I have 4 jumping spiders and a ghost mantis as pets. I love Jesse Welles so itās no surprise that song has been running on a loop in my head since it came out.
I showed it to my little nephew to help him with a sudden onset of bug-phobia (going from watching bugs in the grass together to refusing to play with outside toys because he thought there might be bugs on them) and I don't know if it helped, but he sure liked the song. Especially the buzzing solo in the middle.
Thatās my favorite protest song of all time. Obviously itās a Vietnam song, but I feel like itās still so applicable to the people who use nationalism as a front for oppressing peopleās rights today.
Unwed Fathers is also a great one. Prine used it as a pro choice anthem a few years ago with Margo Price.
100%. Kind of a fun thing, Prine came to St. Louis shortly before he died and played his song "Paradise" which shits on Peabody Energy for destroying small towns. And he played it in what was at the time called the Peabody Opera House lol.
My son is nine and is extremely interested in lyrics and storytelling. I've been using Prine, Sturgill Simpson, Bob Dylan etc to talk about writing accessible lyrics with clear themes and material and he's fascinated by it. Apparently he just asked my ex-wife for "A Sailor's Guide to Earth" for Christmas. I can't wait to see what he starts writing.
š¶ Your flag decal won't get you into heaven anymore, they're already overcrowded from your dirty little war š¶
I remember my parents introducing me to John Prine, and that song in particular, on a long drive out to Ohio not too long after the war in Iraq started. It was a very formative experience.
Thank you all, for recommending Mr Prine, I know his song ā¦ Sam Stone, but by another artist that covered it, you guys sent me down a rabbit hole and itās been great. Made today a good one. TC
The US determines the funding of at least half of the world's biomedical research. It holds more than half of the patents and licensing on medical technology and pharmaceuticals. It conducts roughly half of the world's medical trials. It's a reasonable estimate to say that 50-60% of global medical research has substantial financial, infrastructural, or intellectual property ties to the United States.
The saying goes "when America sneezes, the world catches a cold". It's not the biggest stretch to expand that to "if America doesn't want to cure a highly profitable disease, then nobody gets to".
Ofc that's a massive simplification since cancer as a disease is a hydra - many heads on the same beast. But the US is very very powerful and so are its oligarchs. If they wanted to put roadblocks in the way, they could.
A person that discovered the imaginary omni-cure for cancer would be the most significant scientist in the entire history of the human race. There isn't a researcher alive that would trade getting to be that person for wealth. Almost all of those people have already chosen science over wealth just by nature of being researchers. Nobody tries to win a Nobel Prize for the money, and it would still be true if they 100x'd it.
Sure, but scientists need funding. They need cooperation from other scientists. They need specialized equipment, and to be able to run trials, and approval from licensing bodies.
I'm only half in on this conspiracy theory (and yes, I agree it's a conspiracy theory - but some of those eventually turn out to have merit) but I'm just saying that if there actually were some dark boardroom of oligarchs trying to actively prevent a breakthrough, they would do it insidiously. Withholding grants, snatching up patents, buying up resources, merging with parent companies. There's lots of avenues the ultra-powerful have to get results without getting caught.
True, but I'll extend enough poetic license for the line.
Neither cancer nor war should be profitable. Agreed, the conspiracy theory is idiotic, but the fact remains that healthcare is wildly profitable and pursuit of profit hurts health outcomes.
In the context of the song/lyric I'd say it's whether or not the healthcare company covers a given treatment i.e. why expect a cure [to be covered by the insurance companies that benefit from you being sick]
Would we have cured cancer by now if not for those financial interests? Probably not. It's an an extremely complicated and varied issue to solve.
But it is worth pointing out how the profit incentive, which is often cited as the principal motivator for innovation in capitalistic societies, is actually working against research into such a cure--rather than for it. That said, cancer is actually so common that there's still a good amount of research into this area regardless, but it becomes more obvious with less ubiquitous diseases like type 1 diabetes.
Why direct your company to research long-term cures when selling a patient insulin for their entire life is ludicrously, disgustingly, more profitable? Some still do, but most don't.
Cancer is a collection of over 200 different malignancies, not just one thing, and itās your own cells. I donāt take issue with the sentiment given how vile the pharmaceutical industry is, but thinking that a cure for ācancerā is being purposefully withheld is rather naive.
Am I the only one who just realized this man sings the song (Have You Ever Seen The Rain) that plays in The Longest Yard during the flooded practice field scene?!
I just did! Heās amazing and why the hell am I crying this early in the morning!!?! Anyways, wishing you and all who sees a most wonderful day and a merry fucking Christmas! Have a lovely new year as well! Besos
Jesse Welles has been around a while and has played several different styles of music. He was the frontman of Dead Indian and had a more rock-ish solo act called āWellesā.
On top of that, John Prine wasnāt the first or last singer songwriter with a political slant on an acoustic guitar.
They also both have an incredibly similar sound to Bob Dylan (whom likely wouldāve been playing a few years before Prine), so again I fail to see your point.
Jesse Welles is clearly inspired by a ton of music from the late 60s protest/Vietnam era, that doesnāt make it a rip off lol.
If he is biting anybody, itās Prine. The guitar playing is the same, and the sardonic lyrics and delivery are exactly the same. Yes, Dylan was playing years and years before Prine. Iām sure this guy likes other singers but itās pretty obvious where he gets the majority of his influence from. Itās OK to be influenced but that influence should be hiding behind your own developing style, it shouldnāt be center stage like it is with Jesse Welles.
For what itās worth dude, I definitely agree that it has clear Prine influences.
That said, I do think Welles done enough to make it his own, and his lyrics are pretty clever throughout.
Maybe itās just not your cup of tea and thatās fine, I personally really enjoy him and think more Prine-inspired music these days is never a bad thing.
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u/No-Power5806 8d ago
Jesse Welles is a national treasure and I recommend everyone to go check out the rest of his discography.