NOFX - Franco-Un-American
"Your dilemmas are my distractions"
America viewed by (some) Americans
Taken from the album "The war on Errorism", 2003
The Video can be found here, on the holy “You tube”...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RE1ZZ2m_iSE
I never thought about the universe, it made me feel small,
Never thought about the problems of this planet at all,
Global warming, radio-active sites,
Imperialistic wrongs and animal rights! No!
Why think of all the bad things when life is so good?
Why help with an 'am' when there's always a 'could'?
Let the whales worry about the poisons in the sea
Outside of California, it's foreign policy
I don't want changes, I have no reactions
Your dilemmas are my distractions
That's no way to go, Franco Un-American
No way to go, Franco Un-American
No way to go, Franco Un-American
No way to go, Franco, Franco Un-American
I never looked around, never second-guessed
Then I read some Howard Zinn now I'm always depressed
And now I can't sleep from years of apathy
All because I read a little Noam Chomsky
I'm eating vegetation, 'cause of Fast Food Nation
I'm wearing uncomfortable shoes 'cause of globalization
I'm watching Michael Moore expose the awful truth
I'm listening to Public Enemy and Reagan Youth
I see no world peace 'cause of zealous armed forces
I eat no breath-mints 'cause they're from de-hoofed horses
Now I can't believe; what an absolute failure
The president's laughing 'cause we voted for Nader
That's no way to go, Franco Un-American
No way to go, Franco Un-American
No way to go, Franco Un-American
Where can we go, Franco Un-American
I want to move north and be a Canadian
Or hang down low with the nice Australians
I don't want to be another "I-don't-care"-ican
What are we gonna do Franco, Franco Un-American
America viewed by (some) Americans
Taken from the album "The war on Errorism", 2003
The Video can be found here, on the holy “You tube”...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RE1ZZ2m_iSE
I never thought about the universe, it made me feel small,
Never thought about the problems of this planet at all,
Global warming, radio-active sites,
Imperialistic wrongs and animal rights! No!
Why think of all the bad things when life is so good?
Why help with an 'am' when there's always a 'could'?
Let the whales worry about the poisons in the sea
Outside of California, it's foreign policy
I don't want changes, I have no reactions
Your dilemmas are my distractions
That's no way to go, Franco Un-American
No way to go, Franco Un-American
No way to go, Franco Un-American
No way to go, Franco, Franco Un-American
I never looked around, never second-guessed
Then I read some Howard Zinn now I'm always depressed
And now I can't sleep from years of apathy
All because I read a little Noam Chomsky
I'm eating vegetation, 'cause of Fast Food Nation
I'm wearing uncomfortable shoes 'cause of globalization
I'm watching Michael Moore expose the awful truth
I'm listening to Public Enemy and Reagan Youth
I see no world peace 'cause of zealous armed forces
I eat no breath-mints 'cause they're from de-hoofed horses
Now I can't believe; what an absolute failure
The president's laughing 'cause we voted for Nader
That's no way to go, Franco Un-American
No way to go, Franco Un-American
No way to go, Franco Un-American
Where can we go, Franco Un-American
I want to move north and be a Canadian
Or hang down low with the nice Australians
I don't want to be another "I-don't-care"-ican
What are we gonna do Franco, Franco Un-American
Your Turn!!
Before answering any of my fantastic questions, try and figure out for yourself what the song means to you. Any ideas on what the title might mean? What is it really about?
Pick out any weird grammar that makes you go “Argh” and we’ll try and explain it together.
Pick out any vocabulary that you don’t know, write it down and try to find its meaning.
Now, let’s try and explain the song…!
Here are a few hints to make the understanding of the song easier..!
Public Enemy, also known as PE, is a hip-hop group from Long Island, New-York, known for its politically charged lyrics and criticism of the American media, with an active interest in the frustrations and concerns of the African American community.
Learn more about them here:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_Enemy_%28group%29
or here: http://www.myspace.com/publicenemyofficial
Reagan Youth is an American punk band from 1980. They have been labeled a peace punk band, but are more commonly cited as a pivotal band in introducing the style of hardcore punk to the East Coast punk scene. Their name is a word play on Hitler Youth.
Learn more here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reagan_Youth and here:
http://www.myspace.com/reaganyouth
Howard Zinn (born August 24, 1922) is an American historian, political scientist, social critic, anarchist, activist and playwright, best known as author of the bestseller "A people's history of the United States".Zinn has been active in the movements for Civil Rights, Civil Liberties and the anti-war movements in the United States.
Find out more here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_Zinn
Avram Noam Chomsky was born December 7, 1928) is an American linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, political activist, author, and lecturer. Chomsky is well known in the academic and scientific community as one of the fathers of moderrn linguistics. Since the 1960s, he has become known more widely as a political dissident, an anarchist and a liberterian socialist intellectual.
You can read more about him here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noam_Chomsky
Ralph Nader (born February 27, 1934) is an American attorney, author, lecturer, political activist and and former candidate for President of the United States. He ran as an independent candidate in 2004 and 2008 and a Green Party Candidate in 1996 and 2000 elections.
Here, you can learn more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ralph_Nader#Recognition
Explain the following!
“Imperialistic wrongs and animal rights”:
“Why help with an 'am' when there's always a 'could'?”
“Your dilemmas are my distractions”
“Franco Un-American”
“Then I read some Howard Zinn now I'm always depressed”
“And now I can't sleep from years of apathy”
“All because I read a little Noam Chomsky”
“I'm eating vegetation, 'cause of Fast Food Nation”
“I see no world peace 'cause of zealous armed forces”
“I eat no breath-mints 'cause they're from de-hoofed horses”
“The president's laughing 'cause we voted for Nader”
“I-don't-care"-ican”