selenak: (Rocking the Vote by Noodlebirdsnest)
selenak ([personal profile] selenak) wrote2009-01-21 12:44 pm
Entry tags:

Song links

If, like me, you were too busy to watch the inauguration concerts when they were broadcast, here comes YouTube with some highlights:

This land is your land: Pete Seeger, Bruce Springsteen and just about everyone else.

Pride (in the name of love): U2, singing their song about Martin Luther King exactly where he held his speech.

The Rising: Bruce Springsteen. You know, I remember visiting the US for the first time when I was fourteen, in the middle of Ronald Reagan's reelection campaign, when a rather famous gaffe happened: the Reagan campaign tried to appropriate Born in the USA, evidently having no further knowledge of the lyrics than the refrain and ignoring that it went on "Down in the shadow of the penitentiary/Out by the gas fires of the refinery/I'm 10 years burning down the road/Nowhere to run ain't got nowhere to go". Springsteen was less than thrilled and forbade the use of his song. Having this moment - singing for a change of goverment he actually can believe in, with a song written as a tribute to 9/11 that was the antithesis of the way the Bush administration exploited that tragedy - must have been incredible for him.
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[identity profile] camkin.livejournal.com 2009-01-21 04:41 pm (UTC)(link)
i caught the U2 performance on the HBO live stream and it made me cry. at all the history and just thinking about how we've kind of come full circle.

[identity profile] selenak.livejournal.com 2009-01-21 08:54 pm (UTC)(link)
It's fantastic.

[identity profile] meret.livejournal.com 2009-01-21 07:54 pm (UTC)(link)
Thanks for the links! :)

[identity profile] selenak.livejournal.com 2009-01-21 08:53 pm (UTC)(link)
You're welcome!

[identity profile] neotoma.livejournal.com 2009-01-22 02:47 am (UTC)(link)
They pulled no punches with "This Land is Your Land"... that last verse,about the priateprproperty sign, is almost NEVER performed in a broadcast venue. But wow, I'm so glad they did!

[identity profile] likeadeuce.livejournal.com 2009-01-22 04:28 am (UTC)(link)
I shamefully have not even seen the Springsteen performance yet. And I don't have time now, but --

*bookmarks*

[identity profile] selenak.livejournal.com 2009-01-22 06:05 pm (UTC)(link)
Aw, watch later, then. It's worth it.

[identity profile] midnightsjane.livejournal.com 2009-01-22 07:04 am (UTC)(link)
Thank you! Seeing Pete Seeger up there was wonderful. He's long been one of my musical heroes.