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She Can't Tell

from Hotel Oregon by vonHummer

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I'm ridiculously proud of this one, "She Can't Tell." I try not to write political stuff if I can help it, mostly because the shelf life is horribly short. (See also: the 60's, the 70s, the 80s, the 90s...) This one is jake in my book, however.

Right or Left, the "she" in "She Can't Tell" is a robot. She's been programmed and incapable of taking things case-by-case. And why should she do so? She's already convinced of her rectitude.

To root for and follow politics is as ridiculous to me as doing the same for sports: it's all fixed, people. We don't and won't know how, usually, games and elections are fixed, but I think it's sensible to understand that they are.

Nobody's ever come out to say this song is a favorite of theirs, either, so I'll do so. In all the senseless anger of the last ten years in the media and interpersonally, it's felt good to have written this one. Cathartic.

It's a good spooky riff and the beats ticks like a time-bomb. Lots of passion in the refrains, like a Rush song when they get intense.

lyrics

"She Can't Tell"
[vonHummer]
She can't tell the difference between government and tyranny, fascism and democracy, terrorism and Boston Tea,
She can't tell and she's mad as hell, she can't debate she can only yell,
She can't tell the difference between two extremes, between slavery and American Dreams, she can’t tell the difference, believing mistakenly: there's no difference to see...
She can't tell the difference between opinion and reality, reasoned outrage and rabid hate, the lawful and the outlaw state, she can't tell and she's under the spell of self -righteousness, self pity as well
She can’t tell the difference between dusk and dawn, between carrying water and carrying on, she can’t tell the difference believing mistakenly: there’s no difference to see...
So outrageous to complain and never to explain, outrageous to see a parade and dance for rain by reflex right on cue, Outrageous! Shocking! And shockingly easy to do...
She can’t tell the difference between, propaganda and 411, lauded words and loaded guns, diverse and overrun,
She can’t tell as she walks pell mell, walks the dogma in an acorn shell
She can’t tell the difference between “I” and “We”, between Rosie the Riveter and Simon Legree, She can’t make her lemons into lemonade, she can’t tell a sunburn from “made in the shade,” She can’t tell the difference and won’t be told differently, she’s indifferent, you see.

credits

from Hotel Oregon, released April 16, 2005
vonHummer: drums, vocals, guitar

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vonHummer Portland, Oregon

vonHummer is a Portland music/cable access legend whose career spanned from Fall of 2001 to Fall of 2011, during which he recorded a hundred or so songs for use in his absurdist show (and feature film) and played only a handful of concerts. Currently retired, his work shines on for the ages. Or will he someday return...? ... more

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