).

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