Wednesday, June 10, 2015

'Rocky Mountain High' only for the few

Over the years, I find myself listening only to music of my youth, misspent as is was, and ignoring anything written after 1989.  And whouda thunk that rap would last this long, and I don't even consider it music.


I am turning out just like my father, who was stuck in the Big Band era forever, and bad mouthing Elvis, the Beatles and especially the Rolling Stones as Godless hippies.  My favorite quote from my dad, when we were watching the Beatles perform "She Loves You" on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1964: 'look at those idiots. Anybody can grow their hair long and sing 'yeah, yeah yeah.'  These guys stink.'


And now here I am, bad mouthing Lady Gaga, Bruno Mars and their ilk, all the while glued to Serius-XM's '80's on Eight,' and 'Instant Rewind.'  You know, the good stuff.


But something always gnawed at me after listening to John Denver's "Rocky Mountain High."  The lyrics that bugged me were these:


Now his life is full of wonder
But his heart still knows some fear
Of a simple thing he cannot comprehend
Why they try to tear the mountains down
To bring in a couple more
More people, more scars upon the land



John Denver sounds like one of the stupid 'save the farmland' people we have around here, who want to eliminate via legislation any more residential development simply so they can continue to hunt on the open fields and race their insipid snowmobiles without having to pay for any of it. 


When John Denver sees bulldozers scraping away the dirt so that a foundation for a home can be poured, he seethes at this 'scar' upon HIS land, which is obviously not his.  Of course, John (God rest his soul) had a palatial spread up there in the Rockies, but now that he had gotten his, screw everybody else.  Did he consider that when HIS bulldozers were 'scarring' HIS lot, there might be locals who seethed at that scar of his?  Of course not.


Liberals are like that.  Once they get theirs, to hell with everyone else.  Let them eat cake. 


John Denver was a moron. 


Confession time: I kind of like Lady Gaga's "Applause.'  Pretty catchy tune, I must admit. 



21 comments:

LL said...

Caveat: I like Lady Gaga music, but I think that the artist is seriously screwed up. Listen to Poker Face

Liberals feel that nobody should enjoy the land but them (the intelligencia environmentalists) and that the proles should be kept in the fetid cities, working to maintain their lifestyles.

Fredd said...

LL: I would love to hear a standard, off the rack liberal explain just how things should work in this regard, that only enlightened liberals are entitled to living large, while the rest of us Great Unwashed need to support their lifestyles, and yet live a lesser life than liberals.

Just how would an honest discussion go between a dirty, Unwashed proletariat and an off the rack liberal? From the mouth of a liberal: "You conservatives need to work like dogs, give up most if not all of the fruits of your pathetic labor to us liberals, who think more correctly about things than you do. It's your duty in our society, because we are the superior people, and you are the inferior sub-humans, it's only Darwin's way. Survival of the fittest, and liberals are at the top of the food chain."

Is that how these discussions will go? I have yet to look up the lyrics of "Poker Face," but intend to in short order. Likely it will not change my view of "Applause," still a catchy tune.

LL said...

You conservatives need to stay on the symbolic plantation, supporting the lifestyles of your betters. The difference between you and me is like the difference between a mongrel dog and the average human, so you can't possibly understand the lofty thoughts that I think. It is for you to toil and put those thoughts into actions.

Take the Indians at Wounded Knee. All they had to do was to lay down the rifles they intended to use for hunting for their families in the winter and the Cavalry wouldn't have had to execute them. Sure, they would have to have contented themselves with a little soggy flour infested with weavles but they are protein, and not unlike the standard school lunch these days.

If you do as we say, you can content yourself with basic shelter, basic transportation and the sort of food that we think you should be eating to remain productive for our benefit -- until such time as you are no longer productive, which is why there are death panels for the proles. If you do all that and listen to the voice of your betters, one day you will love us, the way that we love us.

neal said...

Ted Turner bought a ranch in southern New Mexico, back in the day. Retained a few ranch hands for show, threw the rest out on the street.
He and and Hanoi Jane filled it with subsidized Buffalo.

When company flew in on their private jets, they would hop in the Humvees, drive up and shoot those Buffalo dead.
And leave them to rot, because they could. Just a write-off.

Sir Richard Branson built the Spaceport not too far away. His 72 Virgin Galactic ships never showed. The adminstrators stuck with this are booking Lady Gaga for revenue. I hear there will be a video, to attract the tourists.

Love among the ruins of abandoned movie sets. I live in what used to be a sixties fake wild west town. Dig shallow, and there are fake sherrif badges, spurs, and such.

Dig deeper, and there is the Trail of Tears, and Conquistador helmets, and dinosaur bones.
I expect if any could talk they would say the popular consensus is history repurposes itself until it gets bored.

Fredd said...

LL: I don't understand, but I think I am starting to love you already.

If in the interim, so that I may kiss your most excellent buttocks properly, please move your superior butt cheeks a little closer to me. No, closer than that...

Gorges Smythe said...

I've found myself humming "Bie Mir Bist Du Shein" the last couple days.

LL said...

"Now I will tell you the answer to my question. It is this. The Party seeks power entirely for its own sake. We are not interested in the good of others; we are interested solely in power, pure power. What pure power means you will understand presently. We are different from the oligarchies of the past in that we know what we are doing. All the others, even those who resembled ourselves, were cowards and hypocrites. The German Nazis and the Russian Communists came very close to us in their methods, but they never had the courage to recognize their own motives. They pretended, perhaps they even believed, that they had seized power unwillingly and for a limited time, and that just around the corner there lay a paradise where human beings would be free and equal. We are not like that. We know what no one ever seizes power with the intention of relinquishing it. Power is not a means; it is an end. One does not establish a dictatorship in order to safeguard a revolution; one makes the revolution in order to establish the dictatorship. The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power. Now you begin to understand me."

Fredd said...

Gorges: My dad would hum along with that little Andrews Sisters ditty. That, and "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy from Company B."

Fredd said...

LL: of course, when you confess your true motives to me, they stay confined to just you and me. And the two other guys who may read stuff on this site on rare occasion, so your secret is safe with me.

Don't get too brash, though. What makes perfect sense to you sounds like pure evil to even the dumbest among us. And that would be most of us. I would keep that sentiment under wraps if I were you and wanted to retain this malevolent power of yours. Just ask Marie Antoinette and her hubby how that worked out for them when they blurted out their complete disregard for their subjects with that whole cake thing.

Kid said...

Fredd, You should listen to Country Roads instead.

Fredd said...

Kid: nah, I'm done with John Denver. If that's all he thinks of me is a scar upon the land, he can just shove it and take his music with him.

That sounds harsh, doesn't it?

Good.

LL said...

My Favorite John Denver song was, "Saturday Night in Toledo Ohio".

Let's let the sleeping dogs lie (-ping dogs lie)
And here's to the dogs of Toledo, Ohio
Ladies, we bid you goodbye!


I'm guessing that he didn't get laid in Toledo.

Z said...

I have to admit to loving John Denver's music....I got to fly into Aspen on a private plane (applause, please ;-)) and stepping off that stairway and looking around and ROCKY MOUNTAIN HIGH came immediately to my mind.

Not sure if Denver did tons of dope, but he'd sure be singing Rocky Mountain HIGH a lot now,if he did :-)

I do see your point on that lyric, however.

As to your comment about buttocks to LL, I'll be trying to poke a needle in my mind's eye the rest of the night :-(
!!

Well Seasoned Fool said...

My late father had a small, very small, ranch in Steamboat Springs. Got into real estate during the 70's boom. His definition of an environmentalist was, "The guy who bought his five acres last year".

Fredd said...

Well Seasoned: exactly right. Once these environmentalists have 'gotten theirs', then they are all for putting a stop to further development, since it may spoil their neighborhood (or 'scar' it, according to that dope, John Denver).

Fredd said...

Well Seasoned: exactly right. Once these environmentalists have 'gotten theirs', then they are all for putting a stop to further development, since it may spoil their neighborhood (or 'scar' it, according to that dope, John Denver).

Fredd said...

Z: just to clarify, I didn't want to kiss any regal buttocks, bur rather kick them. Hope that clears things up.

Fredd said...

LL: Toledo is famous for one thing only. MASH's corporal Klinger character hailed from Toledo. That's it.

Brig said...

Gaga gags, and John Denver blah (cause "sunshine on my shoulders" as a kid meant I had been chopping weeds in the fields for hours)

Back in the day a small ranch next to ours was subdivided into small parcels. They flew prospective buyers up (during the spring when it was green) from the bay area. I always thought if you could survive on a 1/2 acre full of jingleworms, greasewood, and no running water...more power to ya.

Ed Bonderenka said...

Hey you kids. Get offa my lawn.

Ed Bonderenka said...

Jeep. Glass.