> would it be possible to make a political poem, song, artwork that was
> completely un-usable by its enemies? as in Benjamin's claim that his
> art-work essay was 'useless for the purposes of fascism'. is anything
> unrecuperable?
the best song on that springsteen album apparently is unrecuperable, to
judge from the obscurity in which it remains. that's 'downbound train'.
the quality of this piece was completely missed because of its hauntingly
tragic nature. 'downbound train' and 'born in the usa' share that darkness,
but 'downbound train' doesn't have a hook that can be exploited. it's not
even on the 'greatest hits' album. and it was on an album that had seven
hits on it and played into usamerican patriotism.
even the notion that 'downbound train' is the best song on the album
requires that you actually have ears and can use them.
'american psycho', 'american beauty', 'american pie', 'american woman',
'united states', 'born in the usa',... putting a reference to the usa in the
title of a work of art is the titular equivalent, in the usa, of adding the
words 'free beer' in an ad. and note that none of those pieces are
particularly cheery either. they all have a darkness that can almost be
ignored because of the beauty of the other side.
ja
http://vispo.com
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