Don't Let The Bastards Get You Down: 5 Songs of Hope in Tough Times
This week's songs are from R.E.M., Toots & the Maytals, Leon Russell, Shuggie Otis, and David Byrne
Just days after her controversial demonstration against the Catholic Church on SNL, Sinéad O’Connor took the stage at Madison Square Garden at a Bob Dylan tribute show. She was met with a loud response from the crowd, but stood silent, trying to wait it out. Kris Kristofferson, who had introduced her, came back out to show his support. In a video of the show, he can be heard telling her “Don’t let the bastards get you down.” When it was clear the crowd wasn’t going to let up, O’Connor forcefully sang a verse from Bob Marley’s “War,” the song she performed on SNL that preceded her original protest, and stormed off the stage. The song draws a firm line in the sand in defining what the singer is willing to not only fight for, but declare war against. Sinéad doubled down.
While the courageous, outspoken, and righteous stand vigilant, they will need need some level-headed support behind them, to help them keep their resolve, and not get weighed down by bullshit. As Bob Marley famously put it in another song, “One good thing about music, when it hits you, you feel no pain.”
Here are 5 songs that look dark times in the face and offer a little bit of wisdom and hope.
Don’t let the bastards get you down.
“No matter what the weather is, I wish all of you blue skies and golden sunshine internally, all along the way.” - David Lynch
R.E.M. - “These Days”
With the benefit of hindsight, R.E.M.’s catalogue is pretty inscrutable. But at the time of release, the band was disappointed in Fables of the Reconstruction (“It sucked” according to Bill Berry) . So coming into Life’s Rich Pageant, the band had a bit of fire in their belly and a few axes to grind. They enlisted John Mellencamp producer Don Gehman to deliver a clearer, more powerful sound. In addition to turning up the drums, Gehman would challenge Stipe to make his words count and be sure he sounded like he meant what he was saying. Stipe’s lyrics are still stream-of-conscious and elliptical, but across a lot of Life’s Rich Pageant, they are direct and as overtly political as his lyrics would get.
That quality of singing with assurance comes out on “These Days.” Stipe’s vocal delivery on lines like “we are hope despite the times” and encouraging listeners to “take joy wherever,” sound like orders from a respected elder. Although it sounds political, the song came about after Stipe accidently blinded himself with dirty contact lenses:
“I had to wear bandages over my eyes for ten days. I’m an extremely visual person. During that time I had these crazy dreams. ‘I Believe’ and ‘These Days’ were written as a way for me to remember what those dreams were”
You might recall that R.E.M. is one of three correct answers to “Who is the Greatest American Rock Band?” And “These Days” is an excellent example as to why. The whole machine is charging forward on the balls of its feet from the initial bang onwards. Is it Stipe’s singing that is particularly direct? Or does it seem more forceful because the whole band is playing that way? Who is actually playing what part? Are there even “parts”? It sounds like barely controlled chaos, but moving in unison—like a school of fish. Thanks to the always-great backing vocals from Mike Mills, Stipe’s defiance feels cathartic. Its got an energy to it that is pointed, but also fun. I suppose if you’ve got an axe to grind, make sure the sparks are big enough to look like fireworks.
“Courage is the solution to despair. Reason provides no answers.” - Rev. Ernst Toller, First Reformed
Toots Hibbert & Easy Star All-Stars - “Let Down” (Radiohead Cover)
Easy Star All-Stars put out reggae versions of classic albums, which is one inefficient way to stumble into some magic every now and again. Here, they get help from reggae legend Toots Hibbert. Toots knows about tough times. He sings about pain and hardship in a way that sounds like they’re falling off his back as he’s singing. The hope is in the music, rather than the words he’s singing. Here, they turn the mumbling and whiny, misanthropic despair of Radiohead’s “Let Down” into (what else), a bouncy, open-hearted reggae tune with a twinge of melancholy. There’s some great horn work on this track, but Toots owns it with his usual soulful, warm and welcoming voice, with particular poignancy in delivering of the lone trace of hope in the lyrics:
“One day, I’m gunna grow wings”
“[I go to visit him in Nashville], the house had a three-car garage and the doors were wide open. All sorts of things strewn all over: old mixing boards, awards tossed in a box, gold records, all this detritus. I said, ‘Leon, what is all this?' He said, ‘Residue from the fast lane.’” - Bruce Hornsby
Leon Russell - “Stranger in a Strange Land”
“Stranger in a Strange Land” chronicles something like a Vonnegut character, somehow tapped into the past present and future, connecting the dots of wisdom between a newborn baby and “an old wise man,” with some Bible references thrown in for good measure. Leon Russell, “the Master of Space and Time” was a session player, producer, and songwriter, working with everyone from Frank Sinatra and Doris Day to Phil Spector, the Beach Boys, Bob Dylan, and Ray Charles (among many, many others). His star faded in the 1980s before Elton John set out to raise his profile towards the end of his life, ultimately resulting in his induction in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2011 (there are a few very touching moments in that ceremony).
“Stranger in a Strange Land” was inspired by the Robert Heinlein novel of the same name and a Bible verse, hence the cosmic mish-mash. The former tells the story of a Mars-born person coming to Earth as an adult. The song has all the groove, soul, and swagger you would want from early 70s Southern-tinged big band rock, including the preaching-over-the-bridge about “what’s going on in the world today.” In this instance, I don’t mind it all. If you’re looking to “lay back, relax and get back on the human track,” here is a great place to start.
“Joy is an act of resistance. The world did not give it to you, the world cannot take it away.” - Toi Derricote
Shuggie Otis - “Someone’s Always Singing”
Shuggie Otis recorded with Frank Zappa, Al Kooper, and Etta James, and was named B.B. King’s “favorite new guitar player” all before he was 18 years old. He was the son of bandleader Johnny Otis. As young as 11, Otis was given dark sunglasses and a fake mustache so he could play nightclubs with his dad’s band. In 1974, he turned down a chance to join the Rolling Stones to focus on his own music. This is an impressive resume. You know who else have impressive resumes? All the dudes playing on this recording.
Big Band leader Johnny Otis was known for discovering young talent, including Etta James, Jackie Wilson, and Hank Ballard.
Wilton Felder played bass on the Jackson 5’s “I Want You Back” and “ABC” and Marvin Gaye’s “Let’s Get it On” (!!!). He’s got credits on Paris 1919, Piano Man, Pretzel Logic, and Court and Spark, and was a member of the Jazz Crusaders.
The Hardest Working Man in Rock & Roll You’ve Never Heard Of/Drummer Aynsley Dunbar played in John Mayall’s Blues Breakers and Jeff Beck Group. He quit both for lacking ambition. He auditioned for the Jimi Hendrix Experience, losing to Mitch Mitchell in a coin toss. He turned down offers to be a founding member of both Led Zeppelin and King Crimson. He was a long-time drummer for Frank Zappa, Journey, Jefferson Starship, and Whitesnake, and has credits with David Bowie (“Rebel Rebel”) and Lou Reed (Berlin).
Lyrically speaking, “Someone’s Always Singing” could fit into Otis’ father’s big band repertoire. It’s sweet and a bit old fashioned. But this recording has a groovy, slow-cool bounce to it that the kids these days call “chill.” Don’t overlook the silky guitar work around the edges of the vocal melody. Everything about the chorus—intentionally or not—echoes the Rascals’ “Good Lovin,” only slower than the Grateful Dead ever played it. All feel and groove. As Sinéad demonstrated in the story above:
“There’s always someone singing where only whispering is allowed.”
David Byrne’s American Utopia - “Road to Nowhere” (Live)
Dadaism emerged as a reaction to rapid technological advancement, the increasing political and economic power of the bourgeoisie, and rising nationalism around WWI. Writers, actors, visual artists, and musicians experimented with new mediums to reflect the absurd, irrational, and senseless destruction and violence of their time. I went and double checked I had my facts straight on that, as I knew the Talking Heads’ used Dadaist lyrics in “I Zimbra,” which was also part of David Byrne’s American Utopia Broadway show (the Spike Lee-directed concert film is on Max). “Road to Nowhere” was the show’s encore and that’s the version we have here.
Jonathan Lethem once described the Talking Heads as projecting a “lunatic optimism.” Watching this again—the toy instruments, a barefoot conga line galloping around the stage and into the audience, the goofy interjections—I was trying to figure out whether this was Dadaism, or “lunatic optimism”—clowning in the face of an unsettling cultural and political climate. Then a thought crossed my mind:
“Who cares you fucking idiot? It’s pure joy.”
Take joy wherever you can.
Thanks for reading. Enjoy the listening.