David Bowie - Running Gun Blues

Anti-War Song

Dachau blues those poor jews
Dachau blues those poor jews
Down in Dachau blues, down in Dachau blues
Still cryin' 'bout the burnin' back in world war two's

One mad man six million lose
Down in Dachau blues down in Dachau blues
Dachau blues, Dachau blues those poor jews
The world can't forget that misery

'N the young ones now beggin' the old ones please
T'stop bein' madmen
'Fore they have t' tell their children
'Bout the burnin' back in World War Three's

War One was balls 'n powder 'n blood 'n snow
War Two rained death 'n showers 'n skeletons
Danced 'n screamin' 'n dyin' in the ovens
Cough 'n smoke 'n dyin' by the dozens

Down in Dachau blues
Down in Dachau blues
Three little children with doves on their shoulders
Their eyes rolled back in ecstasy cryin'

Please old man stop this misery
They're countin' out the devil
With two fingers on their hands
Beggin' the Lord don't let the third one land

On World War Three
On World War Three

Isis - All Girl Band from the 70s

Truer Today than it was in 1969 - Steppenwolf - Monster

Once the religious, the hunted and weary
Chasing the promise of freedom and hope
Came to this country to build a new vision
Far from the reaches of kingdom and pope
 

Like good Christians, some would burn the witches
Later some got slaves to gather riches

But still from near and far to seek America
They came by thousands to court the wild
But she just patiently smiled and bore a child
To be their spirit and guiding light

And once the ties with the crown had been broken
Westward in saddle and wagon it went
And 'til the railroad linked ocean to ocean
Many the lives which had come to an end
 

While we bullied, stole and bought our homeland
We began the slaughter of the red man

But still from near and far to seek America
They came by thousands to court the wild
But she just patiently smiled and bore a child
To be their spirit and guiding light

The blue and gray they stomped it
They kicked it just like a dog
And when the war was over
They stuffed it just like a hog

And though the past has it's share of injustice
Kind was the spirit in many a way
But it's protectors and friends have been sleeping
Now it's a monster and will not obey

The spirit was freedom and justice
And it's keepers seem friendly and kind
It's leaders were supposed to serve the country
But now they won't pay it no mind

'Cause the people got fat and grew lazy
Now their vote is like a meaningless joke
You know they talk about law, about order
But it's all just an echo of what they've been told

'Cause there's a monster on the loose
It's got our heads into a noose
And it just sits there watchin'

Our cities have turned into jungles
And corruption is stranglin' the land
The police force is watching the people
And the people just can't understand

We don't know how to mind our own business
'Cause the whole worlds got to be just like us
Now we are fighting a war over there
No matter who's the winner, we can't pay the cost

'Cause there's a monster on the loose
It's got our heads into the noose
And it just sits there watching

America where are you now?
Don't you care about your sons and daughters?
Don't you know we need you now
We can't fight alone against the monster

America where are you now?
Don't you care about your sons and daughters?
Don't you know we need you now
We can't fight alone against the monster

America where are you now?
Don't you care about your sons and daughters?
Don't you know we need you now
We can't fight alone against the monster

America where are you now?
Don't you care about your sons and daughters?
Don't you know we need you now
We can't fight alone against the monster
America

Zappa - Dumb All Over, A Little Ugly on the Side

The Famous Deju Vu Album Cover Photo

The photo story

The backyard where the Déjà Vu photo was taken The owner of the house further writes to 4WaySite: "My parents somehow got in with the local rock & roll network, as our house was also leased by members of The Grateful Dead, and Dave Mason. Steve Miller lived up the hill from us for a time during the late 70’s. Neil Schon and another Journey band member also lived nearby. My parents bought the property in the early 60’s (c. 1962) as a second home and winter rental property. I can remember my father talking about the lease for the house to CSN. He had a 'NO CROSBY' clause built into the lease preventing David from setting foot on the property. Crosby had a reputation for trashing places and my father wanted to keep the house in tact. Well, as you can see, that clause was ignored. However, all our living room furniture was removed and placed in the open air car port during the time they were there. Needless to say the furniture did not do well in the car port."

Graham Nash: "We tried to look like we thought our ancestors might have looked one hundred years ago". 

After visiting a costume store, they congregated in Crosby's backyard. Each member had been transformed: Crosby into Buffalo Bill Cody (complete with rifle), Stills into a Confederate soldier, Nash into a pipe-smoking worker, Young a cagey gunfighter. Again the owner of the house: "The chest used as a prop in the photo, belongs to us and is still in the house."

Gun Street Girl - Tom Waits

Falling James in the Tahoe mud
Stick around to tell us all the tale
Well he fell in love with a Gun Street girl
And now he's dancing in the Birmingham jail
Dancing in the Birmingham jail


He took a hundred dollars off a slaughterhouse Joe
Brought a brand new Michigan twenty-gauge
He got all liquored up on that road house corn
Blew a hole in the hood of a yellow Corvette
A hole in the hood of a yellow Corvette


He bought a second-hand Nova from a Cuban Chinese
And dyed his hair in the bathroom of a Texaco
With a pawnshop radio, quarter past four
He left for Waukegan at the slamming of the door
Left for Waukegan at the slamming of the door


I said John, John, he's long gone
Gone to Indiana, ain't never coming home
I said John, John, he's long gone
Gone to Indiana, ain't never coming home


He's sitting in a sycamore in St. John's wood
Soaking day-old bread in kerosene
Well he was blue as a robin's egg and brown as a hog
He's staying out of circulation 'til the dogs get tired
Out of circulation 'til the dogs get tired


Shadow fixed the toilet with an old trombone
He never get up in the morning on a Saturday
Sitting by the Erie with a bull-whipped dog
Telling everyone he saw, They went that-a-way, boys
Telling everyone he saw, They went that-a-way


Now the rain's like gravel on an old tin roof
And the Burlington Northern pulling out of the world
Now a head full of bourbon and a dream in the straw
And a Gun Street girl was the cause of it all
A Gun Street girl was the cause of it all


Well he's riding in the shadow by the St. Joe ridge
Hearing the click-clack tapping of a blind man's cane
He was pulling into Baker on a New Year's Eve
One eye on a pistol and the other on the door
One eye on a pistol and the other on the door


Miss Charlotte took her satchel down to King Fish Row
Smuggled in a brand new pair of alligator shoes
With her fireman's raincoat and her long yellow hair
Well they tied her to a tree with a skinny millionaire
They tied her to a tree with a skinny millionaire


I said John, John, he's long gone
Gone to Indiana, ain't never coming home
I said John, John, he's long gone
Gone to Indiana, ain't never coming home


Banging on the table with an old tin cup
Sing I'll never kiss a Gun Street girl again
Never kiss a Gun Street girl again
I'll never kiss a Gun Street girl again


I said John, John, he's long gone
Gone to Indiana, ain't never coming home
I said John, John, he's long gone
Gone to Indiana, ain't never coming home

Put the Guns Aside

Lou Reed - R.I.P.

The Who - Bargain - Who's Next

Happy 73rd Birthday John Lennon - October 9, 1940

Happy Birthday Giuseppe Verdi

Quadrophenia - Drowned and Bell Boy

Captain Beefheart Memorial Jack-o-lantern

I know it's a bit early for Halloween and even earlier for the 2013 Night of the living Van Vliet Festival, but here it is anyway. via Dangerous Minds

 

Frank Zappa - Mom and Dad

George Duke R.I.P.

Get Up Stand Up Stand Up for Your Rights

Opportunity - Joan Armatrading

He owned a gun
the caliber escaped me
but I noticed straight away
it made me itch

We Can Be Together - The Jefferson Airplane

Young people today didn't grow up with this. No wonder they have no sense of direction.

We can be together
Ah you and me
We should be together
We are all outlaws in the eyes of America
In order to survive we steal cheat lie forge fuck hide and deal
We are obscene lawless hideous dangerous dirty violent and young
We should be together
Come on all you people standing around
Our life's too fine to let it die and
We should be together
All your private property is
Target for your enemy
And your enemy is
We
We are forces of chaos and anarchy
Everything they say we are, we are
And we are very
Proud of ourselves
Up against the wall
Up against the wall(motherfucker)
Tear down the walls
Tear down the walls
Come on now together
Get it on together
Everybody together
We should be together
We should be together my friends
We can be together
We will be
We must begin here and now
A new continent of earth and fire
Tear down the walls
Come on now gettin' higher and higher
Tear down the walls
Tear down the walls
Won't you try

Green Day - Someone Kill the DJ

Does music like this add to the problem of gun violence? Yes.

Does censoring it make sense?  No.

The problem with censorship is it's too difficult to agree on the acceptable line beyond which things need to be banned.  Unless we keep those prohibited items to an absolute minimum, we run the risk of harming people's right to free speech.

This does not apply to gun availability, however. Proper gun control laws would do nothing more than inconvenience lawful gun owners. The gain, in preventing many of the unfit and irresponsible from acquiring guns would far outweigh that inconvenience.

What's your opinion?  Please leave a comment.