By Tim Duffy
To celebrate the position of the President, as we do each February, is almost counter intuitive given the way our country has been founded and is run. In a way the President is the eternal American scapegoat. In a country founded on pushing out the old guard monarchy of England we tend to assume that systems rot from the top.
“No More Kings” was a classic School House Rocks short played on Saturday mornings starting in the 70′s and throughout the 80′s. The short was meant to teach you something while the Muppet Babies weren’t making you dumber. In the perpetually slacking but always capable hands of Pavement the song’s anti-authority air took on an even more present defiance.
The song functions like a small theater project about the founding of the USA might work. It lays out the story of our conquest of America, leaving out the mass slaughter of Native Americans, before going into the story of the American Revolution. When belted and squeaked by Stephen Malkmus the song refrain “I want No More Kings” feels not just savvy and cool in a referential way but almost impassioned. The band plods along with the weird and spacious arrangement of the song and makes it no less than one of their best songs ever.
Possibly Related Posts:
- Today’s “Best Song Ever”: Donna Summer “I Feel Love”
- Today’s “Best Song Ever”: Lou Reed “New York Telephone Conversation”
- Today’s “Best Song Ever”: Brian Eno “Here He Comes”
- Today’s “Best Song Ever”: Gang of Four “Anthrax”
- Today’s “Best Song Ever”: Nirvana “I Hate Myself And I Want To Die”
