Hi movie fans,
This song fits this B-movie theme to a T, but harkens back to the Reagan era. *I* always thought it was great. But I should probably say: CAUTION, POLITICAL SATIRE CONTINUES BELOW! ALSO CONTAINS RUDE LANGUAGE! UNDER 17 NOT PERMITTED WITHOUT PARENT OR GUARDIAN.
This was from Gil Scott Heron from 1981...it's talking blues, kind of a pre-rap bluesy rapping groove...It's from the album Reflections, which is not pictured below, because I thought the title of the one below was cool, so I grabbed it instead.
B Movie
by Gil Scott Heron
Well the first thing I want to say is: Mandate, my ass! Because it seems as though we've been convinced that 26 percent of the registered voters, not even 26 percent of the American people, but 26 percent of the registered voters, form a mandate or a landslide. Twenty-one percent voted for Skippy, and 34 voted for somebody else who might have been running.
But, oh yeah, I remember. In this year that we have now declared the year from Shogun to Raygun - I remember what I said about Raygun. Meant it. Acted like an actor - Hollyweird. Acted like a liberal. Acted like General Franco when he acted like governor of California. Then he acted like a Republican. Then he acted like somebody was going to vote for him for president. And now we act like 26 percent of the registered voters is actually a mandate. We're all actors in this, I suppose.
What has happened is that in the last 20 years America has changed from a producer to a consumer, and all consumers know that when a producer names the tune, the consumer has got to dance. That's the way it is. We used to be a producer, very inflexible at that and now we are consumers and finding it difficult to understand. Natural resources and minerals will change your world. The Arabs used to be in the third world, they have bought the second world and put a firm down payment on the first. Controlling your resources will control your world.
This country has been surprised by the way the world looks now. They don't know if they want to be Matt Dillon or Bob Dylan. They don't know if they want to be diplomats or continue the same policy of nuclear nightmare diplomacy. John Foster Dulles ain't nothing but the name of an airport now.
The idea concerns the fact that this country wants nostalgia, they want to go back as far as they can, even if it's only as far as last week. Not to face now or tomorrow, but to face backwards. And yesterday was the day of our cinema heroes riding to the rescue at the last possible moment. The day of the man in the white hat, or the man on the white horse, or the man who always came to save America at the last moment. Someone always came to save America at the last moment, especially in B-movies.
And when America found itself having a hard time facing the future they looked for people like John Wayne. But since John Wayne was no longer available they settled for Ronald the Raygun. And it has placed us in a situation that we can only look at like a B-movie. Come with us back to those glorious days when heroes weren't zeroes, before fair was square. When the cavalry came straight away and all American men were like Hemingway, to the days of the wondrous B-movie.
The producer, underwritten by all the millionaires necessary, will be Casper the defensive Wineberger - no more animated insurance is available. The director will be Attila the Hague, running around frantically declaring himself in control and in charge, in the ultimate representation of the inmate taking over at the asylum. The screenplay will be adapted from the book called Voodoo Economics by George Papa Doc Bush. Music by the Village People, very very military. Macho macho man, 2...3...4... He'd like to be ... well you get the point. A theme song for sabre-rattling and selling wars door to door. Remember we're looking for the closest thing we can find to John Wayne.
Clichés abound like kangaroos, courtesy of some spaced-out Marlon Perkins, a Raygun contemporary. Clichés like itchy trigger finger, and tall in the saddle, and riding off or on into the sunset. Clichés like: Get off of my planet by sundown. More so than clichés like he died with his boots on. Marine tough! The man is Bogart tough! The man is Cagney tough! The man is Hollywood tough! The man is cheap steak tough! The ultimate synthetic selling of a Madison Avenue masterpiece, a miracle, a cotton candy politician. Presto, macho! Macho macho man.
Put your orders in, America. And quickly as Kodak, your leaders duplicate, with the accent being on the dupe. Because all of a sudden, we have fallen prey to selective amnesia - remembering what we want to remember and forgetting what we choose to forget. All of a sudden, the man who called for a bloodbath on our college campuses is supposed to be Dudley goddamn Doright.
You go give those liberals hell, Ronnie. That was the mandate to the new Captain Bly and the new ship of fools that was doubtlessly based on his career and performance of the past as a liberal Democrat. As the head of the Studio Actors Guild, when other celluloid saviours were cringing in terror from McCarthyism, Ron stood tall. It goes all the way back from Hollywood to Hillbilly, from liberal to libellous, from Bonzo to Birch idol. Born again! Civil rights, women's rights, gay rights - it's all wrong. Call in the cavalry to disrupt this perception of freedom gone wild. Goddamnit, first one wants freedom, then the whole damn world wants freedom.
Nostalgia, that's what we want, the good old days, when we gave 'em hell. When the buck stopped somewhere and you could still buy something with it. To a time when movies was in black and white and so was everything else. Even if you go back to the campaign trail, before six-gun Ron shot off his face and developed hoof-and-mouth. Before the free press went down before the full-court press and were reluctant to view the menu because they knew the only thing available was crow.
Lon Chaney, our man of a thousand faces - no match for Ron. Doug Henning does the make-up, special effects from Grecian Formula 16 and Crazy Glue. Transportation furnished by David Rockefeller, a remote-control company. Their slogan is: Why wait for 1984? You can panic now and avoid the rush.
So much for the good news. As Wall Street goes, so goes the nation, and here's a look at the closing numbers. Racism's up. Human rights are down. Peace is shaky. War items are hot. The house claims all ties. Jobs are down, money is scarce, and common sense is at an all-time low. At the end of trading, movies were looking better than ever, and now no one is looking because we're starring in a B-movie. And we would have rather had John Wayne. We would have rather had John Wayne...
You ain't never really got to worry.
You don't need to check on how you feel.
Just keep repeating that none of this is real.
And if you're sensing that something's wrong
Just remember that it won't be too long
Before the director cuts this scene
'Cause
This ain't really your life
Ain't really your life
Ain't really your life
Ain't really, ain't nothing but a movie.
Copyright © by Gil Scott-Heron 1981 Brouhaha Music (ASCAP)
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Maria
Maria!
But the living room is all dark and the tree is all lit up, and yes, it IS beautiful...
That's an amazing rap too Maria. 
OVE alone is eternal and unconquerable.
- I just left you the same message there.... LOL
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