Songs from the Heartland–A Bad Music Seminar

Trump’s songs

“Fake songs are for losers. Listen instead to Donald Trump’s winning music from the loyal heartland and from our least-dumb foreign friends. Real songs like Ramsey Kearney’s Please Mommy Don’t Abort Me, Luie Luie’s El Touchy, and One Way System’s Stab The Judge are just a few from this unpresidented collected of vinyl; records that, no kidding, will convince liberals to stop betraying the American People.”

Kenneth Higley—I Want To Be The King
The Spokesmen—Dawn of Correction
Gordon Thomas—Peace Peace
Negativeland—Methods of Torture
One Way System—Stab the Judge, 1972
Lindall Davis—Come On Americans
Tony Delevin Dell Erba—American Dream, 1985
Gizmos—Amerika First, 1978
Barthold (Bill) Max (sung by John Muir)—America’s On Parade
U.S. Senator Robert Byrd—Rye Whiskey
Kinky Friedman—We Reserve The Right to Refuse Service To You
Noh Mercy—Caucasian Guilt
Divine—Kick Your Butt
Luie Luie—El Touchy
Peter Wyngarde—Rape, 1970
Blowfly—Gemini
Sound Effects—Disasters—Human Side
Ramsey Kearney—Please Mommy Don’t Abort Me
Phil Celia—Fat Man In A Compact Car
Jimmy Durante—The Day I Read A Book
Selfish Cunt—Fuck The Poor
Dead Kennedys—Kill The Poor

Commentary

Trump aides and allies with posh English accents: Sebastian Gorka, Deputy Assistant to Trump and member of Strategic Initiatives Group which includes Steve Bannon and Jared Kushner. And Milo Yiannopoulos.

Kenneth Higley—I Want To Be The King
Attic Demonstration LP, 1976, not a solo release but to promote Higley’s songs to other artists. Recorded in New York, backed by Gordon Gaines and this song made as tribute to Johnny Thunders and CBGBs.

The Spokesmen—Dawn of Correction
Trump on defense: A public safety and national security budget “…with plenty of other things but very strong. To build the depleted military of the United States of America, be accountable to the people, do so much more with the money we spend.”
The Spokesman’s song was a riposte to Barry McGuire’s fatalistic Eve Of Destruction. Made very little original music—covers of Beatles songs like Michelle.
The Western world has a common dedication
To keep people free from Red domination
There are buttons to push in two mighty nations
But who’s crazy enough to risk annihilation?
The buttons are there to ensure negotiation
So don’t be afraid boy, it’s our only salvation.

Gordon Thomas—Peace Peace, 1984
Died 2016, 99 years old. New Yorker, distributing cassette tapes himself on the street. Save up money to record a batch of songs. Playing trombone in the early 1940s with Dizzy Gillespie until the really skilled musicians came back from the war.

Negativeland—Methods of Torture
Trump on torture: “Would I approve waterboarding? You bet your ass I’d approve it! You bet your ass! In a heartbeat I would approve more than that. And don’t kid yourself folks. It works! Only a stupid person would say it doesn’t work. It works.”
Negativeland were California-based culture hackers who got into trouble with U2’s record company for putting the band’s name on the cover of their record and using bootleg recording of DJ Casey Kaplan slagging off the band. Three members of Negativeland have died in the last couple of years.
Trump would like them as original purveyors of “fake news” when in a press release they denied their record Christianity is Stupid had inspired David Brom’s axe murder of his entire family when in fact no one had ever claimed it had done so. The press picked up the fake story causing it to spread virally.

One Way System—Stab the Judge, 1972
Trump on judges: “The opinion of this so-called judge, which essentially takes law enforcement away from our country, is ridiculous and will be overturned.”
One-Way System were a Lancashire-based band, started in 1978 but categorized as Oi! rather than Punk, in spite of being influenced more by The Clash, The Damned, The Ramones than anyone else. Tommy Couch, the drummer, said they wrote “Real-life lyrics, things that you could see and feel happening.”
Trump’s actions remind me of the story of Henry II and Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury. In 1170 Henry furious at Becket’s obstruction of his attempts to try accused clergy in the king’s court rather than in the Church’s own courts—“What sluggards, what cowards have I brought up in my court, who care nothing for their allegiance to their lord. Who will rid me of this meddlesome priest?” As a result, some of Henry’s knights killed Becket in Canterbury Cathedral.

Lindall Davis—Come On Americans
Song poem

Tony Delevin Dell Erba—American Dream, 1985
Aka Gabriel of Urantia, aka Talias Van
Leader of various cult communities, most recently Global Communications Alliance which includes the Soulistic Medical Alliance. Lately buying up a lot of land in Tuscon, AZ. The plan is that Tony/Gabriel will one day rule what’s left of the world after a catastrophic war. On their website there are exhaustive tables that record natural and manmade disasters and the deaths they caused.

Gizmos—Amerika First, 1978
From Bloomington, Indiana

Barthold (Bill) Max (sung by John Muir)—America’s On Parade
Song poem album Music of America

U.S. Senator Robert Byrd—Rye Whiskey
In the early 1940s Byrd formed a KKK chapter in Sophia, West Virginia with 150 locals.
1944—“I shall never fight in the armed forces with a negro by my side…Rather I should die a thousand times, and see Old Glory trampled in the dirt never to rise again, than to see this beloved land of ours become degraded by race mongrels, a throwback to the blackest specimen from the wilds.”
Trump tweeting: “Flashback: Hillary Clinton praised former KKK member Robert Byrd as ‘Friend and Mentor.’”

Kinky Friedman—We Reserve The Right to Refuse Service To You
“I’ve always believed an artist is someone who should be ahead of his time and behind on his rent, and that once you get too much success, it distances you from your art.”

Noh Mercy—Caucasian Guilt
Trump on political correctness: “I think the big problem this country has is being politically correct. I’ve been challenged by so many people and I don’t, frankly, have time for total political correctness. And to be honest with you, this country doesn’t have time, either.” (In response to Megan Kelly’s question on language Trump uses against women).
Noh Mercy comprised Tony Hotel (Midwest jazz background) on drums and Esmeralda singing (California performance background). Esmeralda was vehemently expressing anger at her father and her husband.

Divine—Kick Your Butt
Trump bears a remarkable resemblance to Divine.

Luie Luie—El Touchy
Trump on sex: “Some women are highly aggressive and they want sex, no different from men and sometimes worse.” 2006
“You know I’m automatically attracted to beautiful [women]. I just start kissing them. It’s like a magnet. Just kiss. I don’t even wait.”
“All the women on The Apprentice flirted with me—consciously or unconsciously. That’s to be expected. A sexual dynamic is always present between people, unless you are asexual.”
Luis Johnston from Southern California. One-man band inviting audience participation with singing and percussion. Would hand out “Touchy” badge which you put somewhere where you want people to touch you.

Peter Wyngarde—Rape, 1970
Mike Myers modeled Austin Powers on Wyngarde who played Jason King in the 1969-70 TV series of that name.
Born Cyril Goldbert, possibly in Singapore or Marseilles. As child he was held in a Japanese internment camp with J.G. Ballard. Wyngarde lived with Alan Bates in 1960s. He was arrested cottaging in 1975 at Gloucester bus station, and prosecuted for lewd behavior.

Blowfly—Gemini
Songwriter and producer. Explicit versions originally performed at parties or for friends. Dressed in superhero disguise to protect his songwriting career.
Sadly in 2003 had to sell his entire catalog to pay off debts. Probably held a small fortune in unpaid royalties for the amount of times his work had been sampled.

Sound Effects—Disasters—Human Side
Trump on crime: “We’re $20 million in debt. Can you imagine that? We will fight violent crime and we will win.
“Look what’s happening in Chicago! What’s going on in Chicago?! We will win that one fairly quickly. We will back the police monetarily, and also otherwise. We’re going to win that one. We’re going to win it fairly quickly.”

Ramsey Kearney—Please Mommy Don’t Abort Me
Song poem

Phil Celia—Fat Man In A Compact Car
Song Poem

Jimmy Durante—The Day I Read A Book
Trump on reading: no need to read because “with very little knowledge other than the knowledge I [already] had, plus the words ‘common sense,’ because I have a lot of common sense and I have a lot of business ability.”
“I read passages, I read areas, I’ll read chapters—I don’t have the time.”

Selfish Cunt—Fuck The Poor
Selfish Cunt was led by Martin Tomlinson who played in role as silent guitarist in a video I made. He sang a bit on the day too, which gave him the idea to try fronting a band full-time. He was really a stylish actor who I first saw doing a very stilted excerpt from a Pinter play. Stylish aggression is probably how best to think of Selfish Cunt.

Dead Kennedys—Kill The Poor
Jello Biafra, a king of bad music whose fantastic record collection is featured large in Incredibly Strange Music.

In Trump’s wilder dreams…“Which should we play? You can’t fuck someone after you’ve killed them! Even I draw the line somewhere. So maybe we fuck the poor first and then kill them.”