So this week I think the best video visually is Sting's "If you love someone set them free" as it uses a clever superimposition of the band members onto a performance room. However, some band members are fully present while others look like ghosts. Some are in colour while others are in black and white — all very interesting. A close second however is also U2 video, I still haven't found what I'm looking for which brings back fond childhood memories as it is filmed in the streets of Las Vegas.

The first time I ever linked this song to politics was when Ronald Reagan first came to power in the 1980s. The song for me captured the moment with its lines:

Well how do you plead An actor indeed Go re-learn your lines You don't know what you've done The finale's begun.

Reagan of course was an actor and when he came to power it felt that the cold war could erupt into a full nuclear conflict. Thankfully, this scenario was avoided and yet little did anyone know that Reagan was to set in motion 50 years of rapidly growing and unsustainable wealth inequality that would result in a US billionaire class and the top 0.1% controlling 13.5% of the nation's wealth while the bottom 50% controlled only a further 2.5% in 2024. So I write this post as Trump gets inaugurated for the second time in 8 years. It is incredible to me that someone as immoral and sociopathic as Trump could become President even once, let alone twice. And yet many historians see obvious parallels with past nation empires especially with the rise of the Caesars in the Roman empire. The pattern seems to always be the same. Too much wealth inequality where many people become desperate for a slice of the pie even though that pie is plentiful. The problem is a small oligarchy that hoards resource forcing many of their fellow citizens into poverty. The big mistake the USA and subsequently many Western nations made was to conflate the regulation of wealth distribution with egalitarianism or even socialism. The idea that there should be a good differential between the net worth of someone who has contributed much to society versus someone who has contributed little, makes complete sense. However, in such a world the poorest may only possess a small amount of capital whilst the richest might possess many millions. Let's say 50 million. Yet we do not live in a world like that. Instead we live in a world where there are now a substantial number who have 950 million more than the 50-millionaire. These individuals are hiding behind the traditional wealthy hoping that those who struggle to make ends meet do not differentiate between someone who has a personal fortune of 50 million versus someone who hoards a billion. The odd thing about Americans voting Trump into power is they think someone who is a billionaire is going to fix the system that creates billionaires. Obviously, such an idea is preposterous. So is there any hope? Well according to the historians, the current state of affairs is unstable. Wealth inequality like this will not last forever and it will be corrected in one of four ways:

1. A major conflict either a civil or international war.
2. A revolution.
3. A major catastrophe such as a pandemic or major natural disaster
4. Major political reform driven by strong leaders who forcibly pursue wealth redistribution to help correct the inequality

The 4^th option has happened in the USA before at the turn of the 20^th century in what was called the gilded age. Presidents like Roosevelt and Wilson introduced many reforms to control the burgeoning wealth of the aptly named robber barons. Let's hope the current problems plaguing the USA are corrected peacefully as they were at the turn of the 20^th century rather than by a revolution or civil war which would be catastrophic in a nation that is so awash with guns.

Never really understood why so many people hate Nickelback. I like this tune again because its lyrics tell a story. This film clip is clearly captured at one of their concerts by one of their fans on a low quality mobile phone. Yet what is impressive is how close their sound is to the original studio album performance. Always an impressive feat in my view because it shows the original album was not over-produced with auto-tune and other post production tricks.

A concert version

And here is the original

There is so much truth in the chorus line:

the more I know, the less I understand
all the things I thought I knew, I'm learning again.
I've been trying to get down, to the heart of matter
but my will get's weak and my thoughts seem to scatter
but I think it's about forgiveness, forgiveness even if, even if you don't love me anymore.

Enjoy the 12 string guitar.

I really love this song, the lyrics are so beautiful. The last verse is especially poignant:

Tears and fears and feeling proud
To say, "I love you" right out loud
Dreams and schemes and circus crowds
I've looked at life that way
Oh, but now old friends they're acting strange
And they shake their heads, they say I've changed
Well something's lost, but something's gained
In living every day
I've looked at life from both sides now
From win and lose and still somehow
It's life's illusions I recall
I really don't know life at all.

A classic rock song and great to dance to. Love the piano and guitar riff. ELO not the greatest band lyrically but a great band for producing some really rocky songs.

Well it is my lovely wife's birthday today and I have the perfect song for this day. "Happy Birthday Helen" by Things of Stone and Wood. Sadly, the audio quality of this video is very poor so I have put two versions of the song one so you can see the Aussie band members of Things of Stone and Wood performing, the other so you can hear the song with decent sound quality. It is always gratifying when one can find the perfect song for an occasion (slightly more aligned than the song I chose for our 20^th wedding anniversary (Covid Island Discs Day 26) 😀.

Video of the band performing but poor sound quality

Audio of song with no video

This song get's my vote for its musical and lyrical intensity. A very moving song about a very sad subject of the permanent breakdown of a father and son's relationship laced with permanent unforgiveness on the part of the father.