What do you do when you're on 23 hour train rides with an old friend from home? You make lists of songs about that place. So below, I give you Max West and Thomas Frampton's ten songs about, tangentially referencing, or in some other way related to Washington, DC.
10. "Lindbergh," by Woody Guthrie
Guthrie's song about the America First Committee, a cause championed by Charles Lindbergh, which sought to keep the United States out of WWII: "So I'm a gonna tell you people, if Hitler's gonna be beat / The common working people has got to take the seat / In Washington, in Washington / And I'm a gonna tell you workers, before you cash your checks / They say 'America First' but they mean 'America Next' / In Washington, in Washington."
9. "Washington, DC," by The Magnetic Fields
The song isn't really that good... It's just got the lyric: "W-A-S-H-I-N-G-T-O-N-baby-D-C."
8. "Guerrilla Radio," by Rage Against the Machine
"Contact I hijacked the frequencies / Blockin' the Beltway, move on DC"
7. "Mt. Pleasant Isn't," by The Evens
6. "Banned in DC," by Bad Brains
5. "This is DC," by DJ Eurok
"This is DC, you might think that you own it / A piece of South Africa on the Potomac..." Give it a listen: http://www.myspace.com/djeurok.
4. "Washington Bullets," by The Clash
3. "The District Sleeps Alone Tonight," The Postal Service
Probably a better ranking than it deserves, but I'm a sucker for that kinda stuff.
2. "Chocolate City," by Parliament
1. Specifically this version of "Hail to the Redskins"
Honorable Mentions: Every other Go-Go song ever; "District Night Prayer," by Q and not U; "Salvation," by Citizen Cope; "Christ for President," by Billy Bragg & Wilco; and we're pretty sure some stuff by Public Enemy.
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9 comments:
"Lindbergh" is one of my favorite Guthrie songs. What about "Stars and Stripes of Corruption" by The Dead Kennedys?
What about "Do You Like Me Like That" by Bratmobile?! More about bratty boys in DC than DC itself, but it's so catchy.
no Head-Roc? Think hard.
that bad brains clip lacks a certain vitality having seen it on mtv about a month ago...
thanks for the postcard!
I nominate "Love, Peace, and Soul" by Questionmark Asylum f/ Chuck Brown.
http://simplysoulfull.imeem.com/music/H2dECOqq/questionmark_asylum_love_peace_and_soul_ft_chuck_brown/
Thanks for keeping your peoples updated, it's been fun to read...
Jello Biafra w/ DOA - Full Metal Jackoff!
I was going to post the Dead Kennedys but this Zach character was already all over it.
Anyway, keep on rockin' man. Let me know when you show up in DC.
It's not the people doing something real/It's not the way the springtime makes you feel...
Come on. It's a pretty good song. I would like Art Brut to cover it.
From another generation -- i.e., when I faked the clarinet in my high school band to avoid gym -- Sousa's Washington Post march comes to mind. It's about the DC newspaper, but that seems close enough. Missya, Thomas. /s/ Frank (e-reply to my att address)
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