back in the days of 'shock and awe'

This video has been making the rounds in the political blogs that I read. I'd avoid reading all of the comments on youtube, because a lot of them just talk about how Neil Young once supported Bush and how much of a hypocrite he is for making an album that features a song titled "Let's Impeach the President" and how he isn't even an American and blahblahblah. If you're anything like me it will just depress you. It's depressing enough that the woman that interviews Young basically accuses him of trying to cash in on the fact that Bush's approval rating has severely dropped. It's scary that in this nation you can be attacked just for changing your mind. People seem to forget that Young's family, his wife and children, are Americans. Even if he is Canadian, what happens here still concerns him and those that he loves.

But all of that aside, you can not deny that Young's album is very political. The song that seems to have everyone abuzz is "Let's Impeach the President" which includes soundbites from speeches the president has made throughout the years behind a chorus of people singing "flip" and "flop." He also sings "Let's impeach the president for hijacking our religion and using it to get elected." It's a heartfelt song from the point of view of someone that once trusted the administration to do well for this country and has found himself betrayed by those he put his trust in. I imagine the song speaks to the 70% of American's that are dissatisfied with the president's performance. Of course, the album doesn't let up with "Impeach the President". You can't call an album Living With War and only touch on a small part of a larger subject. Young sings about consumerism ("Restless Consumer"), families dealing with their loved ones being in the armed services ("Flags of Freedom") and so on. I'd give a better re-cap, but I'm only writing about this album as I listen to it stream. I can't go backwards in the feed. When it's released, I'll buy it and give it a better write up.

You can listen to the whole album, Living with War here.