Don't Get Me Started / Ignorance Is The Enemy

Last week I visited a couple of my local used CD stores for the first time in a long, long time. Even so it was just to browse, I wasn't searching for anything in particular. I came across Rodney Crowell's The Outsider (Columbia, ©2005) for $3. I have many of Crowell's older releases, but I haven't been a completist collector of his work.

I gave the CD a quick listen on the store's sampling station and I liked it. I've since spun it a few times and I like it a lot more. Even the tracks that were just OK are now gaining appeal as well. But there were two songs, back to back, that put the CD immediately over the top for me, songs that when I heard them just completely grabbed me and I knew I HAD to have the disc for my collection.

There were also other tracks I liked a lot from the very start too, particularly "Dancin' Circles Round The Sun (Epictetus Speaks)", "Glasgow Girl", "Things That Go Bump In The Day" , and "Shelter From the Storm" (the Dylan song and the only tune on the album Crowell didn't write himself—and FYI Crowell gets some vocal assistance from Emmylou Harris on it). The first track, "Say You Love Me", is very good too, but it's a very close reprise of the lead song from his decade-old album Jewel Of The South (MCA, ©1995).

Anyway, now back to the two tracks I particularly want to highlight...

I don't necessarily go for "message" songs or songs that are just too topically heavy. I'm usually happy with just a bunch of good toe-tappers and don't necessarily need or want anything more than that. When it comes to songs with more serious content I think that typically any negative reaction of mine is when such songs are overly partisan politically (at least in MY perception anyway and especially when the partisanship is expressed in too negative fashion toward the non-favored side for my taste).

There are some obvious political references, particularly in "Don't Get Me Started" and at first I thought it was going to be way too politically oriented for my taste, but it quickly evolves to where I see the thoughts expressed more as (mostly) non-partisan observations eventually heading more towards universal truths. (Your opinion may differ, of course, but there's nothing inherently wrong with that.) Also, it's less politically driven when you realize that the narrator of that tune is just a guy ranting in a bar. Even though I don't drink and have rarely ever been in a bar in my life, I can still relate to the protagonist's general mood.

As for "Ignorance Is The Enemy" I especially like the quiet power of its verses as spoken by Emmylou Harris, John Prine, and then Crowell himself. I think the two songs together are a natural and perfect pairing. It's been a long time since I've heard a couple songs that have touched me as much as these two instantly did and continue to do so.

So finally for your own consideration here they are...



Don't Get Me Started
(written by Rodney Crowell)
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We ran into trouble scamming for oil
The whole Middle East is comin' to a boil
It's the Muslims and Kurds, Bedouin herds
Palestinians and Arabs and Jews in the news
It's too much to keep up with, it'll jangle your head
The whole situation's runnin' way in the red

I said don't get me started
I'll like as not bend your ear
Don't get me started
I just want to make one thing clear

I was born in America and I'm proud of that fact
I wish the rest of the world would get off our back
But these slick politicians, man, you've got to admit
Seem crazy as bedbugs and they don't give one whit
About a man on the street with his back to the wall
Who can't find a quarter for to make a phone call
Meanwhile back in Washington champagne will flow
Tell that to a homeless man with nowhere to go

I said don't get me started
I came into this bar to unwind
Don't get me started
I'll like as not speak my mind

The rich corporations have turned a deaf ear
They don't care who goes hungry, they've made that much clear
You see the trouble with people is we want to believe
But they can't turn a profit without tricks up their sleeves
It's the roofers and truckers, the working class suckers
The firemen and teachers, the soldiers and preachers
Who shoulder the blows, it comes and it goes
A six trillion dollar debt that you pay through the nose

I said don't get me started
I'm a drag when I've had a few drinks
And don't get me started
I don't care what anyone thinks
'Cause it makes me angry

East Timor's genocide to the core
The Indonesian legions come and give'em what for
When the coalition army doesn't come to your aid
You might as well face it, there's no money to be made
I had a dream last night I was Secretary of Defense
And I came to the conclusion war doesn't make any sense
Yeah, but nobody heard me when I tried to rescind it
There were too many people that just didn't want to end it

I said don't get me started
You never know when I might stop
Don't get me started
We both need to just let this thing drop
Don't get me started
Don't get me started, not now
Don't get me started
'Cause it makes me angry



Ignorance Is The Enemy
(written by Rodney Crowell)
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Oh Mother, Oh Father, in our time of fear
Grant us the wisdom your message for to hear
Send down your angel band to fill our hearts with power
Oh Mother, Oh Father, in our darkest hour

(Spoken by Emmylou Harris...)
Ignorance is the enemy and it fills your head with lies
It's the kind of bliss that can make you miss the very truth before your eyes
It's not who's right or wrong, weak or strong, black or white, you see
Ignorance is the enemy and it's keeping you from me

Forgive me all my pettiness, forgive me all my greed
Forgive me for I know not how to live this life I lead

(Spoken by John Prine...)
Ignorance IS the enemy, let's set the record straight
If history must repeat itself, why worry while you wait
It's a perfect blue and beautiful world you treat with such disdain
Ignorance is the enemy and it can only bring you pain

Forgive me all my vanity, forgive me my conceit
Forgive me when I'm crawling like a beggar at your feet

(Spoken by Rodney Crowell...)
Ignorance is the enemy and it wields a mighty sword
It can cut you down in a blaze of glory, it can nail you to a board
If mercy and compassion only had a chance it could fill these holes we've dug
But ignorance is the enemy and it's working like a drug

Oh Mother, Oh Father, in our time of fear
Grant us the wisdom your message for to hear
Send down your angel band to fill our hearts with power
Oh Mother, Oh Father, in our darkest hour