Flashback Friday - American Music Club

One of the few bands I've seen live multiple times, American Music Club used to play all the clubs in San Francisco before Lead singer Mark Eitzel relocated to New York or some other such gawd-awful place. California is one of my all-time favorite albums, most of these songs are from that album.

Disturbing Showtune Lyrics

I remember seeing "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" with Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra on TV years ago. And I remember being horrified to the lyrics from one of the songs, whose name I could never remember. So finally I looked it up, and it's called "Yes, Indeedy."


It tells the story of the love 'em & leave 'em antics of the two main characters as they leave a trail of broken hearts across the USA, which is really kind of  dickish behavior to be celebrating in song, but that's not even the half of it.

The first verse is just about the type of jerk behavior one might expect from a baseball star cum vaudeville song and dance man:

I kissed a gal in old Wyoming,

She rode a horse in a wild west show

When I said, baby, I'm bent on roaming

She cried we just got started

And she thought we can't be parted,

When I left her broken hearted at the rodeo.,

Oh yes indeed, yes indeedy. . .

But the song quickly takes a rather dark turn:

I kissed a gal in old Poughkeepsie

That `s where the college of Vassar's found,

She couldn't study, love made her tipsy

Her teachers wouldn't pass 'er,

And so she just turned on the gas

And now the sweetest gal at Vassar's in the cold cold ground.

Yes indeed, yes indeedy,

Yes indeed, the boy's unbound,

Yes Indeed, yes indeedy,

The sweetest gal at Vassar's in the cold cold ground.

Holy shit! They're singing - quite merrily, I might add - about a girl committing suicide!

They're very jovially singing about her being "in the cold, cold ground!"


And they seem to view this as some sort of triumph.


But the next verse might be even worse:

I kissed a gal down in Mississippi,

A Southern belle named Emmy Jo

I thought for once love has got me tippy

She called me Lucky Seven,

Said my kisses were from heaven,

But I learned she was eleven, and I had to go.

ELEVEN! A grown man was making out with an ELEVEN-YEAR-OLD GIRL! And this is, what, just one of the hazards of the swingin' bachelor lifestyle? Sometimes, the girl you're putting the moves on turns out to be pre-pubescent? Haha, hey, who hasn't had that happen, amirite? Just one of those pitfalls of modern life!


Maybe, MAYBE, you could get away with the light-hearted approach to statutory rape if the girl was 17, maybe even 16. Then maybe you could go with the old "how was I to know? She looked 18 to me!" But Eleven? Eleven? There is no way in Hell anyone could mistake an eleven-year-old girl for a grown woman. That's just disgusting.


I'm totally not making this up. See for yourself:


Frank Sinatra & Gene Kelly - Yes Indeedy 1949 by kamatrikero

Are We Supposed to be Impressed?

Obama address: Surge troops home by summer 2012

WASHINGTON – Pulling home the Americans he sent to war, President Barack Obama plans to announce Wednesday night the withdrawal of more than 30,000 troops from Afghanistan by the end of next summer

Yeah, that'd be great if there weren't around a Hundred Thousand troops there.
So the plan is basically to spend the next year getting the number of troops in Afghanistan back to the Bush-era levels. And we're supposed to, what, applaud? We're supposed to be encouraged by this?

This fucking war is never going to be over. There is never ever ever going to be a time when Afghanistan is such a pro-western, freedom-loving democracy that the troops can be allowed to finally come home. This war is permanent. Too many companies are making too much money for their minions in DC to ever allow this racket to end. When withdrawing 30,000 troops out of a pointless, immoral war is considered controversial, it seems like war in Afghanistan is just the new normal.

Hey, Wait a Minute! Maybe our Healthcare System Isn't the Best In the World, After All!

File this under things that would never happen in Canada.

Man robs bank to get medical care in jail

Tue Jun 21, 10:36 am ET

Earlier this month, Verone, a 59-year-old convenience store clerk, walked into a Gaston, N.C., bank and handed the cashier a note demanding $1 and medical attention. Then he waited calmly for police to show up.
He's now in jail and has an appointment with a doctor this week.




Because he only asked for $1, Verone was charged with larceny, not bank robbery. But he said that if his punishment isn't severe enough, he plans to tell the judge that he'll do it again. His $100,000 bond has been reduced to $2,000, but he says he doesn't plan to pay it.

Florida's Rick Scott is our Nation's Most Pathetic Governor.

Rick Scott, governor of Florida, frightener of small children, and Medicare defrauder, has a website.
Not that there's anything unusual about that, I'm sure most governors have websites.

And maybe a lot of them have a "Take Action" widget

• 

I don't know, and I'm not about to do the research. But I'm guessing that no other governor has anything this sad on his or her website:

Email a Newspaper Editor

Name
Your Email
City (optional)

There's a drop-down menu with the names of major Florida newspapers, and then the pathetic icing on the pitiful cake: The letter is already written for you!

Dear Editor,

When Rick Scott ran for Governor he promised to create jobs and turn our economy around. I voted for Rick because he’s always been a businessman, not a politician. While politicians usually disappoint us and rarely keep their promises, Rick is refreshing because he’s keeping his word.

Refreshing! That's what I look for in a candidate. Oh, wait. No, I mean a breath mint.

His policies are helping to attract businesses to our state and get people back to work.

That would be pretty impressive if he hadn't also included this handy chart on his site showing that Florida's unemployment is still considerably worse than the national average.


 

 Some of the special interests are attacking the Governor for making tough decisions, showing leadership, and doing what he told us he would do. 

Yes, that's exactly what's happening. The "special interests" Are upset about Scott making tough decisions. "Dammit!" they exclaim. "He's showing leadership again! And now he's doing exactly what he promised to do? well, that's the last straw!"

 I'm sure that's what they are upset about. I'm sure it has nothing to do with insignificant trifles like:

Florida Gov. Rick Scott rejects funding for high-speed rail

Gov. Rick Scott, citing concerns over potential cost overruns, rejected $2.4 billion in federal dollars to pay for construction of a high-speed rail line connecting Tampa and Orlando.

Or. . .

Education cuts show up in Rick Scott's budget

Says he never said he would keep education funding the same.

 

Or. . .

Health care services for women and children among Scott vetoes, crisis pregnancy centers untouched

Gov. Rick Scott yesterday vetoed almost $1.5 million for a handful of community health care clinics in Florida that provide adult and pediatric primary health care services, family planning, immunizations and  STD and HIV screening, among other services, to low-income and minority patients.

Yeah, I'm sure it's that darn showing leadership thing that has folks upset.

 And it goes on. . .

 Rick Scott deserves our unwavering and enthusiastic support.
How can we expect to elect leaders who will keep their word and do what’s right for our state if we don’t stand up for those with the courage to set priorities, make difficult choices, and actually deliver on their promises made? 

We must stand with leaders who will bravely cut education while courageously phasing out all corporate income taxes. Oh, if only more politicians had the courage to stand up for the poor, put-upon corporations!

But that's not even the most pathetic item on Governor Scott's website. He also includes a video praising his "accomplishments." A video featuring His Mom!




Support Rick Scott. His mommy thinks he's a good boy!
Holy cow!

I suddenly have the urge to take his lunch money.


Of course, if you want to see an actually relevant Rick Scott video, there's this: