I heard parts of the new John Mellencamp album “Freedom’s Road” recently.  I won’t tell you what to do with it — which is to say I’m not going to tell anyone to stay away from it as if your life depended on it or to run run run to your nearest (soon to be antiquated as we fade into the download age) retailer of compact discs and get it immediately.  I have no strong opinion on it.

But I am bothered by something.  Emblematic is the song, sang with Joan Baez, “Jim Crow”.  Read the lyrics and riddle me this:

Okay, we understand that Jim Crow has ” Went and changed his name” and that “he’s still actin’ the same” and, as the second stanza says, skipping along joyfully undisturbed.  But really now, I’d like some specification of some sort or other.  Otherwise, as is the case, we just have a vague statement that racism exists out there… somewhere… somehow…

Which means it’s a stupid song with no meaning…  a lazy act of poetry.  A little ditty about Jack and Diane…

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