#145 (of 365) "The Happiest Place on Earth" Desaparecidos

Conor Oberst wrote a lot of great songs in his early career. Much less as he got older, or at least after I lost interest, but as a teen and early 20's songwriter for Bright Eyes, he wrote some truly brilliant tracks. But the best song he's written, in my opinion, was for the (then) single album punk band collaboration called Desaparecidos. This is that song. 

From 2001. Kind of timeless though. Frighteningly so. 

​I wanna pledge allegiance to the country where I live
I don't wanna be ashamed to be American
But opportunity, no, it don't exist
It's the opiate of the populace
We need some harder shit now
The truth's gettin' 'round
Each public school is a halfway house
Where huddled masses sober up and up

Enough? There's not enough
To fatten the cows
And feed all of us
It's just a rationing of luck

What can't be bought gets raffled off
Oh God, good God, shed greed on thee
Your shining sea turned a dirty green
From the industry
Off the shores of New Jersey

I got a letter from the Army so I think that I'll enlist
No, I'm not brave or proud of nothing
I just want to kill something
Too bad that nowadays, you just point and click
Swing Lo satellite, hot white chariot
In the computer's blue glare, bombs burst in the air
There was a city once, now nothing's there

Our freedom comes at their expense
Makes sense, does it? Dollars and cents
They're stretching barbed wire
Across a picket fence
That's surrounding your housing development
In case you lack the confidence

Oh God, my God, give strength to thee
These amber waves, purple majesty
Is nothing but backdrops for Disney

"The Happiest Place on Earth" - Desaparecidos // Read Music Speak Spanish (2002)