Permanent Ink and Voting for Change

I watched a bit of the documentary (concert video?) of Joe Strummer, God bless his soul, and the Mescaleros 2001-2002 tour, Let’s Rock Again! Strummer is enjoyable, although there is not really a ton of off-stage reflection. But, that seems to have been his way of doing things. After reflecting on the eagerness of the press to get at the opinions and inspirations of rock stars, Strummer commented that fixating on rock lyricists is about like wanting to get at the ideas of people who create crossword puzzles. While Joe was a bit too humble about how he could string words and music together. . . .

I dig a link I saw (ht who?) to photos of literary tattoos, and was struck by how many folks decided to permanently ink the lyrics of recent songs into their bodies (could be worse, though). Their conviction is impressive, and their sentiments are appreciated, but can a 21 year old celebrity stranger really speak for me for the rest of my life? There’s something about the power of celebrity endorsement to this.

The Democratic National Convention is underway. A recent blog also pointed me to a video by Dave Stewart of a song he and Bono wrote, “American Prayer.” Stewart says in his description of the song that it was not meant to be a political endorsement so much as a song that resonated with the spirit of hope Obama’s campaign was projecting. But the prObama imagery says something else.

I’ll keep up with the political coverage, but it hit me watching the graceful and strong Michelle Obama the other night, this is just not my movement. The language of “what we are, and what we could be,” or should be, is near to my worldview, but these are not the means I trust with my future. Still, it’s a great line. It’s a better line than many. I like it better than “we must defeat evil,” no matter the cost.

I lean more towards Ben Sollee’s less partisan sentiment over Stewart’s video (and Whoopi, and Jason, and. . . Pam?). Although I love the refrain about “when you get to the top of the mountain/ will you remember me?” I just need something bigger than a party platform or a rock star to make room for the hope we’re going to need to sustain, and I trust a song more if it belongs to people instead of campaign promises.

For good measure, a crossword puzzle of Joe’s: