Song of the Day 8/9: Neil Young, “Devil’s Sidewalk”

You’ve heard about Neil Young’s lawsuit against the Trump campaign over its use of two of Young’s songs at campaign events. Naturally, one of the tunes was “Rockin’ in the Free World,” the “Free World” being the preferred fascist/Republican term for the global American Empire. The other was much less familiar — “Devil’s Sidewalk” from Young’s tepidly received multi-media project “Greendale,” released in 2003. It’s a primitive blues stomp, rather generic, but some of the lyrics indicate either the people who chose the tune never heard them or are as clueless as the folks who thought Reagan should use “Born in the USA.” Consider these:

Some things are getting better
Other things a little worse
It’s a situation
Much like a curse

There’s a garden growing
And a million weeds
With no way of knowing
Who has done which deed

Funny, isn’t it, how dystopian lyrics can be repurposed so easily?