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The President's Dead Lyrics
The president's dead, the radio said,
Dear friends, is it not so horrible? A shot through my heart, like a knife right through bread, The newspaper said the president's dead. The sea doesn't dry and the sky doesn't split, But friends it just seems so wrong, don't it? A shot from the crowd, and a shot in the head, The president's lying on the tarmac dead. He's lying face down with his black-dressed agents Guns drawn running around and the early Obit's Say he was a good man, you can't argue with that Not today you can't, not now you can't. In the media tent where they spin and they slant, They just foam the mouth and they chant at the bit, Those bloodsuckers can wait until those vulture's cool in, The newscaster said, "The President's dead." Let's imagine the way, let's say 30 years in, How somebody will say, "What you were doing when...?" On a beautiful day, I was waking up and I was lying in bed with my girlfriend And the eggs on the plate, and the bacon hissin' And the coffee was great, there was spring on the wind. If you don't live through a day for the littlest things, And the littlest ways made you feel you were blessed If you died right then, well you know you'd be missed, But there's no better state to cease to exist And you wouldn't feel sad, and you wouldn't resist Cause you knew what you had, and were thankful for it In your own little way, I'm a small quiet man I've got no wars to win, I don't have a big plan But I love my new place, and I love my old friends And I scrimp and save, and one day I'll have kids. I can truthfully say that my day was like that, 'Til the radio playing on the stand by the bed Fired out this report and in 3 words they said, Like 3 shots to my head, The President's Dead.
Interaction
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09-11-2006
It's meaning is self explanatory, about how when a President dies (any president - not necessarily the current one) everyone is greatly impacted. Everyone remembers what they're doing, everyone looks back on their own mortality, everyone puts the victim on a pedastel and makes them seem like they were better than they might have actually been.
Very non political
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09-14-2006
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09-29-2006
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10-09-2006
My day just brightened with this new Okk River song...
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01-03-2007
The values expressed in the song are very American. Will creates an image of a happy couple in a house or apartment of their own, young, working hard to one day have a family. Respect is shown for the fallen President -- even if he wasn't a good man, that's ignored for the time being.
Ultimately, I think it is a-political -- this isn't about our current President, or any specific President; and it's less about the President himself or the current state of affairs than it is about the impact it has on the narrator or society. I think it's an amazing song.
Will really managed to write a song that is easy to relate to and empathize with despite a person's political believes. When it comes down to it, I think most people respect the old American values that are expressed in this song, and these lyrics appear to recollect a "simpler" time in American society, when these values held more weight.
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03-08-2007
http://cokemachineglow.com/feature/interview/okkervilriver.html
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04-17-2007
i do, however, disagree and say that the line "i've got no wars to win, i don't have a big plan."
points to bush's 'big plan'.
it doesn't really change the meaning of anything, just sets it into a time period, but it's also a very timeless song. just a thought.
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04-23-2007
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04-23-2007
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07-09-2007
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09-29-2008
Point being, the president is a human being, just like us, yet when so and so million people die, why don't we stop our breakfast, why don't we let our entire day go to hell, because they die.
i really think the idea he is impressing is the value of human life, and the INSANE bias we give to a title.
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01-02-2010
It is about nostalgia and about being happy with life and having the whole of your life in front of ya.
i don't think it is sarcastic at all. He is happy and content and news of the President's death has shocked him into taking notice of what he has and cherishing it
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