Department Of All-Too-Convenient Irony
Let's play a game.
Earlier today, I pilloried Susan Lenfestey for her crabby, hectoring take on people daring to enjoy the one life they have, while she sits, stewing with political rage while on her "vacation".
Lenfestey, along with her husband John, a former Strib editor, is a very wealthy woman; the couple has donated more to political campaigns in the past two years than I have spent on my mortgage in the same time. They are, to say the least, well-off. One wonders how - does the newspaper business pay that well?
Well, anyway, even though the regal couple spends as much in a year as an immigrant making $7 an hour will earn working on a roofing crew, she excoriates the wealthy.
Here's where the game starts.
Lenfestey said:
These sailors come ashore with an all-too-familiar swagger of privilege, claiming dehydration and sexual deprivation from their weekend ordeal on the open water...these guys have free Bacardi rum and a whole slew of sturdy Michigan Girls Gone Wild, bare midriffs and breasts billowing like spinnakers, to slake their various thirsts.
And then - irony of ironies - Lenfestey notes:
As I write I can hear them partying on the lawn of the hotel below...The band is playing an old Edgar Winter rock song called "Free Ride." Well, that's over.
The
irony of this random happenstance floored me this morning.
But then I thought - why not?
I'm going to catalogue lists of other perfectly ironic songs for situations. Feel free to join me in the comments. Yes, even you, Angryclown.
We'll follow the format: "Situation" - Song playing on radio/band at time.
Here we go:
"I was taking my kid to a movie at Block E, in Amy Klobuchar's Minneapolis, and a couple of gang-bangers pulled a gun on me, held it to my spouse's head, and told us to clean out our account via ATM. Ironically, the overhead speaker was playing I Fought The Law by Bobby Fuller!"
"I was standing in line at the License Bureau, and this rich hag Lenfestey was standing in front of me castigating the woman behind the counter for not wearing a swatch of Red on May 1. So I slipped on my IPod - and what should come up but Miss Gradenko by The Police!"
"I was stuck in an elevator that stopped between floors in the IDS, and there was this rich couple behind me. And the dessicated husk woman kept saying "The whole world is like a stopped elevator, as long as Bush is in office! And if the cable breaks and the elevator falls 40 stories and we die in horror and pain, it'll be no worse than living under Bush!" And then someone's ring-tone came on, and what should it be but Suicide Solution by Ozzy Osbourne?"
You get the idea.
Posted by Mitch at
July 27, 2006 12:55 PM
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Gee, I thought Republicans were in favor of people making money. Or is the phony populism thing a pose you only take on to trash non-right-wingers?
Posted by: angryclown at July 27, 2006 11:40 AMOK... this isn't a song but a commercial and it happened after the Challenger blew up in 1986.
At the time, there was a commercial for the Burget King Whaler running. In it, there was a shot of wide open water and there were people falling from the sky into the water followed by some dumb tagline like everyones falling in love with the Whaler or some such nonsense.
I worked nights back then and I was watching the shuttle launch live and this flight was really a big deal because it was the first flight with a civilian, Christa McAuliffe joining the crew. Of course saw it when it blew up on launch. I remember there was nonstop coverage but the very first commercial they finally went to was the BK Whaler commercial - with the people falling from the sky.
I don't recall ever seeing the commerical after that.
Posted by: Doug at July 27, 2006 11:51 AMOooops, angryclown once again falls into the trap (except, I'm starting to think he's doing it on purpose) of conveniently ignoring half of what is said in order to mock the other half. That's good comedy! Well, good in a "Big Momma's House II" sort of way.
Angry, the reason it's stupid is, this is a limousine liberal we're talking about, the kind who wears her hatred of rich folks on her designer-clad sleeve. Mitch has made that clear.
Posted by: Brian Jones at July 27, 2006 12:04 PMOh, and sort of on-topic:
I was having reception trouble on my car radio the other day when the radio station started playing Tool's new song. I asked my son, "Is that Tool?" His response: "Either that, or something's wrong with your radio."
Posted by: Brian Jones at July 27, 2006 12:07 PMClown’s got you there, Mitch. Stop posing as a phony populist.
As for Lenfesty, she didn’t dig deep enough. From Edgar Winter’s site:
Edgar Winter’s hit song “Free Ride” is currently being featured in radio and TV ads promoting CITGO’s Great Gas Giveaway. . . Representatives from CITGO’s marketing department said they chose the song because it fit well with the idea of CITGO giving away gas to help people get where they’re going this summer and because of the song’s instant recognition and iconic cultural status.
And who owns CITGO? Venezuela! A country run by a social-ist! Obviously the song applies to the “Free Ride” promised the population by unsustainable social programs. Before Venezuela bought Citgo, though, it was purchased by Occidental Petroleum, which was founded by Soviet tool Armond Hammer, and had tight ties to the Gore family. Wikipedia reports that Al Gore has no direct control over the shares, so I guess his “Free Ride” from the inherited wealth is over. Zing! Makes you think, doesn't it?
Gosh, I should write for the paper.
(Note: had to hypenate "social-ist" to defeat the spam filter. Argh.)
Posted by: Lileks at July 27, 2006 12:10 PMOh right, "Brian Jones." That would be true if I held the self-serving prejudice you far-right kooks have that well-off Democrats are necessarily hypocrites.
Maybe if Mitch supported the assertion with a spreadsheet or a phony e-mail or something.
Posted by: angryclown at July 27, 2006 12:11 PMLileks proposed: "Gosh, I should write for the paper."
Excellent idea - I'm told you're funny. No evidence of that in this post, mind you, but I assume you don't want to waste your best stuff on a bunch of open-mike night drunks.
Posted by: angryclown at July 27, 2006 12:26 PM"bunch of open-mike night drunks."
...and that heckler in the third row who needed to be cut off about five drinks ago.
Posted by: mitch at July 27, 2006 12:34 PM"...the self-serving prejudice...that well-off Democrats are necessarily hypocrites."
No, 'clown. Not "Well-Off Democrats". Susan Lenfestey.
She rankles at the sight of people enjoying a vacation on Mackinaw Island, from her persective...on vacation on Mackinaw Island.
Huh?
This, along with favoring policies that will keep all us middle-class peasants securely in the middle, where we belong.
What's not to love?
Posted by: mitch at July 27, 2006 12:45 PMMitch replied: "...and that heckler in the third row who needed to be cut off about five drinks ago."
Angryclown doffs his cone-shaped hat in appreciation of a well crafted insult.
Posted by: angryclown at July 27, 2006 01:05 PMSurely a fez is, at best, a cone-segment-shaped hat.
Posted by: Brian Jones at July 27, 2006 04:26 PMBrian Jones:
"Surely a fez is, at best, a cone-segment-shaped hat."
Indeed it is, but don't call A.Clown "Shirley".
Posted by: Badda-Blogger at July 28, 2006 09:30 AMThis Susan Left-testy? Sorry, I mean Lenfestey.
http://www.womensenews.org/images/ci/Susan-Lenfestey-1496.jpg
Uh, no... that is Left-testy (or left-testi).
Posted by: Badda-Blogger at July 28, 2006 11:44 AMUh, what....sorry. Still can't get past "free Bacardi rum and a whole slew of sturdy Michigan Girls Gone Wild, bare midriffs and breasts billowing like spinnakers, to slake their various thirsts."
I got to look into this island.
Posted by: buzz at July 28, 2006 02:25 PMI'm with you, Buzz. You gotta like a nice pair of spinnakers.
Posted by: Kermit at July 29, 2006 07:56 AMMaybe they could name a resturant Spinnakers. Make it seafood. Then we'd have Hooters, Chi Chi's and Spinnakers.
I can hear the ads now - "Want to put the wind behind you? Eat at Spinnakers!"
Posted by: Terry at July 29, 2006 04:05 PMhttp://thedeluxefree.org/debris/ http://thedeluxefree.org/debris/crash-debris-everglades-expressway-fdot-freeway.html http://thedeluxefree.org/debris/debris-filter.html http://thedeluxefree.org/dental/ http://thedeluxefree.org/dental/dental-implant.html http://thedeluxefree.org/dental/discount-dental.html http://thedeluxefree.org/iodine/ http://thedeluxefree.org/iodine/health-iodine.html http://thedeluxefree.org/iodine/iodine-poisoning.html
Posted by: Dog at August 24, 2006 01:08 AM