Aint That America

So I was listening to the MC5 album Back in the USA this morning. Despite the presence of "The Human Being Lawnmower" (ecch), it's a hell of a record. What struck me today was how this record pretty much sums up how I feel about this country in two songs. One is the title track, a cover of Chuck Berry's classic. Unlike most people who cover Chuck Berry, the MC5 don't appear to be covering this song as a by-the-numbers tribute; they really tear it up, and by the end you really feel like they are so glad they're livin' in the USA. Which is kind of odd, given what they've said just a few tracks earlier in "The American Ruse," which is my favorite MC5 song and just about the best indictment of American hypocrisy ever to rock my socks off. ("When they pull you over as suspicious/for something that just aint your fault/if you complain they're gonna get vicious/kick in your teeth and charge you with assault.") Both songs are done so passionately that both are totally convincing. Not that the knuckleheads who equate dissent with treason would ever get this, but I'd love to play them this record and say, see, you can be sick to your guts of the American ruse and still be glad you're living in the USA. Indeed, the disgust on display in "The American Ruse" could, I think, only come from somebody who loves and takes seriously the ideals the government betrays.When you really care about someone, you call them on their bullshit. I'll take my patriotism from the MC5, and you can stick that rah-rah America crap in the back of Toby Keith's Ford F-150.And now, dig the MC5 lip synching "The American Ruse" in a cruddy black-and-white clip with lead singer Rob Tyner looking kinda like Leo Sayer and still managing to be cool: