Sunday, June 19, 2011

A Message From Bruce Springsteen & Clarence Clemons on L.A. City Hall Corruption (THEY BUSTED YOU IN 1978!) - VIDEO & LYRICS

I wasn't gonna do an entire post, but first of all, the guy and the band has meant so much to me since the first time I heard "Badlands," from the 1978 "Darkness on the Edge of Town" album. So I wanted to honor Clarence Clemons , with more than just a tweet or brief mention in another blog post. But still didn't think it was something that "fit" this blog, since readers only care about City Hall vs The People of Los Angeles (activism). And then I realized, I've said before, "Badlands" IS the official city hall gadfly song of "Zuma Dogg."

I've mentioned how I listened to "Badlands" what seems like over a million times, as a kid...and it's ALWAYS been my favorite Springsteen song, so that means it's always been one of my favorite songs, overall. BUT UNTIL I BECAME A CITY HALL GADFLY, I never absorbed what I believed the song to be about: To sum it up, in my opinion, it's exactly about L.A. City Hall and the political system and a call to activism. This was somewhat confirmed, last night, when I was watching a Springsteen interview where he said the song is about, "taking a stand and knowing who you are standing with."

When I first started attending city council meetings, on a daily basis, I used to leave this song on Eric Garcetti's voice mail in the morning, so he would know ZD is coming!!! AND, I tried singing it, one time, at City Hall...but if you add certain tonal inflections to your words (sing them, instead of speak them), it was something ILLEGAL and NOT ALLOWED by Council President Garcetti, so I was cut off and couldn't finish it. (That's O.K., his office has FBI agents crawling all over it, checking into emails on affordable housing project bamboozlements on seniors and veterans, and mine doesn't.)

So here is my favorite YouTube version of this song with the second most recognizable Clarence Clemons solo. (I think "Jungleland" would have to be #1, but this is the most popular Clarence sax solo and the one that LIGHTS UP the crowd, as no one ever could.)

On American Top 40, I'm Casey Kasem. We're up to the most important song in the gadfly life of L.A.'s official spokes-icon, Uncle MC Zuma Dogg of TV 35 and L.A. City Hall shady-busting. Words by Bruce Springsteen...the heat by Clarence Clemons: Here's, "Badlands"...you gotta live 'em every day with LAPD and L.A. City Council. I'm Casey Kasem.



"Badlands" - Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band (1978)
(Their shadiness isn't even original!)

Lights out tonight, trouble in the heartland.
Got a head-on collision, smashin in my guts man.
Im caught in a crossfire that I don't understand.
But there's one thing I know for sure girl:
I don't give a damn for the same old played out scenes
I don't give a damn for just the in-betweens.
Honey I want the heart, I want the soul, I want control right now.
You better listen to me baby:
Talk about a dream; try to make it real.
You wake up in the night with a fear so real.
You spend your life waiting for a moment that just don't come.
Well don't waste your time waiting!!!

Badlands you gotta live it every day
Let the broken hearts stand
As the price youve gotta pay
Well keep pushin till it's understood
And these badlands start treating us good

Workin in the field till you get your back burned
Workin `neath the wheels till you get your facts learned.
Baby I got my facts learned real good right now.
You better get it straight darling:
Poor men wanna be rich, rich men wanna be kings,
And a king aint satisfied till he rules everything.
I wanna go out tonight, I wanna find out what I got.
Now I believe in the love that you gave me.
I believe in the faith that could save me.
I believe in the hope and I pray that some day it
Will raise me above these

Badlands...

For the ones who had a notion, a notion deep inside
That it aint no sin to be glad you're alive.
I wanna find one face that aint looking through me
I wanna find one place, I wanna spit in the face of these

Badlands...

FUCK L.A. CITY HALL! (ZD said that, not Bruce.)

Attend your L.A. City Council meeting, every Tues/Wed/Fri @10am, for public comment where you can voice your opinion and ideas to council, as televised on TV 35. Bruce just asked you to! And YOUR L.A. City Council wants to hear! (I already smashed my gut in for the better part of five years.)

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