There is a young woman I found on YouTube who does her own compositions, but who began more just covering Bad Religion songs with her acoustic guitar. In watching videos of various Bad Religion songs she covered, the young woman, Emily Davis, initially proved to me is why I have said Bad Religion was less punk than urban folk music.
What struck me, though, is this early 2009 video of her cover of the song, Walk Away, opens with her Obama for president 2008 button. There is so much hope in her voice and presentation that one feels for this young woman as to what will occur when this supposedly transformational candidate governs little differently than any another corporate banker. Barack Obama, Inc. triumphed, and couldn't even bring himself to do anything for the people in Flint, Michigan suffering from an intentional decision from a Republican governor's administration to give these people leaded water.
Now, cut to February 2020, and an older, and clearly jaded Davis performing another Bad Religion song, Candidate. She now knows.
For me, this is an adult failure of profound proportions. It speaks directly to my rage at my fellow Boomers and Oldsters (which latter term is simply a contraction of "Old" and "Monsters"), for not standing with our children and grandchildren and not promoting their ideals with them. The earnestness of 2009 Emily Davis and the hardness of 2020 Emily Davis should be enough to make any concerned parent scream at our neighbors and friends of our age groups. But, no. We secretly seem to like Davis' jadedness, and say, Glad she grew up. Nothin's gonna fundamentally change. Vote Biden! Vote Trump!
Ugh.
For me, this is an adult failure of profound proportions. It speaks directly to my rage at my fellow Boomers and Oldsters (which latter term is simply a contraction of "Old" and "Monsters"), for not standing with our children and grandchildren and not promoting their ideals with them. The earnestness of 2009 Emily Davis and the hardness of 2020 Emily Davis should be enough to make any concerned parent scream at our neighbors and friends of our age groups. But, no. We secretly seem to like Davis' jadedness, and say, Glad she grew up. Nothin's gonna fundamentally change. Vote Biden! Vote Trump!
Ugh.
But, anyway, forget the despair and rage in this moment. For Emily Davis is a very talented young woman. Here is a very recent song and video she and her band, The Murder Police, wrote and performed. The song is called Artificial Happiness. And here is another one, a live performance, It Wasn't a Joke. These are great and deserve our attention. It is not all despair, ya know?
