> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-lbo-talk at lists.panix.com
> [mailto:owner-lbo-talk at lists.panix.com]On Behalf Of Jeffrey St. Clair
> John Swenson (Rolling Stone critic, toured with LS)--
> That song was very easy to take a straightforward, glossy look at
> and think you knew what it meant. It was a much more complex song than
that. It
> only looks like an endorsement of Wallace. "In Birmingham, *they* love the
> governor." What he's saying about Watergate there is that he thinks
politics is totally
> corrupt.
The problem with being subtle in a rock song is that popular interpretation of such songs are pretty visceral - sort of the point of rock and roll. A reverse of the "Southern Man" misinterpretation is the reaction to "Born in the USA" which was easily taken as a refrain glorifying America. Both Chrysler and Ronald Reagan thought it would be a fine song to use in their commercials, without worrying about the irony.
An issue for political artists as well as political propagandists is what their responsibility is for the (mis)interpretation of their words and art.
-- Nathan Newman