Great American Dream's baseline marches us into Martin Luther King's electric speech given back in August 1963 to a huge crowd of US citizens hungry for change. He is the hero of this song accompanied by a cast of icons, some seduced then destroyed by the hollow mantra of the joke that is the American dream. Sinatra is the exception as he sold his soul to the mafia. The rise and fall of Elvis, Michael Jackson, Jay Gatsby and Martin Luther King are relayed by Pat Snape's ironic talking delivery accompanied by angry discordant guitars. Kurt's doom laden bass is the black plume that leads us through the song, Ian Briedis' backing vocals are a lament to broken ideals and Dec's drums are the storm of frustration and insistence in this inverted Mardi gras parade. The song rises taking us to a different place from the hopeful Martin Luther King dream, an elegy to hopeful aspirations and the powers that crushed them beneath a well heeled cowboy boot! Dee Sahw.
lyrics
The Great American Dream
We were talking about Frank Sinatra
And how he loved the Mafia’s might,
We were singing Frank Sinatra’s
‘Strangers in the night’
We were saying how the Rat Pack
Snapped their fingers in time,
We were talking about Frank Sinatra
‘Buddy can ya spare a dime?’
We were talking about Elvis Presley
The King of Rock and Roll,
And how Colonel Tom Parker
Owned his mortal soul,
We laughed about his movies
And his rhinestone Vegas years,
But we sang those early songs
Then raised a glass of beer.
We were talking about Michael Jackson
And his disastrous fall from grace
We were talking about Michael Jackson
And the mask he calls a face,
We were talking about Neverland
And the room without a view,
We all agreed animals should be free
And not kept in a Zoo.
We were talking about the Great Gatsby
And the Great American Dream,
We were talking about feet of clay
And the fame and wealth machine,
We talked about the President
And how the last one was a fool,
And how Gatsby lost his American Dream
Face down in a pool.
We did a lot of talking that night
As the flags and banners waved,
We talked about the land
They call the home of the brave,
We talked about the truth
How nothing’s what it seems,
We talked about Martin Luther King
And his Great American Dream.
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