Fugs – Wide Wide River – meaningful river about politics and the mess they make that we have to live in.

I thought this was appropriate in this election year. The Fugs were a highly political and cynical band. I loved their anarchy, madness and enthusiasm. They just did it.

There were no holds barred and no subjects too extreme. The Fugs were a law unto themselves. This song is about the mess that politicians have made of society. We live in the mess they create for us and it could be so much better.

If humanity stopped wasting most of its resources on war, greed and power and started dealing with the real issues of poverty, inequality, environmental destruction and overpopulation we could have a brilliant life for everyone. They’d rather have power for themselves.

I thought it was most appropriate at this time with the telling line: ‘Where you end up voting for the lesser of two evils?’

The hypocrisy and stupid lies of politicians shine down through the annals of history.

Wide Wide River

River of shit
River of shit
Flow on, flow on, river of shit
Right from my toes
On up to my nose
Flow on, flow on, river of shit
I’ve been swimming
In this river of shit
More than 20 years
And I’m getting tired of it
Don’t like swimming
Hope it’ll run dry
Got to go on swimming
Cause I don’t want to die

(spoken with gospel sound in background):
Who dealt this mess, anyway?
Yea, it’s an old card player’s term,
but sometimes you can use the old switcheroo and it can be applied to …
Frontal politics
What I mean is …
Who was it that set up a system,
supposedly democratic system,
Where you end up always voting for the lesser of two evils?
I mean, Was George Washington the lesser of two evils?
Sometimes I wonder …
You got some guy that says
“For God sake, we’ve got to stop having violence in this country.”
While he’s spending 16,000 dollars a second snuffing gooks.

(gospel sound musical ending with:
A wiiiiiiiiiiiiide, big brown river, yea, bringing health, wealth, and prosperity to every man, women, and child.
Spoken:
Oh I can feel another 1000 years
Of the flapjacks of Sorrow! Unless!
Unless we make 2000 A.D.! 2000 A.D.
Our glorious deadline
A glorious deadline to make the
World a better place!
Or else the flapjacks of sorrow
Are going to slide down our throats
Slide down our throats
For another millennium
Of pain and war and oppression
And all our children’s children’s children’s
Children’s children children
Shall have to wade and to swim
In the same grim river
In which we now swim
Sing along with us
Sing sing sing sing sing sing sing sing!