You can twist and shout and let it all hang out…

“Children Of The Revolution” by Marc Bolan and T-Rex.

Released in September of 1972… Just look at that video. This is pure ridiculous glam rock. Maybe too much so, yes, but this puts The Darkness to hot, nasty shame. Aside from Bowie, to me, Marc Bolan is glam. Most people my age, if they’ve ever heard of him or T-Rex, it was through a car commercial years back that used “20th Century Boy” as it’s anthem (the song was also used in a Levi’s commercial starring Brad Pitt in 1991), which is harshly ironic considering that Bolan died in a car accident, but when has that ever stopped commercialization?

Now why do I choose to share this song with you now? Simple. To me, this should be the campaign song of 2008.

Above is a much tamer version of the song, from what I believe is Born To Boogie, a concert film from 1972 featuring rare footage shot inside Apple studios with the likes of Elton John and Ringo Starr. Not a bad version at all, but it lacks a certain energy that this song demands.

But as far as politics go: I really like that Obama appeals to a higher cause in America, the idea of unfulfilled promise and undaunted hope for all people, something you’d see in an emmy-worthy scene on The West Wing, maybe. I want to get that JFK part deux/here comes the new messiah vibe too, but I think I’m too jaded. But I like that he takes that high road (which is easy when you look at how crazy and hate-filled even McCain’s walk is, let alone rhetoric), because… well, you have to. He is the future, and the possibility of unification based on ideas regardless of skin color, wealth, religion, etc., so why not show a little class and maturity? Especially when you’re taking your belt off to quite literally spank the previous generation in the polls in front of the entire nation.

But then there’s people like me. Too damn jaded. Too angry. I want to be more optimistic, but instead I’m angry. Almost John McCain angry. To the point that it’s not enough for me to see Obama win. I want to see McCain lose. Read this article and see why, but more than simply McCrazyballs himself, I hate this new post-Rove era in America where it’s okay to be stupid, it’s okay to just sit back, get fat, dumb, and masturbate to the illusion of happiness and security. I hate that we’ve just accepted that we’re uninformed. And I hate that we’ve let them get away with it for so fucking long now.

That’s the Violent Femmes covering the song back in 1986 and I like that version as much as the original heavy glam version. I remember hearing their version of it years ago at an 80s themed party and having to stop for a moment and let it’s not too subtle meaning wash over me. Yes, WE, the younger generation could be the children of the revolution, but only if we wanted to, and only if we acted on that desire. But I was just some guy standing around at a party, what did I know?

So, only knowing the things I know, I’m going to talk about music here with my politics. Remember the Clinton’s campaign song? “Don’t Stop” by Fleetwood Mac. Pure Baby Boomer. Pure optimism in a wife swapping musical collective’s anthem. I didn’t even know why at the time, being that I was probably 11 the year Clinton won the Presidency, but even I knew that song resonated in some way. “Don’t stop thinking about tomorrow…”

Sure, Obama’s probably got this election in the bag already, but I’m not ready to just sit back and be happy about that yet. It’s not over yet, it’s probably going to be close in places, and I still want to fight. I want to send that very important message: We won’t get fooled again. And The Who song is a bit cliched at this point.

As far as “Children Of The Revolution” goes, this is some very European MILF performing the song live (it’s kind of terrifying, like watching Heart reunite on way too many pills) and this is Bono and Gavin Friday’s version of the song on the Moulin Rouge soundtrack. This is the borderline horrible Baby Ford version , Patti Smith covering it at a T-Rex tribute concert in NYC in 2007, and here it is used in Neil Jordan’s Breakfast On Pluto. And this is Elton John and Pete Doherty covering the song in a fairly shambolic manner at Live 8:

I’m not honestly sure if Pete Doherty’s drunk or just forgotten their lyrics a few times there or both, but it still tells me that the man belongs on stage making music rather than walking around in his own life. On his own he’s just a mess of a manchild, groping his way along to what you hope isn’t a pathetically easy to guess unhappy ending. Fuck forever, indeed.

Tomorrow’s one week til the election. Hopefully the children of the revolution won’t get fooled again.