#War Anthem Records

[themetalwanderlust]

T(h)rash Talk With Long Stretch and Jeff - Summer, 2023 [Featuring: V.H.S., Rotten Sound, Necronomicon, Extermination Order, Children of the Reptile]

For those with a long memory, you might remember that Jeff, our little metal Jack Russell used to frequent the pages of TMW providing unique thoughts on different albums he has taken the time to listen to. He’s been a bit quiet lately due to his busy schedule of dog park visits, butt sniffing, and every now and again having a brouhaha with a canine twice his size. Although he doesn’t see himself…

[dorothylarouge]

US Presidents as Dril Tweets

George Washington: another day volunteering at the betsy ross museum. everyone keeps asking me if they can fuck the flag. buddy, they wont even let me fuck it

John Adams: "ah boo hoo hoo i want to post Foul comments to content leaders" Fat Chance, Dimwit. I will annihilate you under bulwark of the Law and God.

Thomas Jefferson: Q: If your post was proven by a counsil of wise men to be racist, or bullshit, would you bar it from the record? A: I do not delete my posts

James Madison: (sniffing a crumpled up one dollar bill i found on the floor of a dog kennel) ah.. thats greenbacks baby

James Monroe: for decades i have traversed the unforgiving mountains and rivers of south america, hoping to catch a glimpse of the fabled "ass downloader"

John Quincy Adams: "This Whole Thing Smacks Of Gender," i holler as i overturn my uncle's barbeque grill and turn the 4th of July into the 4th of Shit

Andrew Jackson: handing Faves over to my enemies is FRAUD !! base, contemptible FRAUD!

Martin Van Buren: Food $200

Data $150

Rent $800

Candles $3,600

Utility $150

someone who is good at the economy please help me budget this. my family is dying

William Henry Harrison: (spends all of 7 seconds skimming some blog posts) yep. just as i knew all along. having pnuamonia is good

John Tyler: fuck "jokes". everything i tweet is real. raw insight without the horse shit. no, i will NOT follow trolls. twitter dot com. i live for this

James K. Polk: thhere is no such thing as charisma, and art is fake. the only metrics by which we must determine the worth of a man are Strength and Wisdom

Zachary Taylor: the doctor reveals my blood pressure is 420 over 69. i hoot & holler outta the building while a bunch of losers tell me that im dying

Millard Fillmore: trying to heal..... please donate to my go fund me... $10 will make me less racist... $100 will make me extremely less racist...thank you...

Franklin Pierce: blocked. blocked. blocked. youre all blocked. none of you are free of sin

James Buchanan: #NationalGirlfriendDay please cherish your gal's.. in honor of us, the single Boys who must sacrifice all companionship to #CarryTheBrand...

Abraham Lincoln: unloading an entire belt of ammo at me with a minigun or some such device will now get you "Blocked"

Andrew Johnson: who the fuck is scraeming "LOG OFF" at my house. show yourself, coward. i will never log off

Ulysses S. Grant: i regret being tasked the emotional burden of maintaining the final bastion of morality and Nice manners in this endless ocean of human SHIT

Rutherford B. Hayes: using the toilet when i hear Our national anthem start to play. i do what i must. i stand tall in complete agony; as shit runs down my leg,

James A. Garfield: too much truth in such little time. feeling the heat cominh down to silence me... signing off........ for now

Chester A. Arthur: i WILL wise the fuck up. i WILL super charge my content for 2017. i WILL get blue check mark

Grover Cleveland: the way i see it, people who come on here and submit content that is not up to par, could possibly be considered the "Villains" of this site

Benjamin Harrison: i help every body, im not racist, i keep myself nice, and when i ask for a single re-tweet in return i am told to fuck off, fuck myself, etc

William McKinley: boy oh boy do i love purchasing large amounnts of Fool's Gold. wait a minute... fools gold fucking sucks. this stuff is no good..!! Fuck !!!

Theodore Roosevelt: IF THE ZOO BANS ME FOR HOLLERING AT THE ANIMALS I WILL FACE GOD AND WALK BACKWARDS INTO HELL

William H. Taft: ah.. the perfect Souffle! cant wait to dig in to t(*EVERY PIPE IN MY HOUSE EXPLODES AT THE SAME TIME, COVERING ME IN SHIT AND BOILING WATER*

Woodrow Wilson: the conflicted supersoldier stares over the horizon as he smokes a cigarette. "war is the most fucked up thing ever." he takes a sip of beer

Warren G. Harding: somebody please Bribe me

Calvin Coolidge: aggressively joyless oaf hhere. painfully obnoxious respect demander checkign in. extremely dim witted frowning man looking for pals

Herbert Hoover: it is really quite astonishing that I have yet to win The Lottery, given how good I am at selecting six numbers and saying them out loud

Franklin D. Roosevelt: ive never heard of this ���europe” but it sounds like a big bunch of shit to me

Harry Truman: everybody wants to be the guy to write the tweet that solves racism once and for all because it would look good as hell on a resume

Dwight D. Eisenhower: my "F*&k It!! Let's Go Golfin" t-shirt maintains a tenacious stranglehold on my life. after 1,125 days of Golf my body is twisted, deformed

John F. Kennedy: when you do sutuff like... shoot my jaw clean off of my face with a sniper rifle, it mostly reflects poorly on your self

Lyndon B. Johnson: incredibly handsome , charismatic famous boy credited with ending income inequality after saying that slumlords should be called "dumblords"

Richard Nixon: i attribute the complete failure of my brand to the actions of detractors, oor my “trolls”, as it were, as well as my own constant fuckups

Gerald Ford: shutting computer down until the shitty moods & attitudes can fuck off., if you need me ill be on my other computer, sititng 60° to my right

Jimmy Carter: i warnned you all that bad things would happen if you kept letting your wives wear jeans. AND NOW LOOK! the damn gas prices are up again

Ronald Reagan: spend a lot of time thinking about how sometimes even war criminals can be heroes sometimes... Dont like it? Click the unfollow buttobn

George H.W. Bush: just thought off an idea i believe to be bad ass. lets find the address of the leader of isis, and mail him/ her pieces of our SHIT

Bill Clinton: were at the point now, that when i offer to impregnate my girl followers, people assume my motives are sexual. disgusting, grow the fuck up,

George W. Bush: friday night gathering up together a big pile of things i like to respect (flags, crucifixes ,etc) and just roll around in it ,give kisses,

Barack Obama: my IQ has increased 10 points ever since i stopped tollerating people mucking about, on the time line

Donald Trump: THERAPIST: your problem is, that youre perfect, and everyone is jealous of your good posts, and that makes you rightfully upset.

ME: I agree

Joe Biden: I will shut the fuck up , IF , it will restore the Harmony. I will get on my knees like a dog and make that sacrifice, for the sake of Calm

[notebookmusical]

“In light of everything that’s happened in the past three months alone, here’s some incredibly valid reasons to be pissed off at Taylor Swift, or simply not like her — as someone who loved her, and loved her music. First and foremost, Taylor Swift is personally burning a hole through the ozone with the amount of CO2 she uses. That’s not even the main point of this video; but this is a graph from 2022 of how much CO2 she produced of her 170 private jet flights, versus the average person. She has spent 70 grand on jet fuel alone. Taylor Swift, alone has used 170 tons of CO2 in the past 3 months. The average person only burns like, 16 tons. That’s not even the main part of this video. The main point of the video is the fact that she has not spoken up about Palestine. And the reason that is so fundamentally frustrating is that Taylor Swift has influence. Quote Brittany Broski, when she also didn’t speak up about Palestine — “if you have a platform, and you have people listening, you have to use it.” It’s criminal to not use it, and Taylor Swift uses it. This is from September 2023. Record-breaking registration numbers from one Instagram post. Literally stating, saying “I’ve been so lucky to see so many of you guys at my US shows recently. I’ve heard you raise your voices, and I know how powerful they are. Make sure you’re ready to use them in our elections this year!” They had a 72(%) increase in 18-year-old registrations. When it comes to Palestine, she’s completely silent. And now that it’s somewhat more socially acceptable to attend Pro-Palestine events, she’s been quietly going with Selena Gomez, but I for one, think that your Instagram is perhaps the best asset you have. If not, money. And I’m sure in a couple months, we’ll learn about how Taylor Swift was quietly setting up foundations for pro-Palestine, and that she was always for the cause and she’s always supported them, but all it takes is one fucking Instagram post. Especially when Israel Palestine is fundamentally a war of narratives. It’s whose story do you believe, despite the mounting evidence that proves that Israel has continuously been doing ethnic cleansing and genocide. They are still maintaining this narrative that they are not doing that. And all Taylor Swift has to do is say “hey, 22 thousand deaths in 3 months? The most in any modern war? This doesn’t seem right.” I don’t even want her to be that leftist or radical, but literally just to ask the question to her largely American audience, when US has bypassed Congress twice to sell millions in arms aid to Israel.  Just for her to be like “Should that many kids be dying, perhaps?” The bar is on the floor, but she still refuses to do it. And the reason why Taylor Swift in particular, not because of the influence that she has and not because of the platform that she has, but why her in particular, is because the IDF continues to use her songs. I know it was a public trend, but the fact that so many occupation forces felt comfortable and confident  to make like, dance edits to Taylor Swift’s music. I think it’s so important how an artist’s music is used because when the republicans wanted to use Eminem’s 8 mile track, he was like “absolutely fucking not, I do not give you consent to do that, and I do not associate with your politics. Don’t do that.” I feel like she should know that her music is being used as the anthem of the occupation forces as they go and bomb civilians. Her, and other artists like her, like Beyonce, who showed her film in Israel, and they’re all like dancing and singing, and saying “you’re not going to break my soul”, whilst they continue to bomb the shit out of civilians have said nothing. And I hope, as I’ve demonstrated in the video, for the people who are going to be like “What’s Taylor swift going to do? She’s not a politician.” Be serious. Be serious. She has a fucking chokehold on at least a billion people. She could’ve said and done way more than what she’s done, and also the CO2 levels." (from: this tiktok*)

* i tried to transcribe the tiktok since tiktok wasn't showing the captions for me but if i misheard anything please let me know!

[courtofowlsbutpoor]

my ideal ending for the stormlight Archive

Quick disclaimer: I have not read wind and truth or rhythm of war so no spoilers for either please! This is also completely for fun and in NO way my actual opinion on the ending of Arc 1.

Odium: You’re right Kaladin. I DONT CARE ABOUT THE PARSHMEN, I NEVER HAVE. I WOULD KILL A MILLION PARSHMEN BEFORE I ADMIT DEFEAT. Kaladin: (Slow clap) That is so great to hear. Odium: What? Kaladin: (Holds up recording device) And you’re whole army just heard it too. Cut to Parshmen beating up the voidbringers.

Odium: NO! NOOOOOO!

He lunges at Kaladin but at the last second Venli flies in and punches him. Venli: THAT WAS FOR ESHONAI! (Punches him again) and that one was just for fun. Odium is put in super mega jail by Hoid.

Cut to huge party in Kholinar palace. Kaladin: We did it guys! We beat Odium! Lopen: And made it back just in time for some Chouta! Everyone: (Brief pause) Oh Lopen!

everyone laughs. Kaladin walks over to Shallan.

Kaladin: Soooo, Shallan. How are Veil and Radiant feeling.

Shallan: Heh. I think it’s just Shallan now. pan down to a drawing of Veil, Shallan, and Radiant all holding hands. Kaladin: Oh. That’s great!

Shallan: By the way, there’s something I needed to talk to you about. Me and Adolin, we’re going to stay together. And I love you. But just as a friend.

Kaladin laughs.

Kaladin: That’s alright Shallan. Besides, I might be seeing someone else. He looks over at Syl and winks at her.

Shallan laughs and walks away. Szeth walks up to Kaladin. Szeth elbows Kaladin.

Szeth: Lady troubles huh? Kaladin: Oh shut up. What are you going to do now, “Assasin in white”? Szeth: I don’t know Kaladin. But I do need to make up for my crimes. (This is subtle foreshadowing for the Szeth spin-off show.)

Meanwhile Shallan is talking Adolin.

Shallan: Adolin, what’s wrong? Adolin: It’s nothing Shallan. Just… my father. Why did he have to sacrifice himself? Suddenly, Dalinar bursts through the window and lands in the middle of the party.

Dalinar: Come on! You didn’t think you could get rid of me that easily did you?

Adolin: Dad?!? But you died! Dalinar: Well, I always was one for a dramatic entrance!

Adolin: How did you survive the fall off of that cliff!?!

Dalinar: Well, I thought I was dead for sure! But then she found me! he points to Lift , who’s eating food. Lift: What can I say? He seemed like he had nice food! Everyone laughs as “Party rock anthem” comes on. Everyone starts dancing, expect for Moash, who is still in a jail cell. Kaladin: (Unlocks the door) Come on Moash, get on the floor!

Moash: Really? After everything I’ve done, you still can forgive me? Kaladin: Yeah Moash. I can.

Moash hits the floor and does some epic dances. Shallan: Come on Jasnah! Give us some bars! Jasnah: Hmph. How unbecoming. But if you insist. Jasnah goes to the dj table and sings an epic rap.

Shallan: Wow Adolin. We’ve had a crazy life. Someone should document all this.

Adolin: What, like a book? Shallan: No, more an… Archive.

Adolin: Well, I heard they can use Stormlight to record things. Maybe you could use that. Shallan. Hmm… The Stormlight Archive. I like the sound of that.

Everyone sings together as the camera pans out. We end on a small hill. Rock takes a sip of stew.

Rock: Airsick Lowlanders. Maybe they aren’t so bad.

Rock turns to us, and winks at the camera.

THE END

Post- Credits scene:

Hoid: Odium is gone. But it’s clear. The humans need to be stopped, or they will destroy all we have built. So. Are you with me?

The Lord Ruler, Tonk Fah (holding Nightblood) whoever the villain of Wax and Wayne is, Hrathen, and Sadeas all walk out from the shadows. They turn to the back. TARAVANGIAN(!) looks up.

Taravangian: heh. Let’s do it. Hoid smiles. Cut to black.

HOID WILL RETURN IN “DRAGONSTEEL”

god I put too much effort into this

[cmspeirs]

Band of Brothers Headcanons: What music they’d be listening to

(+ Playlists and absolutely historically inaccurate)

A/N: Hey! So here’s my first BoB headcanon - I hope you enjoy it! I’m sorry if this is rather short. Let me know if you’d like to see other characters in those or have any requests :) I also spent way too much time making several playlists for them, I’ll link them for you at the end if you wanna listen to them!

{Dick Winters}

• Classical. Music.

• Can list you every thing that Bach or Vivaldi ever published, but with the backstories

• I just picture him closing his eyes and sighing very loudly whenever he listens to something he loves

• Will dance to old Jazz music until the sun comes up, and says the day after that it was a really wild night

• Also listens A LOT to Lana (would never admit it)

• Secretly gossips and argues over her online. Tries to keep it a secret but his username is “DickDelRey101”

{Lewis Nixon}

• Classic Rock all the way

• I’m talking Bob Dylan, Rolling Stones, ACDC…

• “Paranoid - Black Sabbath” was his wedding song

• When he gets home he falls into the old chair next to the record player with a bottle of whiskey already waiting

• He’s always like “I need this music to calm down, don’t you understand???” and absolutely means it

• Drives the car only to listen to “Enter Sandman” and wear sunglasses while he does (windows all the way down, volume max)

• 100% certified Dad music

{Ronald Speirs}

• This mans music is all over the place

• Just like my feelings for him lol

• But mostly listens to a lot of old music???

• Like 40s to 60s, also a big fan of Elvis and Johnny Cash

• Literally has pictures of them hanging in the doorway

• Always says he doesn’t care about things like music, but will make a playlist for every one he meets with songs that remind him of them

• I swear to everything music would be one of his love languages - he’d absolutely remember every song you ever liked

• Turns the radio louder randomly to songs with the explanation “saw you smiling to that with your morning coffee last week”

{Donald Malarkey}

• Listens to a whole lot of sad songs - and I’m talking about gut wrenching, laying on the bathroom floor kind of sad

• Also somehow into Grunge??

• At least three Radiohead songs in every one of his playlists

• The Smiths is his happy music

• When his favorite Pink Floyd Record is on he listens to it all day. He runs to push the play button again every time it stops.

{Joe Toye}

• 100% an alternative Rock / Nu Metal kind of guy

• Would have Deftones playing all day

• Also listens to Bloodhound Gang a lot lol (The song “Jackass” is his anthem!!!)

• Just imagine him sitting in the garage with Guarnere, drinking beer while an old Limp Bizkit vinyl is on

• He thinks it’s the greatest thing of all time that bands began to combine Rap with Hardcore

• In terms of that - definitely a fan of Deez Nuts, Hollywood Undead or Linkin Park

• “Band of Brothers - Deez Nuts” is literally his favorite song

{George Luz}

• Unironically listens to the Soundtrack of Oklahoma

• It just puts a smile on his face every time he hears it - takes him back to the news of the musical still on broadway back in war

• Also loves & defends Tom Lehrer to death

• He knows every song from him by heart and always sings the loudest

• Will randomly sing his favorite songs throughout the day, which makes everyone shake their head but deep down they all love it

• He’s almost afraid of sad music

• He aspires to be Ricky Nelson in another life

{Eugene Roe}

• Similar to Malarkey, but doesn’t cry to those songs

• Just sits in silence with a cigarette between his fingers, staring into the nothingness while thinking about his time with Easy

• “Feels like a movie” - songs were made for him

• When he listens to Elton John or Billy Joel you know he’s in a happy mood

• Is also the anonymous person Winter argues with online about Lana

• DickDelRay101 replied: Are you clinically insane? How could you deny it’s her best album? Did you even listen to it?

• Absolutely knows that it’s Winters and accidentally called him Sir when he replied (several times)

{Joe Liebgott}

• Hear. Me. Out. He’s a pop punk & grunge boy all the way

• Has a big collection of thrifted vinyls (if you can’t find him, search at the next thrift market)

• Puts on Nirvana or the Offspring and just lays on his bed while smoking a whole pack of cigarettes

• Room full of ripped band posters and at least one guitar (but can’t play, although he says he can)

• 10/10 would’ve lived in a skatepark in another life

• Also really into Old school HipHop, loves the Beastie Boys

• Accidentally went to a New Kids on the Block concert once. Said he hated it but stayed until the very last minute.

{David Webster}

• Would also listen to classical music

• But it would just be for people to think he’s very intellectual, actually can’t stand it

• In reality really into slow and soft love songs

• Listens to Vera Lynn on a daily basis and happily admits that he cries to her songs. Always speaks of “Our Vera.”

• When he listens to “There’ll always be an England” he suddenly gets an English accent.

• The Fleetwoods is his favorite band

• Tries to listen to Pop Punk because he knows Joe loves it, but he absolutely hates it

• “There’s no emotion Joe!!”

• “For fucks sake, Web, there’s all the goddamn emotion!!?!!”

{Bull Randleman}

• Hard Rock, can’t say more

• Also 100% certified Dad music. He’s the one who visits Nixon once a week to play poker and smoke cigars while listening to his records

• Is the guy at a concert who will accidentally throw you to the ground while in a mosh pit

• But will absolutely make everyone stop so he can pick you up again

———

Link to the Ronald Speirs playlist:

Link to my profile - the other playlists are on there (still updating them regularly):

[carolinelayne]

Harry Potter Headcanon (1)

James wrote a song called “Harry’s Victory.”

James Potter learned to play the piano beautifully and compose music at an early age. Classical music was a tradition passed down through the Potter family.

When James and Lily were in hiding with Harry, James composed songs on the family piano to keep himself sane.

James was so worried about the prophecy and what it meant for his beloved son’s future… The words “neither can live while the other survives” haunted him.

One day, in his despair over what could be his son’s fate, James wrote a song called “Harry’s Victory.” It was filled with equal parts hope and grief and it said everything that words couldn’t.

He handwrote the sheet music and scribbled at the very bottom of the last page “I believe in my son.”

The summer after the Battle of Hogwarts, the Ministry finally turned over the possessions found in the rubble of the Potter House to Harry. The sheet music was amongst the recovered items.

Hermione played the music for Harry and the Weasley family on the piano. It was the most moving experience of Harry’s life and he treasured the gift from his father forever.

A recording of “Harry’s Victory” was released to the Wizarding World that fall and it went down in history. It was an anthem… to remember the First and Second Wizarding Wars, to honor those who had fallen, and to celebrate the victory that had saved them all.

[ohdorothea]

This tournament is being run by and for queer fans so please keep that in mind! Homophobes will be blocked on sight <3 More polls here and more info and lyrics for the songs under the cut!

The question is which song is queerer to you! Queerer can mean whatever you want it to mean; you might consider a song queer because you think it was written that way, or because of Swiftian lore. It might be queer to you because of how you relate it to your own life. Maybe you think from a purely literary standpoint the lyrics have queer themes; maybe you're just thinking about vibes!!!

If you’d like to send in interpretations or propaganda for a specific song you can send them to my inbox! All interpretations are welcome and let’s be open and kind in response to all interpretations <3

🫶🫶🫶

Clean lyrics

The drought was the very worst

Ah-ah, ah-ah

When the flowers that we'd grown together died of thirst

It was months, and months of back and forth

Ah-ah, ah-ah

You're still all over me

Like a wine stained dress I can't wear anymore

Hung my head as I lost the war

And the sky turned black like a perfect storm

Rain came pouring down when I was drowning

That's when I could finally breathe

And by morning, gone was any trace of you

I think I am finally clean

There was nothing left to do

Ah-ah, ah-ah

When the butterflies turned to dust that covered my whole room

So I punched a hole in the roof

Ah-ah, ah-ah

Let the flood carry away all my pictures of you

The water filled my lungs, I screamed so loud

But no one heard a thing

Rain came pouring down when I was drowning

That's when I could finally breathe

And by morning, gone was any trace of you

I think I am finally clean

I think I am finally clean

Ah-ah-ah-ah, ah-ah

Said, I think I am finally clean

Ah-ah-ah

Ten months sober, I must admit

Just because you're clean don't mean you don't miss it

Ten months older, I won't give in

Now that I'm clean I'm never gonna risk it

The drought was the very worst

Ah-ah, ah-ah

When the flowers that we'd grown together died of thirst

The rain came pouring down when I was drowning

That's when I could finally breathe

And by morning, gone was any trace of you

I think I am finally clean

Rain came pouring down when I was drowning

That's when I could finally breathe

And by morning, gone was any trace of you

I think I am finally clean

Finally clean

Think I'm finally clean

Ah-ah, ah-ah

Think I'm finally clean

🫶🫶🫶

New Romantics lyrics

We're all bored, we're all so tired of everything

We wait for trains that just aren't coming

We show off our different scarlet letters

Trust me, mine is better

We're so young, but we're on the road to ruin

We play dumb, but we know exactly what we're doing

We cry tears of mascara in the bathroom

Honey, life is just a classroom

Ah-ah-ah-ah, ah, ah

'Cause, baby, I could build a castle

Out of all the bricks they threw at me

And every day is like a battle

But every night with us is like a dream

Baby, we're the new romantics

Come on, come along with me

Heart break is the national anthem

We sing it proudly

We are too busy dancing

To get knocked off our feet

Baby, we're the new romantics

The best people in life are free

We're all here, the lights and noise are blinding

We hang back, it's all in the timing

It's poker, he can't see it in my face

But I'm about to play my ace

We need love, but all we want is danger

We team up and switch sides like a record changer

The rumors are terrible and cruel

But, honey, most of them are true

Ah-ah-ah-ah, ah, ah

'Cause, baby, I could build a castle

Out of all the bricks they threw at me

And every day is like a battle

But every night with us is like a dream

Baby, we're the new romantics

Come on, come along with me

Heart break is the national anthem

We sing it proudly

We are too busy dancing

To get knocked off our feet

Baby, we're the new romantics

The best people in life are free

So come on, come along with me

The best people in life are free

Please take my hand and

Please take me dancing and

Please leave me stranded, it's so romantic (It's so romantic)

Ah-ah-ah-ah, ah, ah

Oh, 'cause, baby, I could build a castle

Out of all the bricks they threw at me

Every day is like a battle

But every night with us is like a dream

'Cause, baby, I could build a castle (Castle)

Out of all the bricks they threw at me

And every day is like a battle

But every night with us is like a dream

Baby, we're the new romantics

Come on, come along with me

Heart break is the national anthem

We sing it proudly

We are too busy dancing

To get knocked off our feet

Baby, we're the new romantics

The best people in life are free

[beardedmrbean]

BERLIN (AP) — Germany's navy says there was "no deeper message” in the choice to blast the famed Imperial March — Darth Vader's theme song in the “Star Wars” films — from one of its warships as it cruised down the River Thames through London this week.

A bystander captured the spectacle Monday on video, which quickly went viral on social media. The song selection made waves across Europe. The warship was in the area for training and dropped anchor in London for a normal supply stop, the German navy said.

"The commander can choose the music freely," the navy said in a statement Thursday. “The choice of music has no deeper message.”

Other video recorded the warship, the Braunschweig, playing “London Calling,” the 1979 hit from British rock band The Clash, upon its arrival in London. The song's title is drawn from the BBC World Service station identification in World War II and its lyrics include the lines, “London calling to the zombies of death/Quit holding out and draw another breath.”

The Braunschweig is named for a city in Germany’s Lower Saxony — an area far, far away from the United Kingdom — and part of the country’s newest class of ocean-going corvettes.

For its departure, a tugboat pulled the warship down the river near Tower Bridge as sailors — without any lightsabers, sadly — stood on the deck. This trip was the Braunschweig's second to the British capital, the Germany Embassy in London wrote on the social media platform X.

The warship's commander “is a big ‘Star Wars’ fan and an admirer of the legendary musical scores of John Williams,” the embassy said in a statement. “He chooses a different Williams tune whenever his ship is visiting a foreign harbor.”

There's no word whether Anakin Skywalker himself was aboard.

[fdelopera]

When the Jews of Bergen-Belsen concentration camp were liberated on April 20th 1945, they sang Hatikvah. At the end of the anthem, British Army Chaplain Rabbi Leslie Hardman, cried out, “Am Yisrael Chai – the Children of Israel still live!” (x)

Am Yisrael Chai is a very old phrase. Hundreds of years, at least. It states that the Jewish people are still living, despite every attempt that Romans, Christians, and Muslims have made to mass murder us over the last 2000 years of world history.

We are still here.

The Jewish people are still here, despite every attempt that has been made to culturally appropriate our history, our culture, and our religion.

When you read the "Old Testament," you are reading OUR Tanakh. You are reading a JEWISH sacred text. When you read about Joseph, and Moses, those are JEWISH figures. They are Yoseph (יוסף), and Moshe Rabbeinu (משה רבנו). Moshe was not a Christian, and he was not Muslim. Moshe was a Jew. Never forget that.

Am Yisrael Chai: The Story Behind The Bergen-Belsen Recording

by Milad Doroudian (x)

"Am Yisrael Chai!", shouted Rabbi L.H. Hardman who had finished conducting the first pre-Shabbat sermon that many of the Bergen-Belsen camp survivors had not seen for 6 years. Although weakened by hunger, disease, and the death of their loved ones, on the 20th of April, 1945 many whose spirits still remained strong began to sing “Hatikvah” ("The Hope"), so the world can hear that they were there, and they survived.

There is a very good chance that you have heard this emotional recording, but have you ever stopped to truly consider the story behind it? Despite the sadness, yet immense hope in the voices of the singers: Who were they? How did they get there? And perhaps most importantly: What happened to them?

These questions are almost impossible to answer as history does not afford us many recorded accounts. Yet, this was the case in 1945. After the death of 6 million Jews in Europe, and an atrocious war which took the lives of 65 million. Confusion was normalcy. It was those amid the confusion such as Patrick Gordon Walker, a reporter for the BBC, who wanted to record the stories of what happened that managed to collect the few stories that we have left today. Nothing could have prepared him, or the soldiers who liberated the camp days earlier, for the horrors that lay inside.

The Bergen Belsen camp , which was established in 1941 in the middle of Germany served as a death camp for Jews, homosexuals and political prisoners. The exact number of how many people died during those years is not known, however when the British and Canadian 11th armoured Division liberated it, they found 60,000 people, most of which were extremely emaciated and suffering from typhus.

Walker entered the camp five days after its liberation to find people who could no longer possibly function because of hunger, only to be greeted with the sounds of “God Save The King” played on an detuned piano in order to honour the British and Canadian liberators. People were joyous, despite their condition and the fact that many were still dying. In fact, they sang, and talked with their liberators who gave them food, and comforted them by reminding them that they were human beings.

“What I saw there will always haunt me” said Walker in his famous broadcast, and this was the case as there were truly more dead in the camp than living. One soldier’s account of how he saw a mother and child dying of sickness right in front of him, was only one of hundreds when the soldiers first found the abandoned camp.

Yet, perhaps what is more interesting is not simply the survivors who sang the Hatikvah (The Hope) after liberation, but those who did when they were being led to their deaths. The account of Jan Michaels, a Polish Jew who saw a group of Jewish Czechs singing the future national anthem of Israel, while they were on their way to the gas chambers. Michaels said that the SS guards could not stop them from singing, as their hope was unstoppable even in the face of certain death.

Yet, why is this so important to remember?

However melancholic it is to remind ourselves of these horrible stories, it is essential that we remember all those who have perished, as well as those who lived on to sing the Hatikvah after their liberation, as it is was their hope to be reunited with those they loved in Eretz Tsion. Now, today, Israel still faces enemies who want its people abolished, but that will never again be possible.

To answer the first questions:

Who were they? They were just like you and I. How did they get there? Through unbelievable xenophobia, hatred and ignorance. What happened to them? They live on in all Jewish hearts, and more importantly they live on through Israel.

[mariacallous]

The pictures are haunting. There are portraits of Ukrainian men and women who have spent months and years in Russian captivity: soldiers, civilians, paramedics and volunteers. All experienced torture and brutal treatment. Many carry physical scars from their time as inmates. They are among the prisoners of war swapped since 2014, when Vladimir Putin began his Ukraine invasion, with a covert takeover in the east.

In 2019, the Ukrainian photojournalist Zoya Shu began photographing those freed from Russian detention. Over five years, she spent time with former prisoners of war (PoWs) in their homes, talking to them about their life stories and listening to their harrowing accounts of beatings and other forms of daily abuse.

“They suffered. I see them not as victims but as survivors. What they experienced is horrendous,” she says.

Some of those she photographed have terrible wounds. In 2014, Russian “separatist” fighters carved a swastika on the back of a local man, Bogdan Sergiets, in the eastern city of Donetsk. They accused him of supporting Ukraine and being a “Nazi”. Another photo is a portrait of Aiden Aslin, a British volunteer captured in April 2022 while fighting for Ukraine. He and his fellow British prisoner Shaun Pinner, who were both threatened with execution, say they were beaten, stabbed with knives and electrocuted.

Other wounds are less conspicuous. Many prisoners, both men and women, said they were subjected to sexual violence and rape. In Russia and occupied areas of Ukraine, interrogators used a wind-up military field telephone to administer electric shocks, attaching crocodile clips to genitals and nipples.

“There is physical and psychological trauma,” says Shu. “It’s difficult to deal with, and profound. It takes a long time to heal.”

Another torture method is starvation. One former prisoner of war, Borys, said he lost 45kg (99lb) during two years in various camps: “I got very thin. When I was released I was so weak I couldn’t put my leg on to a step.”

Borys says a fellow inmate was so emaciated he became unable to walk and “went mad”, adding: “He couldn’t lift his arms. He stopped eating. They took him away. We don’t know what happened [to him].”

Borys says his captors hit him with plastic pipes and shocked him with stun guns. This was done in a corridor, where there were no CCTV cameras to record the abuse. One day, his guards said his situation would improve if he gave an interview to a Russian propaganda TV channel. They also tried to “re-educate” him.

“They loved to teach us about ‘history’ – we were ‘fascists’. They told us Ukraine was always a part of Russia and didn’t exist,” Borys says.

Other ex-prisoners said they were made to sing the Russian national anthem and recite patriotic poems and songs from Russia. “One goal is to destroy Ukrainian identity,” Shu says, adding that a soldier from western Ukraine who could not speak Russian received extra punishments.

“There is a pattern of constant and systemic violations [of human rights],” Shu says, calling this “state policy”.

Some former detainees have successfully rebuilt their lives. Others remain haunted by their experiences and suffer from depression and panic attacks. According to Kyiv’s Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War, 3,405 people have been returned from captivity, including 95 PoWs on 17 July. Tens of thousands of Ukrainians, military and civilians, are believed to remain in Russian jails.

The exact tally of PoWs is unknown. The figure includes about 1,500 soldiers captured in May 2022 when the garrison defending the Azovstal steelworks in Mariupol surrendered. The Kremlin refuses to give a comprehensive list of the people it holds, adding to the agony of families whose loved ones went missing in action.

Shu is critical of international organisations that help detainees. In her view, they have failed to pressure the Kremlin to improve dire conditions for prisoners and to end widespread abuse.

“Where is the Red Cross? Where is the UN? Where is everybody?” she asks. “There doesn’t seem to be much activity or urgency. The level of brutality and torture in Russian prisons requires immediate action.”

[posttexasstressdisorder]

Wednesday, 12-11-24, 2pm Pacific

Aaaaaaand a good afternoon to all, Mr. Baggins here, back with our Afternoon Stack of Classic Wax! Today I've set the dial on my Wayback Machine to 1970, not just because it was a great year for the music, but because we are gonna do another little deep-dive, this time, with one of my all-time favorite bands from the '70s, WAR! We first heard of them as the unique-sounding backup band for Eric Burdon's 1970 hit "Spill The Wine"...with the percussion, and that organ flourish and bad-ass drumming, I was hooked! I was eleven when it came out and it is STILL one of my favorite songs!

The story was that Burdon had collapsed on-stage from "an asthma attack" while on tour with them and dropped out mid-tour, leaving them to do the rest of the tour and their massive career on their own, which they did quite handily, going on to become one of the BIGGEST bands of the '70s. Their first sans-Burdon single, All Day Music, became an instant Top 40 hit. The blend of Afro and Latino sounds along with their undeniable ability to generate a groove set them apart from any other band at the time. There is a certain kind of "south texas" feel to their music, so much so that when I first heard this song, I thought they were a San Antonio band, because the SA radio station I listened to from 120 miles away played them a lot.

The next single, Slippin' Into Darkness (issued in early '72), went Gold and cemented their fusion of Latin and Afro and Pop/Rock as "the sound" in everybody's heads. I remember this song blasting out of radios everywhere!

Their next single went all the way to Number 7, the title cut from their magnum opus album, The World Is A Ghetto, set them firmly in the rock/pop/soul pantheon. Recorded and issued in late 1972.

The album gave us another couple of bad-ass hits: the next single was Cisco Kid, was almost a Number 1...it got all the way to Number 2! It's also one of the songs that made me think they were a Texas band (plus their album cut "southern part of texas"). I was actually surprised to find out they were from Long Beach!

The next single quickly became one of my favorite songs of all time; it got all the way to Number 7, another top ten tune that I remember being on the radio ALL the time! Another one issued in '72 but a hit into the next year.

Their next hit, Me and Baby Brother, was also ubiquitous. That really is one of the things I remember about them: all these songs are so uniquely THEM, i have a hard time separating them out by year in my head, it's like their music was just all One Really Groovy Year! This was also recorded in '73 and became a hit in '74.

Their next single was a lot more "pop", it got all the way to Number 6 on the chart, and was an anthem of sorts for that odd, odd, ODD period that was the middle of the '70s.

Their next hit was a return to their trademark sound, and one of their biggest hits, going all the way to Number 7.

Their next single would be their last really big hit, Summer. It was one of those songs that defined my teenage years...it was '76, I had just bought my '69 Mustang fast back, and really did used to go "ridin' 'round town with all the windows down, 8-track playin' all your favorite sounds..."

And that wraps up today's Afternoon Stack of Classic Wax! I hope you've enjoyed our timewarp back to the '70s and one of the biggest bands of the decade! Mr. Baggins signing off for now, I'll be back at 7pm with a set to soothe our achin' nerves and help ease us all into a good night.

Until then, be kind, babies, be kind.

Baggins out.

[inaccuratelybiblicalangel]

Full Lana Del Rey Playlist :

( Lmk if i missed anything ) ( in no particular order)

1. Kill Kill

2. Queen of the Gas Station

3. Oh Say Can You See

4. Gramma (Blue Ribbon Sparkler Trailer Heaven)

5. For K, Pt. 2

6. Jump

7. Mermaid Motel

8. Raise Me Up (Mississippi South)

9. Pawn Shop Blues

10. Brite Lites

11. Put Me in a Movie

12. Smarty

13. Yayo

14. Born to Die

15. Off to the Races

16. Blue Jeans

17. Video Games⁹

18. Diet Mountain Dew

19. National Anthem

20. Dark Paradise

21. Radio

22. Carmen

23. Million Dollar Man

24. Summertime Sadness

25. This Is What Makes Us Girls

26. Ride

27. American

28. Cola

29. Body Electric

30. Blue Velvet

31. Gods & Monsters

32. Bel Air

33. Burning Desire

34. Cruel World

35. Ultraviolence

36. Shades of Cool

37. Brooklyn Baby

38. West Coast

39. Sad Girl

40. Pretty When You Cry

41. Money Power Glory

42. ***ed My Way Up to the Top

43. Old Money

44. The Other Woman

45. Honeymoon

46. Music to Watch Boys To

47. Terrence Loves You

48. God Knows I Tried

49. High by the Beach

50. Freak

51. Art Deco

52. Burnt Norton (Interlude)

53. Religion

54. Salvatore

55. The Blackest Day

56. 24

57. Swan Song

58. Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood

59. Love

60. Lust for Life

61. 13 Beaches

62. Cherry

63. White Mustang

64. Summer Bummer

65. Groupie Love

66. In My Feelings

67. Coachella – Woodstock in My Mind

68. God Bless America – And All the Beautiful Women in It

69. When the World Was at War We Kept Dancing

70. Beautiful People Beautiful Problems

71. Tomorrow Never Came

72. Heroin

73. Change

74. Get Free

75. Norman F***ing Rockwell

76. Mariners Apartment Complex

77. Venice Bitch

78. F*** It I Love You

79. Doin’ Time

80. Love Song

81. Cinnamon Girl

82. How to Disappear

83. California

84. The Next Best American Record

85. The Greatest

86. Bartender

87. Happiness is a Butterfly

88. Hope Is a Dangerous Thing for a Woman Like Me to Have - But I Have It

89. White Dress

90. Chemtrails Over the Country Club

91. Tulsa Jesus Freak

92. Let Me Love You Like a Woman

93. Wild at Heart

94. Dark But Just a Game

95. Not All Who Wander Are Lost

96. Yosemite

97. Breaking Up Slowly

98. Dance Till We Die

99. For Free

100. Text Book

101. Blue Banisters

102. Arcadia

103. Interlude – The Trio

104. Black Bathing Suit

105. If You Lie Down With Me

106. Beautiful

107. Violets for Roses

108. Dealer

109. Thunder

110. Wildflower Wildfire

111. Nectar of the Gods

112. Living Legend

113. Cherry Blossom

114. Sweet Carolina

115. The Grants

116. Did You Know That There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd

117. Sweet

118. A&W

119. Judah Smith Interlude

120. Candy Necklace

121. Jon Batiste Interlude

122. Kintsugi

123. Fingertips

124. Paris, Texas

125. Grandfather Please Stand on the Shoulders of My Father While He’s Deep-Sea Fishing

126. Let the Light In

127. Margaret

128. Fishtail

129. Peppers

130. Taco Truck x VB

131. Young and Beautiful (Demo)

132. Black Beauty

133. Florida Kilos

134. Behind Closed Doors

135. So Legit

136. Riverside

137. You Can Be the Boss

138. Kinda Outta Luck

139. Velvet Crowbar

140. Wait for Life

141. I Talk to Jesus

142. The Lullaby

143. Summer of Sam

144. Jump (Demo)

145. Hollywood's Dead

146. Maha

147. Queen of Disaster

148. My Best Days

149. Life is Beautiful

150. Gramma (Blue Ribbon Sparkler Trailer Heaven) (Demo)

151. Burning Desire (Demo)

152. In the Sun

153. Butterfly

154. X-Cops

155. Planet of the Apes

156. Red Hot

157. Afraid

158. Tropico (Demo)

159. Chuck's in Love

160. The Other Woman (Demo)

161. Flipside

162. Queen of the Gas Station (Demo)

163. Run With Me

164. Old Money (Demo)

165. The Big Bad Wolf

166. I Will Wait

167. Stars in the Sky

168. Alligator

169. So Strange

170. Dancing with the Devil

171. Wildflower

172. Pretty Little Miss

173. F*** You (Lana Del Rey)

174. GO GO Dancer

175. Beautiful Player

176. This is what makes us girls (Demo 2 & 3)

177. Meet me in the pale moonlight

178. Boarding school

179. Ridin (ft. Asap Rocky)

[black-metal-artists]

🌍 1914: Blackened Death/Doom Metal from the Trenches ⚔️

From Lviv, Ukraine, 1914 channels the horrors of World War I into powerful, war-themed metal. Signed to Napalm Records, they deliver crushing anthems of trench warfare, gas attacks, and survival.

🎟️ UPCOMING TOUR 🎟️ Don’t miss their explosive live performances—check out the tour pics and grab your tickets now!

📸 Follow for updates and merch.

#1914Band#BlackenedDeathMetal#DoomMetal#NapalmRecords#metaltour2025

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Richard Luscombe at The Guardian:

The telephone line was a little fuzzy, and the voice on the end gravelly from several days of Covid isolation. Yet the poignancy of the message, and the moment itself, could not have been clearer: “I’m watching you, kid. I love you,” the speaker said. Joe Biden’s warmhearted call to his vice-president, Kamala Harris, at the Democratic party’s campaign headquarters in Delaware on Monday marked a generational shift in US politics, a symbolic passing of the torch from parent to progeny.

In terms of the 2024 presidential election race it was also a defining moment. Harris, a former prosecutor, state attorney general, California senator, and for three and a half years the 81-year-old Biden’s White House understudy, was appearing for the first time as her party’s preferred new candidate, less than 24 hours after her boss’s stunning announcement that he would not seek a second term of office sent a seismic shock across the country. There followed what by any metric could be called a whirlwind week on the campaign trail in an extraordinary month in American history already notable for the attempted assassination of former president Donald Trump, the Republican party’s candidate for the 5 November election.

By Wednesday, Harris was addressing an historically Black sorority in Indianapolis as the Democratic presumptive nominee, having secured the support of enough delegates at the party’s national convention in Chicago next month to clinch the nomination. It was the same day as Biden gave an emotional, nationally televised address from the White House explaining his decision to step aside “in defense of democracy”. “I revere this office, but I love my country more,” he said, urging the country to stand behind Harris. One by one, other heavyweight Democratic figures had stepped up to endorse her, culminating on Friday with the outsized backing of Barack Obama. The former speaker Nancy Pelosi, Hillary Clinton, all 23 of the party’s state governors, and elected officials from the most junior Congress members to Hakeem Jeffries and Chuck Schumer, respectively the House minority leader and Senate majority leader, also gave their approval. “We are not playing around,” Harris told supporters at the sorority gathering in Indiana on Wednesday.

“There is so much at stake in this moment. Our nation, as it always has, is counting on you to energize, to organize, and to mobilize; to register folks to vote, to get them to the polls; and to continue to fight for the future our nation and her people deserve. “We know when we organize, mountains move. When we mobilize, nations change. And when we vote, we make history.” It was a rousing speech from a politician who only three days previously was still in a supporting role, despite weeks of swirling speculation about Biden’s future following his disastrous debate performance against Trump in June. But things moved swiftly once the president’s decision to step aside was announced on Sunday afternoon. The Biden campaign apparatus, and election war chest of almost $100m (£77.6m), became the property of a new entity called Harris for President (Republicans have vowed to challenge the funds transfer in court).

[...] Fundraising operations cranked up, pulling in an all-time record $81m for any 24-hour period in presidential campaign history, a windfall for the newly branded Harris Victory Fund that surpassed $130m, mostly from small or first-time donors, by Thursday night. Seizing on enthusiasm from younger voters that polling found was conspicuously absent for Biden, or the 78-year-old Trump, Harris’s team also released to social media its first campaign video. Beyoncé’s 2016 hit Freedom, the unofficial anthem of Harris for President, provided the soundtrack for a message countering what it says was Trump’s “chaos, fear and hate” vision for the country. [...]

Harris has enormous appeal with generation Z, noted by backing from numerous youth organizations, including March for Our Lives, the student activist group formed in the aftermath of the 2018 mass shooting at a high school in Parkland, Florida. There could have been no better illustration than the declaration on X/Twitter by the British singer Charli xcx that “kamala IS brat”. Viewed by more than 53 million people, the simple message encapsulating a pop culture lifestyle delighted the younger generation and confounded their elders in equal measure. “You just got to go listen to that Charli xcx album and then you’ll understand it,” Florida’s Maxwell Frost, the first gen Z member of Congress, told CNN.

“Whether it’s coconut trees or talking about brat or whatever, the message is getting across to tens of millions of young people across the entire country, and across the entire world, and that’s really inspiring.” Wrongfooted by Biden’s abrupt exit, and alarmed by polls showing Harris gaining ground or even surpassing Trump in popularity, the former president’s campaign scrambled to find attack lines for their new opponent. At a rally in Charlotte, North Carolina, on Wednesday, Trump tested insults including calling Harris a “radical left lunatic” and “the most incompetent and far-left vice-president in American history”. Republican party acolytes have also been busy with racist attacks, accusing Harris, who has Black and Asian heritage, of being “a DEI [diversity, equity and inclusion] hire” or “unqualified” for the presidency.

Last Sunday afternoon at 1:46PM EDT/12:46PM CDT, President Joe Biden revealed the decision to step aside from running again on X (formerly Twitter). Nearly a half-hour later, he announced that Kamala Harris would be his preferred successor as the Democratic nominee.

Over the last week, Harris has broken fundraising records left and right, and energized a demoralized Democratic Party to levels not seen since the day Trump lost in 2020 or even the Obama era to volunteer.

#Harris2024 #Harris47 #YesWeKam #Momala #DefeatTrump

[olderthannetfic]

I know this is only marginally related, but the anon post about dating your boss in the military raising eyebrows and people's prioritization in shipping wars made me immediately think of "In The Navy" by Village People and of "YMCA" (because my brain thinks since YMCA has cheeky subtext and is considered a gay anthem if I'm not misremembering, In The Navy might have some cheeky subtext, too), and it reminded me of the musical Hair and within it of the song "Hair" in which Berger is asked if he's gay (supposedly because of his long hair and homophobic stereotypes IIRC?), which I thought was a reference to fraternization regulations (due to working with a lot of other guys I guess?) and to homophobic regulations (if I haven't misunderstood it, specifically the "Don't ask, don't tell" policy?), and it reminded me of the songs "Black Boys/White Boys" which always seemed a little tongue-in-cheek about attraction between military personnel to me (and only partially subtext, some of it seems to downright be text with no subtlety found, now that I'm rewatching the scene from the film lol). It's been years since I've been to the musical though, so my memory probably forgot 99% of the musical. Gotta watch the film some time.

(BTW I'm not from the USA or an English-speaking country, so I'm not very familiar with US American laws and military culture stuff or with US American LGBT+ history and culture, though I am even more unfamiliar with it in my country apart from a few things because I'm from germany and I know for example that gay people were also targeted and murdered by the nazis - one thing that comes to mind immediately is "Aimée & Jaguar", which is a film based on a book that's about the actual lives of two real people and which I recommend watching very much, though you might want to prepare yourself for seeing horrifying violence and for crying a lot - but I don't know much more about other things in german LGBT+ history, which now makes me pretty sad... Then again, I only realized I was bi less than 10 years ago when I learned about the existence of the term bisexuality, so it's possible that I've just somehow managed to overlook tons of things I've heard and read and that they never registered in my brain, which is very likely TBH.)

Sorry for babbling in your inbox, I shall be off to research more queer history.^^

--

I guess YMCA doesn't literally say "Stay there to suck cock", but it's still sung by a bunch of dudes in intentional camp stereotype outfits. There's subtext and then there's those pieces of art that are like 99% subtext with one tiny fig leaf of text as cover.

Germany had such an interesting history immediately prior to all that death, Magnus Hirschfeld and his Institut für Sexualwissenschaft being particularly obvious examples. Most of the research materials and art from that era were destroyed, but a few things escaped, including a copy of Anders als die Andern. Good luck researching, nonnie. Germany actually has a lot that was once recorded compared to many countries/societies even if it was systematically purged. It was the birthplace of modern sexology, after all.

[soisaidfine]

Ethel Cain: "“if you could have dinner with anyone dead or alive blah blah blah” 1980s bruce springsteen"

"It’s really a last gasping breath of innocence from a rocker who has embraced adulthood. No Surrender,” became a restless farewell."

Dave Marsh: Bruce Springsteen, 'No Surrender'

"“No Surrender” emerges as (barely) updated Sixties trash rock, far from the crisp electronics of the other Born in the U.S.A. tracks: Thunderous drums and surging washes of guitar support a vocal chorus straight off a 1965 Searchers’ album. The song’s declaration of faith in the transformative power of rock and roll struck some as naive, which was fair enough. The song was written as a character study but was clearly an intimate portrait of Springsteen’s own values. It’s really a last gasping breath of innocence from a rocker who has embraced adulthood. But juxtaposed with the newer sounds and curdled optimism of “Bobby Jean,” Springsteen’s other recent song, “No Surrender,” became a restless farewell, mingling a sure knowledge of the inadequacy of idealism with a stubborn refusal to renege on ideals. In that way the song resembles not “Bobby Jean” but “Born in the U.S.A.” “Born in the U.S.A.” is the anthem of a man who has surrendered to adulthood; “No Surrender” outlines the convictions that sustained him long enough to make that decision. Once that connection is made, it seems not only sensible but inevitable that these characters “learned more from a three-minute record than we ever learned in school.” And it’s the very vividness of his teenage recollection that makes Springsteen believable in the final verse, where he sums up his rock and roll dream:

'Now on the street tonight the lights grow dim The walls of my room are closing in There's a war outside still rag You say it ain't ours anymore to win I want to sleep beneath Peaceful skies in my lover's bed With a wide open country in my eyes And these romantic dreams in my head'

Brash as it is, “No Surrender” is perfectly confident as it lays out a purely “childish” set of values and acknowledges their continuing currency in adulthood."

Bruce Springsteen & Brian Fallon (The Gaslight Anthem): No Surrender, London Calling: Live In Hyde Park, 2009