Freeze rock get higher baby

White Lines (Don’t Don’t Do It)

By Grandmaster Melle Mel

1983

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z49bfaXGX78

[Chorus] (White Lines) Visions, dreams of passion (Blowing through my mind) And all the while I think of you (High price) A very strange reaction (For us to unwind) The more I see, the more I do (Something like a phenomenon) Baby! (Telling your body to come along, but white lines blow away) (Blow! Rock it! Blow!) Ticket to ride, white line highway Tell all your friends, they can go my way Pay your toll, sell your soul Pound-for-pound costs more than gold The longer you stay, the more you pay My white lines go a long way Either up your nose or through your vein With nothing to gain except killing your brain Higher, baby Get higher, baby! Get higher, baby! And don't ever come down! (Freebase!) Rang dang diggedy dang di-dang Diggedy dang di-dang diggedy dang di-dang

(Pipeline) pure as the driven snow (Connected to my mind) and now I'm having fun, baby! (High price) it's getting kinda low (Cause it makes you feel so nice) I need some one-on-one, baby! (Don't let it blow your mind away) Baby! (And go into your little hideaway 'cause white lines blow away) (Blow! Rock it! Blow!) A million magic crystals, painted pure and white A multi-million dollars almost overnight Twice as sweet as sugar Twice as bitter as salt And if you get hooked, baby It's nobody else's fault, so don't do it!

(Freeze! Rock! Freeze! Rock! Freeze! Rock! Freeze! Rock!) (Ahhh) Higher, baby (Ahhh) Get higher, baby! (Ahhh) Get higher, baby! And don't ever come down! (Freebase!) (Don't you get too high) don't you get too high baby! (Turns you on) you really turn me on and on (Cause you gotta come down) my temperature is risin' (When the thrill is gone) no, I don't want you to go

A street kid gets arrested, gonna do some time He got out three years from now just to commit more crime A businessman is caught with 24 kilos He's out on bail and out of jail And that's the way it goes, raah! (Kane! Sugar! Kane! Sugar! Kane!) Athletes rejected, governerds corrected Gangsters, thugs and smugglers are thoroughly respected The money gets divided The women get excited Now I'm broke and it's no joke It's hard as hell to fight it, don't buy it! [Chorus] Little Jack Horner sitting on the corner With no shoes and clothes This ain't funny, but he took his money And sniffed it up his nose (Hey man, you wanna cop some blow?) (Sure, what you got, dust, flakes or rocks?) (I got China White, Mother of Pearl, Ivory Flake, What you need?) (Well yeah, well let me check it out man, just let me get a freeze) (Go ahead man, stuff I got should kill ya!) (Yeah man that's that's raw, whoa)[footnoteRef:1] [1: Genius. “White Lines (Don’t Do It).” Genius.com. https://genius.com/Grandmaster-flash-white-lines-dont-do-it-lyrics (accessed January 15, 2018). ]

Questions:

How does this song reflect the drug problem of the 80’s?

What was the story of the “businessman … caught with 24 kilos”?

How does it show, what some call, the racist drug sentencing?

How does the song link the drug – poverty connection?

How was this song created?

Born in the USA

Bruce Springsteen

1984

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OuJUq58VQXQ

[Verse 1]

Born down in a dead man's town

The first kick I took was when I hit the ground

You end up like a dog that's been beat too much

Till you spend half your life just covering up

[Chorus]

Born in the U.S.A

I was born in the U.S.A

I was born in the U.S.A

Born in the U.S.A

[Verse 2]

Got in a little hometown jam

So they put a rifle in my hand

Sent me off to a foreign land

To go and kill the yellow man

[Chorus]

Born in the U.S.A

I was born in the U.S.A

I was born in the U.S.A

I was born in the U.S.A

Born in the U.S.A

[Verse 3]

Come back home to the refinery

Hiring man says "Son if it was up to me"

Went down to see my V.A. man

He said "Son, don't you understand"

[Verse 4]

I had a brother at Khe Sanh fighting off the Viet Cong

They're still there, he's all gone

He had a woman he loved in Saigon

I got a picture of him in her arms now

[Verse 5]

Down in the shadow of the penitentiary

Out by the gas fires of the refinery

I'm ten years burning down the road

Nowhere to run ain't got nowhere to go

[Chorus]

Born in the U.S.A

I was born in the U.S.A

Born in the U.S.A

I'm a long gone Daddy in the U.S.A

Born in the U.S.A

Born in the U.S.A

Born in the U.S.A

I'm a cool rocking Daddy in the U.S.A[footnoteRef:2] [2: Genius. “Born in the USA.” Genius.com. https://genius.com/Bruce-springsteen-born-in-the-usa-lyrics. Accessed January 15, 2018]

Questions:

What is the overall meaning of the song?

What is the meaning of the second verse?

What was Khe Sanh?

How does the 3rd and 5th verse speak of returning Vietnam veterans? Is that the truth?

Which President ironically used the song in his re-election campaign?

Are the Good Times Really Over

Merle Haggard

1981

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxLtXJzo3Ew

I wish a buck was still silver

It was back when the country was strong

Back before Elvis

Before the Vietnam war came along

Before The Beatles and 'Yesterday'

When a man could still work, still would

The best of the free life behind us now

And are the good times really over for good?

Are we rolling down hill

Like a snowball headed for Hell?

With no kind of chance

For the Flag or the Liberty Bell

Wish a Ford and a Chevy

Could still last ten years, like they should

Is the best of the free life behind us now?

Are the good times really over for good?

I wish Coke was still Cola

And a joint was a bad place to be

It was back before Nixon lied to us all on TV

Before microwave ovens

When a girl could still cook and still would

The best of the free life behind us now

Are the good times really over for good?

Are we rolling down hill

Like a snowball headed for Hell?

With no kind of chance

For the Flag or the Liberty Bell

Wish a Ford and a Chevy

Could still last ten years, like they should

Is the best of the free life behind us now?

Are the good times really over for good?

Stop rolling down hill

Like a snowball headed for Hell

Stand up for the Flag

And let's all ring the Liberty Bell

Let's make a Ford and a Chevy

Still last ten years like they should

The best of the free life is still yet to come

The good times ain't over for good[footnoteRef:3] [3: Genius. “Are the Good Times Really Over.” Genius.com. https://genius.com/Merle-haggard-are-the-good-times-really-over-i-wish-a-buck-was-still-silver-2-lyrics. Accessed January 15, 2018.]

How does the song capture the malaise of the 1970’s?

Why does the song talk about cars should last 10 years?

How does the song reflect the changing roles of women?

What did Nixon lie about?

How does this song help explain Reagan’s victory?

2 Minutes to Midnight

Iron Maiden

1984

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7sXPmz9b4lM

Kill for gain, or shoot to maim

But we don't need a reason

The golden goose is on the loose

And never out of season

Blackened pride still burns inside

This shell of bloody treason

Here's my gun for a barrel of fun

For the love of living death

[Pre-Chorus]

The killer's breed or the Demon's seed

The glamour, the fortune, the pain

Go to war again, blood is freedom's stain

Don't you pray for my soul anymore?

[Chorus]

2 minutes to midnight

The hands that threaten doom

2 minutes to midnight

To kill the unborn in the womb

[Verse 2]

The blind men shout "Let the creatures out

We'll show the unbelievers"

The napalm screams of human flames

Of a prime time Belsen feast ... yeah!

As the reasons for the carnage cut their meat and lick the gravy

We oil the jaws of the war machine and feed it with our babies

[Pre-Chorus]

[Chorus]

[Verse 3]

The body bags and little rags of children torn in two

And the jellied brains of those who remain to put the finger right on you

As the madmen play on words and make us all dance to their song

To the tune of starving millions to make a better kind of gun

[Pre-Chorus]

[Chorus]

[Outro]

Midnight

Midnight

Midnight

It's all night

Midnight

Midnight

Midnight

It's all night[footnoteRef:4] [4: Genius. “2 Minutes to Midnight.” Genius.com. https://genius.com/Iron-maiden-2-minutes-to-midnight-lyrics. Accessed January 15, 2018]

What does “2 minutes to midnight” mean?

What is the Golden Goose and why is it never out of season in the 80’s?

What does the phrase “jellied brains of those who remain” mean?

How does the song capture the fear of militarism and war?

How does the song speak of the money spent on the military?