The Crash Of '47
2004 | Rock
"There sits an old man he’s writing and typing and paying his tax to the law. -- There you are laughing and joking and waiting and praying for life to be free."
Trivia
- The Crash of '47 is Atomship's first studio album & released May 4, 2004, produced by Dave Fortman (Evanescence, Superjoint Ritual).
- The song "Time for People" was released on the soundtrack for the movie The Punisher.
- Atomship was formed in 2002 as Watership Down, named after Richard Adams’ classic book.
THE HOT TAKES
Luke Tatum
Beautiful. The death of the taxpayer, while the tax-consumer remains blissfully ignorant of the costs his "freebies" impose. As Franz Oppenheimer famously proposed in 1908: "I propose in the following discussion to call one’s own labor and the equivalent exchange of one’s own labor for the labor of others, the “economic means” for the satisfaction of needs, while the unrequited appropriation of the labor of others will be called the “political means.”" It's a truly stunning exploration of this idea, not least because the song itself has such dynamic range.
Sherry Voluntary
This well crafted song has a sound reminiscent of Tool, that I really enjoy. I think this song is a critical look at some of the attitudes of obeisance that are so prevalent in a large segment of society. The first line “ this is how you hold your American flag,” sets the tone of the “patriots” instructing others of how to properly venerate the sacred objects. I think the middle part of the song speaks to the frustration and futility that many people feel when it comes to The State. The old man who yells in anger, but also who keeps paying his taxes, has the frustration of experience. The other “laughing and joking and waiting and praying for life to be free” people, probably younger people, who haven’t gotten to the point of anger yet, still retaining their youthful optimism, not realizing that they will most likely end up in the place of the old man. Yelling in frustration, but still paying his taxes because he doesn’t know what else to do. There is a sort of sad helplessness to the song, ending with the “patriots” still teaching how to venerate while the old man dies never having broken free, and the young people take his place, paying for the system that will take so much from them.
Nicky P
For a band who's name was once Watership Down, it's not terribly surprising they would take an interest in how society works and functions. It's even less surprising that in the early 00's we'd get a song questioning patriotism and blind allegiance to a state. Oh, how I wish we could get more questioning of blind allegiance to the state. But unlike the rabbits in the Richard Adams story or the narrator in Atomship's song, we seem more than happy to be cattle and cannon fodder. Illusions of security and a great opiate known as the internet have neutered any sense of distrust in our rulers. The question i want to ask is why Agent Orange? Is it a metaphor for how in becoming the cattle they want us to be we relegate our nation to a slow painful death like those who died from the use of agent orange many years after the fact in quite unenviable circumstances. Personally I think the lyrics are a bit disjointed but what do I know, I have literally zero hit songs. I think the idea of participating in your own life and not giving every moment of it to the state pokes through clear enough.