Musical Reminder why PA Must Choose Obama
April 20, 2008
This week, Barack Obama was endorsed by Bruce Springsteen. It was not lost on most of us that the picture Springsteen paints in many of his songs reflects the mood about which Obama spoke in his now infamous San Francisco “bitter” speech.
This got me to thinking about which other contemporary song writers have written songs that portray the desperate times that some of us live in, times that an Obama presidency directly addresses. So, tonight I leave you with a song from Billy Joel that dates back to the Reagan era. It takes place in Pennsylvania, and sadly, it proves that 26 years of Washington promises haven’t changed the lives of some Pennsylvanians very much at all. I hope the good people of PA consider this when they go to the polls on Tuesday.
Allentown
Well we’re living here in Allentown
And they’re closing all the factories down
Out in Bethlehem they’re killing time
Filling out forms
Standing in line
Well our fathers fought the Second World War
Spent their weekends on the Jersey Shore
Met our mothers in the USO
Asked them to dance
Danced with them slow
And we’re living here in Allentown
But the restlessness was handed down
And it’s getting very hard to stay
Well we’re waiting here in Allentown
For the Pennsylvania we never found
For the promises our teachers gave
If we worked hard
If we behaved
So the graduations hang on the wall
But they never really helped us at all
No they never taught us what was real
Iron and coke
And chromium steel
And we’re waiting here in Allentown
But they’ve taken all the coal from the ground
And the union people crawled away
Every child had a pretty good shot
To get at least as far as their old man got
But something happened on the way to that place
They threw an American flag in our face
Well I’m living here in Allentown
And it’s hard to keep a good man down
But I won’t be getting up today
And it’s getting very hard to stay
And we’re living here in Allentown
(Written by Billy Joel, lyrics obtained from http://billyjoel.com/site.html)
Respectfully,
Rutherford
Entry Filed under: Politics, Social commentary, Wordpress Political Blogs. Tags: Allentown, Billy Joel, Obama, Pennsylvania.
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1.
Ray | April 20, 2008 at 1:03 am
get real. Learn the facts.
http://www.chicagoagainstobama.com
2.
wickle | April 21, 2008 at 7:29 am
Don’t you love it when people (like Ray) assume that if you like a given candidate, you obviously haven’t looked into the matter, but rather than say anything, they just give you their one link to the apparently-life-changing site that has all the information you’ve ever needed, but were apparently too stupid to find?
3.
Ray | April 24, 2008 at 5:30 pm
wickle,
Yes, I do love people like myself-people who are actually willing to think outside of the box, and not go for the “cool” candidate.
You obviously haven’t done any research. An unqualified candidate with no experience, and no record of CHANGING anything in Chicago or Illinois, is now running to change the country.
4.
Ray | April 24, 2008 at 5:41 pm
wickle,
One more thought; if you have done your research, how do you feel about the following:
-Obama’s foreign policy advisory team
-Obama’s capital gains tax policy
-Obama’s taxation on familys that earn over 97k
-Obama’s stance on NOT supporting gay marriage
-Obama’s stance on NOT providing universal health care
5.
wickle | April 24, 2008 at 9:01 pm
Ray,
I’m not an Obama supporter. My comment was about the quality of your comment. You did much better afterward.