I have heard “Come Sail Away” by Styx many times without paying much attention. Recently I was caught with nothing to do but listen. I was surprised how awkward the tempo change in the middle is.
Come Sail Away begins as an overacted opera with a poorly written libretto. It ends as mindless pop-rock with some bizarre references to angles and aliens. The two parts are different songs, with the only connection being that the first begins “I am sailing away”, and the second repeats “come sail away.” The transition is made by starting the second song before the first is over.
Listening reminded me of Salieri trying to find one of his songs the young priest would recognize. Salieri had been well thought of, his music was quite popular in his day, but quickly forgotten. He does find a song from his day the priest knows, but that was Mozart.
“Come Sail Away” is the type of song that is popular in its time because it is in the current fashion. But as they age, only the songs that defined the style remain fresh. The imitations go stale.
That this song is played at all is a product of radio stations programming very narrowly defined categories and having a lot of time to fill. To marketers, radio is a good way to reach the segment of the audience who finds the late ‘70s nostalgic.
In time, what was popular then will be less important than what is good now. And we will still hear songs recorded in 1977. “Come Sail Away” will not be one of them.
Friday, August 25, 2006
Thursday, August 10, 2006
Defending the country is more than just security
“If John Kerry would promise to fire Norman Mineta and start racial profiling at the airports, I would campaign for him. Unfortunately, like George Bush, Kerry doesn't travel commercial air with the little people.” Ann Coulter as quoted by Media Matters.org, 4/28/04
A number of pundits called for racial profiling at airports. And they did have a point. Systems of random checks that call for frisking old ladies clearly have room for improvement.
The other night though, I saw a movie which made me think about what America has not become. In V for Vendetta, we are shown a dystopian view of Britain ruled by a totalitarian regime elected by voters afraid of terrorist attacks. The movie is, in part, a criticism of the Bush administration. But after seeing the image of a country where the possession of a Qur'an can lead to a death sentence, I take comfort in how far away from that America is.
There have been countless times where President Bush said that we are at war against terror, not against Islam. Politicians, however, are not always known for speaking what they truly believe. Some people tried to prove Mr. Bush’s sincerity by pointing out that no one has killed more Muslims than Saddam Hussein. That is almost certainly true, but it doesn’t tell us anything about Bush’s intentions.
At a time when a lot of people were calling for increased scrutiny of Muslims at airports, George W. Bush stood by his travel secretary’s decision to not use racial profiling. Would racial profiling at airports turn us into a totalitarian regime? Of course not. But it says a lot that the administration never pushed for such a policy.
But maybe racial profiling just wasn’t a risk the President was willing to take. Maybe he stayed out of the fight because he didn’t want to make civil rights abuses a campaign issue in his reelection.
Let’s not forget the fight over the Dubai Ports deal this February. A company owned by the United Arab Emirates planned to buy a British company that controlled operations at 6 major US ports. People from both parties were doing everything they could to prevent an Arab company from managing American ports. The president said that he would not stop the deal, and would veto any legislation blocking it. In this situation, W stood against those who wanted to blacklist Arab Muslims in the name of security.
In the end, the company backed down from the pressure applied by Congress. They agreed to turn over operations at these ports to US companies.
This is not a review, but I do want to avoid leaving the impression that I am trying to say anything bad about V for Vendetta. I completely enjoyed it. While it did have messages it was trying to convey, the message never got in the way of the movie.
What I am saying, is that our President is not exploiting people’s fears of terrorism to promote bigotry. Both his words and his actions show this.
This morning our nation’s air security alert has been raised to red for the first time in response to a plot uncovered in England to blow up several planes bound for the US. This has led to much tighter security screening, and delays at airports in this country. I do not have any fear, however, that the White House’s response will make me regret my words.
Disclosure: I earn a commission if you buy from my Amazon links.
A number of pundits called for racial profiling at airports. And they did have a point. Systems of random checks that call for frisking old ladies clearly have room for improvement.
The other night though, I saw a movie which made me think about what America has not become. In V for Vendetta, we are shown a dystopian view of Britain ruled by a totalitarian regime elected by voters afraid of terrorist attacks. The movie is, in part, a criticism of the Bush administration. But after seeing the image of a country where the possession of a Qur'an can lead to a death sentence, I take comfort in how far away from that America is.
There have been countless times where President Bush said that we are at war against terror, not against Islam. Politicians, however, are not always known for speaking what they truly believe. Some people tried to prove Mr. Bush’s sincerity by pointing out that no one has killed more Muslims than Saddam Hussein. That is almost certainly true, but it doesn’t tell us anything about Bush’s intentions.
At a time when a lot of people were calling for increased scrutiny of Muslims at airports, George W. Bush stood by his travel secretary’s decision to not use racial profiling. Would racial profiling at airports turn us into a totalitarian regime? Of course not. But it says a lot that the administration never pushed for such a policy.
But maybe racial profiling just wasn’t a risk the President was willing to take. Maybe he stayed out of the fight because he didn’t want to make civil rights abuses a campaign issue in his reelection.
Let’s not forget the fight over the Dubai Ports deal this February. A company owned by the United Arab Emirates planned to buy a British company that controlled operations at 6 major US ports. People from both parties were doing everything they could to prevent an Arab company from managing American ports. The president said that he would not stop the deal, and would veto any legislation blocking it. In this situation, W stood against those who wanted to blacklist Arab Muslims in the name of security.
In the end, the company backed down from the pressure applied by Congress. They agreed to turn over operations at these ports to US companies.
This is not a review, but I do want to avoid leaving the impression that I am trying to say anything bad about V for Vendetta. I completely enjoyed it. While it did have messages it was trying to convey, the message never got in the way of the movie.
What I am saying, is that our President is not exploiting people’s fears of terrorism to promote bigotry. Both his words and his actions show this.
This morning our nation’s air security alert has been raised to red for the first time in response to a plot uncovered in England to blow up several planes bound for the US. This has led to much tighter security screening, and delays at airports in this country. I do not have any fear, however, that the White House’s response will make me regret my words.
Disclosure: I earn a commission if you buy from my Amazon links.
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