The Day Pink Beat Bright Eyes

With Neil Young's upcoming political manifest against President Bush coming soon (read about that HERE at BV), I thought I'd highlight two interesting recent songs in the same vein. Bright Eyes is supposed to be the "new Dylan" and this generations protest/sincere folkie and he took a pretty good swing last year while on Jay Leno. He played a song called When The President Talks To God, which when preaching to the choir comes off as quite successful. Click HERE to view a video of the performance. That which weakens this songs however is the fact that it's very easily dismissed as crazy left wing liberal nutjob type of stuff by those who are on the other side. It's very black and white lyrically and the energy inside of the performance screams fury and anger. Bright Eyes wears a cowboy outfit to deliver his rant against the cowboy President in a feat of irony. Download the song below.

Then there is the pop singer with little credibility in the indie scene, Ms. Pink, and she actually manages to upstage Bright Eyes and most other folkies with a song targeting the President in a much simpler and more human way. She asks genuine questions, she doesn't attack blindly, she makes points. Line for line it's a hardhitting and real emotional inquiry. Sure it starts off sounding a little lame, especially the early background vocal, but listen to the full song and take in the words, and realize a song like this hits much harder and deeper than the Bright Eyes. This is a song that if the President heard it, might even trouble him and it might even make him think. It's much easier to dismiss Bright Eyes' song as some crazy talk. And sure artistically it might be more credible. But listen to the Pink song, view a live acoustic video HERE. The bridge is my favorite part. Bridges generally are though. Read Pink's lyrics behind the cut below.

Dear Mr. President
Come take a walk with me
Let's pretend we're just two people and
You're not better than me
I'd like to ask you some questions if we can speak honestly

What do you feel when you see all the homeless on the street
Who do you pray for at night before you go to sleep
What do you feel when you look in the mirror
Are you proud

How do you sleep while the rest of us cry
How do you dream when a mother has no chance to say goodbye
How do you walk with your head held high
Can you even look me in the eye
And tell me why

Dear Mr. President
Were you a lonely boy
Are you a lonely boy
Are you a lonely boy
How can you say
No child is left behind
We're not dumb and we're not blind
They're all sitting in your cells
While you pave the road to hell

What kind of father would take his own daughter's rights away
And what kind of father might hate his own daughter if she were gay
I can only imagine what the first lady has to say
You've come a long way from whiskey and cocaine

How do you sleep while the rest of us cry
How do you dream when a mother has no chance to say goodbye
How do you walk with your head held high
Can you even look me in the eye

Let me tell you bout hard work
Minimum wage with a baby on the way
Let me tell you bout hard work
Rebuilding your house after the bombs took them away
Let me tell you bout hard work
Building a bed out of a cardboard box
Let me tell you bout hard work
Hard work
Hard work
You don't know nothing bout hard work
Hard work
Hard work
Oh

How do you sleep at night
How do you walk with your head held high
Dear Mr. President
You'd never take a walk with me
Would you