Recorded Summer 2006 in Huntington Beach, California.
Actually a re-do from scratch of one the best (and least representative, incidentally) songs from the The Strangers' live repertoire, I penned the lyrics, melody and chord progression at age 17 in 2004. The explicitly political theme was indicative of a pronounced interest of mine during my late high school and early college years. I had quite a penchant for expressing my incendiary left-libertarian socio-political ideals in just about any context, and "Plastic Patriots" was my grand statement against a particular brand of crass, hypocritical American nationalism that arose as part of the backlash following the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The lyrics are mocking and sarcastic in tone, and I recall this being a favorite of many of our young followers, to whom it must have appeared as a would-be anthem against all the ignorant, Christian-right-wing followers of George W. Bush and his atrocious foreign policy.
In 2006, it was the only Strangers song I felt any affinity for at all, as I had all but disowned the majority of the other songs as embarrassing to myself, and not worthy of being revisited or remembered. For this version, I did some things with my voice I had not done ever before, the results of which are middling. The instrumentation expanded to include acoustic guitar and some trippy electric leads. I had recently acquired a drum set by selling a huge stack of merchandise I stole from work (Tower Records) during the time their inventory was being liquidated by the company that had bought them out. The managers would actually give us a specific time at the ends of our shifts to essentially fill a box as full as possible with stolen CDs, DVDs, books and so forth, and bring them to our cars to cart home. There were not thrilled about having their jobs are record store managers liquidated along with the physical inventory, so that was apparently their way of expressing their anger and taking financial potshots at the liquidator (which apparently ended up losing millions on the deal at the end of the process... so the whole vengeance thing paid off in this case.)
Anyway, I had just gotten this shitty drum kit from Guitar Center, and had no clue how to tune the heads or mic the kit, and thus the drums sound retarded. Barely audible in some ways, though the high hat seems to overpower everything when I start to play it. Still, I felt that including this rare politically-themed song was appropriate for this volume, falling as it does under a wide stylistic umbrella of vaguely psychedelic-ish music. And I suppose the lyrics aren't profound, but they're not terrible for a 17-year-old, when I consider the lyrics most 17-year-olds are inclined to author. And hey, a "freedom fries" reference... I hope someone remembers that big fucking joke (that wasn't a joke at all.)
lyrics
I want to feel the heartbeat of a nation
That rides a wave of blind elation
Bumper stickers and shirts
Drown out the red alerts
You've got nothing to fear
So wave your flag in the air
Take what you're given and eat it
Speak your mind if you dare
Here come the plastic patriots
So eat your freedom fries
Aren't they delicious?
Simply close your eyes
And imagine your perfect wonderland
You're living inside a delusion
So spout some dumb cliche
That should shut them up
Say God is on your side
And that should be enough
Forget the lies and corruption
Just follow your god damned instructions
Because you're proud to be an American
So wave your flag in the air
Take what you're given and eat it
Speak your mind if you dare
Here come the plastic patriots
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