Jeff & I were on the phone talking about how we’d feel today with the inevitable wingnuts on parade commanding the rest of us to wave the flag and celebrate the troops. Fuck them, said Jeff. Memorial Day is not Veterans Day, this is a day to remember all war dead — children, women, civilians, animals, the innocents, the casualties. This is their only day and their day only. A day to hang your American head in grief for the size and scope of this nation’s militarism, beginning with the Civil war, including our part in it.
That made sense to me.
This song is by X, which reformed for a summer tour. It alone is worth whatever the ticket price, as relevant today as when I was playing it on the radio 25 years ago.
the facts we hate: we’ll never meet walking down the road everybody yelling “hurry up, hurry up!” but i’m waiting for you i must go slow i must not think bad thoughts what is this world coming to? both sides are right but both sides murder i give up why can’t they? i must not think bad thoughts i must not think bad thoughts i must not think bad thoughts. the civil wars and the uncivilized wars conflagrations leap out of every poor furnace the food cooks poorly and everyone goes hungry from then on it’s dog eat dog dog eat body & body eat dog i can’t go down there i can’t understand it i’m a no good coward & an american too a north american that is not a south or a central or a native american o i must not think bad thoughts i must not think bad thoughts i must not think bad thoughts i’m guilty of murder of innocent men innocent women innocent children thousands of them! my planes! my guns! my money! my soldiers! their blood is on my hands it’s all my fault! i must not think bad thoughts i must not think bad thoughts i must not think bad thoughts the facts we hate: you’ll never hear us (i hear the radio it’s finally gonna play new music you know the “british invasion”) but what about the minutemen flesh eaters doa big boys and the black flag? will the last american band to get played on the radio please bring the flag? please bring the flag? glitter-disco-synthesizer night school all this noble savage drum drum drum! astronauts go back in time to hang out with the cave people it’s about time it’s about space it’s about some people in the strangest places woody guthrie sang about b-e-e-t-s not b-e-a-t-s i must not think bad thoughts i must not think bad thoughts i must not think bad not thoughts i must not think bad thoughts i must not think bad thoughts.
Writhe Safely 
Yes… we must ask ourselves not only, “What are my leaders doing to the world?” but also, “What sort of world does my life contribute to?”
I had a conversation recently about this. I maintained that Memorial Day was surely a day to commemorate all victims of our wars. The woman in the sequinsed American flag baseball cap I was talking to said that no, this was an American holiday to remember American fallen soldiers. Eventually I got her to at least concede that we should remember all American and ally victims of war, not just US soldiers. (In truth I think she was only being polite because I’m British and she didn’t want to be seen to be ungrateful to a US ally.) But she would absolutely not countenance that an American holiday ought to be for memorializing the dead of other countries.
She wore a lapel pin.
It was an extraordinary conversation.
Actually, it was originally “Decoration Day,” a holiday to honor the Union soldiers who died in the civil war.
Whatever. Have you noticed that we’re on the same wavelength? Writing about X and Memorial Day? Eerie, eh?
You’re writing about X?! I’m coming over.
I’ve always wondered what folks’ takes are on the lines about “noble Savage drum drum drum.” This is one of my favorite songs in the world, but I can’t help but worry that X is using racist depictions to degredate disco (punk’s greatest foe), but I’ve never read or heard anyone talk about other potential interpretations. Astronauts and cavemen make me think of synthesizers and heavy beats, (esp considering the Guthrie line), which is really the pot calling the kettle black considering X is an Americana rip-off (and my favorite at that). These couple lines have plagued me because this song is otherwise perfect, but it feels like exene and John are airing their beef about who gets airtime—and it sucks that it’s petty and racist. Thoughts?
You’ve been plagued by this issue? Can we trade inner demons?
You seem to think Exene is writing about herself and her own views because she is using the first-person point of view in the song. This is the modern take of illiterate social justice warriors. But let’s go with it, for the sake of argument. Bad, benighted, racist cunt Exene warns us she is a coward and American (“a North American that is”) and uses objectionable language to prove her point.
What is it she must not do?
Don’t expect art to be something other than what it is.
X is Americana rip-off? You don’t say.