This is obviously a crash course in history. Descendents is a great band, and these lyrics are a great example of just how well punk lyrics can be built. This song talks about the good parts... and the bad parts... of American history, beginning with when 'we flipped our fingers to the king of England', when we rebelled against English rule and started a war known as the American Revolution. And then we built, beginning with the Constitution, a 'nation dedicated to liberty, justice and equality', though 'it doesn't look that way to you, it doesn't look that way to me', referring to when the 'all men are born equal' applied only to white men. It's the sickest joke I know too, Milo Aukerman. He then references three people- Ben Franklin, an inventor and politician, back when integrity was integrity, Mark Twain and Edgar Allan Poe were famous for their writing, and Walt Whitman was similar- though instead of being a humorist or writer he was a poet. Otis Redding and Duke Ellington, on the other hand, were very old musicians in the days of soul music. However, it's also the land of slaves and the Klan, a somewhat modern group of racist people who do terrible things. If you refer to another comment here, the Haymarket Riot was a riot (OBVIOUSLY) for workers' rights, and "Great Depression - economic crisis of the 30s, caused mass unemployment and poverty
Joe McCarthy - senator in the 1950s, fueled communist scare by accusing many people in the government and entertainment industry of being communists or communists sympathisers
Vietnam - long, pointless, terrible and losing war that brought huge losses on both sides and left many Americans with permanent emotional and physical damage" (because I'm too lazy to write all that down). And in the bridge, he clearly states that you gotta know the truth before you know that you have pride.
There it is! The entire American history, explained in a 2-minute punk rock song with a catchy as eff chorus and a great guitar solo, for dummies.
This is obviously a crash course in history. Descendents is a great band, and these lyrics are a great example of just how well punk lyrics can be built. This song talks about the good parts... and the bad parts... of American history, beginning with when 'we flipped our fingers to the king of England', when we rebelled against English rule and started a war known as the American Revolution. And then we built, beginning with the Constitution, a 'nation dedicated to liberty, justice and equality', though 'it doesn't look that way to you, it doesn't look that way to me', referring to when the 'all men are born equal' applied only to white men. It's the sickest joke I know too, Milo Aukerman. He then references three people- Ben Franklin, an inventor and politician, back when integrity was integrity, Mark Twain and Edgar Allan Poe were famous for their writing, and Walt Whitman was similar- though instead of being a humorist or writer he was a poet. Otis Redding and Duke Ellington, on the other hand, were very old musicians in the days of soul music. However, it's also the land of slaves and the Klan, a somewhat modern group of racist people who do terrible things. If you refer to another comment here, the Haymarket Riot was a riot (OBVIOUSLY) for workers' rights, and "Great Depression - economic crisis of the 30s, caused mass unemployment and poverty Joe McCarthy - senator in the 1950s, fueled communist scare by accusing many people in the government and entertainment industry of being communists or communists sympathisers Vietnam - long, pointless, terrible and losing war that brought huge losses on both sides and left many Americans with permanent emotional and physical damage" (because I'm too lazy to write all that down). And in the bridge, he clearly states that you gotta know the truth before you know that you have pride.
There it is! The entire American history, explained in a 2-minute punk rock song with a catchy as eff chorus and a great guitar solo, for dummies.