Start Swimmin', Pat

You've got to play both videos at the same time, and then watch the top one, to get the full effect. Think of it as a 2008 version of Simon and Garfunkel's "Silent Night" with Cronkite reading the evening news in the background.

originally at surf putah

•  tip jar

  i just thought this fit together pretty well, and wanted to share it.

  by wu ming on Wed May 14, 2008 at 08:55:38 PM PDT

  •  That is so cool!

    Clever, clever wu ming ;-)

    by highacidity on Wed May 14, 2008 at 09:13:52 PM PDT

  •  Very cool idea. The first

    DKos double YouTube mashup.

    by crankyinNYC on Wed May 14, 2008 at 09:28:17 PM PDT

  •  Buchanan is such an ass!

    It obviously doesn't occur to him that if it was Hillary Rodham running rather than Hillary Rodham Clinton, she wouldn't be getting nearly the press that she currently is receiving, and it's likely that John Edwards would have beaten her back in January or February.

    by Cali Scribe on Wed May 14, 2008 at 09:30:28 PM PDT

  •  that was so cool the way you thought to put

    those two together - now someone needs to combine them and send it to MSNBC or KO

    by kenjisan on Wed May 14, 2008 at 09:40:21 PM PDT

  •  A great twist on an old folk form...

    Well played, wu... Reco.

    by Mogolori on Wed May 14, 2008 at 10:10:36 PM PDT

  •  Excellent, sir. n/t

    by Meteor Blades on Wed May 14, 2008 at 10:12:15 PM PDT

    •  danke

      although the real kudos have to go to bob and chris matthews, for setting the moment up in the first place.

      by wu ming on Wed May 14, 2008 at 10:36:40 PM PDT

•  Beautiful.

  Thanks for the collage, wu ming.

  by Ignacio Magaloni on Wed May 14, 2008 at 08:57:34 PM PDT

•  Wonderful counterpoint, wu ming.

  Thanks for this.

  by begone on Wed May 14, 2008 at 08:58:14 PM PDT

  •  Oh, and, how cool that your timing leaves Dylan

    singing alone after the cacophony of blahdeblahblah.

    by begone on Wed May 14, 2008 at 09:04:02 PM PDT

    •  found poetry

      all praise be to bob zimmerman.

      by wu ming on Wed May 14, 2008 at 09:07:25 PM PDT

•  My evening's moment of Zen.

  I should listen to Dylan every night before bed.

  by NMDad on Wed May 14, 2008 at 09:00:25 PM PDT

•  Nice. Thank you :) nt

  by Janeo on Wed May 14, 2008 at 09:02:29 PM PDT

•  I think this could be a new trend

  You play the talking head kabuki in the top frame with the sound track of your choice in the bottom frame....

  Kind of like same planet different world mashup...

  by 8ackgr0und N015e on Wed May 14, 2008 at 09:05:20 PM PDT

  •  my little brother

    now a part time DJ, showed me how it was done several years ago, when he pulled me aside, said "check this out," and played jack kerouac over billie holiday singing "strange fruit." i was transfixed.

    by wu ming on Wed May 14, 2008 at 09:08:42 PM PDT

    •  rhythm and visuals

      Used to happen to me a lot- especially when driving or walking.

      Thanks for this autobot way to create. Too cool.

      by MeToo on Wed May 14, 2008 at 09:23:51 PM PDT

      •  Hey We used to live in Davis!

        A very favorite person of mine was born in Davis in 1992. I'll show this to her tomorrow.

        Great Blog...

        by MeToo on Wed May 14, 2008 at 09:28:30 PM PDT

        •  oh cool!

          i grew up there, and am back in town after a hiatus. glad you liked it, when were you in davis?

          by wu ming on Wed May 14, 2008 at 09:36:38 PM PDT

          •  91-92

            After Hanna arrived, we left for WNY-- I know, the snow, but I love Lake Erie too.

            That Putah Creek pic brought me instantly back to those fuzzy headed ducks. Davis is one of the great places in this whole great world. The bikes and the owls, and mostly the people. It's the right sized town to be happy in. I was a photographer back then and we had left the Bay Area to have the bisquit in a nice quiet place. Fun. Beautiful.

            by MeToo on Wed May 14, 2008 at 09:48:18 PM PDT

            •  i was a junior in high school then

              coincidentally enough. it's changed, as a city - more commuters, less college students staying in town and doing funky things - but davis is still very much home.

              by wu ming on Wed May 14, 2008 at 10:15:25 PM PDT

              •  Probably crossed paths with you

                at the teen center and us at the Farmer's Market. Cinnamon Rolls!

                I really loved those days- talk about swimming- We were in W Davis and I swam every day at the Country Club until late October in their heated pool...

                You've got a great hometown. I hope other communities follow Davis' path and put in more bike routes.

                Difficult to imagine Davis with less/ or "quieter" students. Maybe its an ebb and flow thing- tuition is expensive and a liberal arts degree (like mine in English) is probably becoming rare. Give it a few years of real progress and the wild at heart creativity will bloom again.

                Best, and thanks again for the Coolness of this diary- You might have to do a weekly edition to entrain the vibes...

                by MeToo on Wed May 14, 2008 at 10:44:07 PM PDT

                •  that country club's a block from my house

                  i may go swimming there with my daughter tomorrow, if it gets hot enough. the bike thing really is phenomenal, and will look prescient as oil really goes through the roof in years to come.

                  i don;t know about revolutionary carrots, but a ripe tomato certainly might!

                  lovely talking with you.

                  by wu ming on Wed May 14, 2008 at 11:25:13 PM PDT

    •  Prolly listened to Billie Holiday sing

      "Strange Fruit" dozens of times. Still gives me chickenskin, serpent of rage in my entrails!!

      Kerouac was of my time: dob for me 1937.

      Bob Dylan also of my time, as I define it.

      Aloha   ..  ..  ..

      by dolphin777 on Wed May 14, 2008 at 09:26:28 PM PDT

      •  Of my time as well

        My DOB 1950, Kerouac had a huge impact on me and my life. When I think of this election I think of this poem by one of my favorites of the time, Lawrence Ferlinghetti http://www.poemhunter.com/... it fits, IMO.

        by high uintas on Wed May 14, 2008 at 09:39:18 PM PDT

•  well said

  maybe the time of Pat and his kind is finally ending.

  by esquimaux on Wed May 14, 2008 at 09:07:46 PM PDT

  •  I don't always like tweety, but I really

    appreciated the fact that he made Pat Buchanan look like an ass!

    by bhouston79 on Wed May 14, 2008 at 09:12:12 PM PDT

    •  he was a pretty good foil

      considering.

      by wu ming on Wed May 14, 2008 at 09:17:12 PM PDT

      •  He did as best he could

        It was like watching fruit rot in fast motion. Poor Mathews is going to need an intervention.

        by high uintas on Wed May 14, 2008 at 09:24:24 PM PDT

    •  Which does NOT take alot of effort,

      considering the raw material Tweety began with!

      Aloha   ..  ..  ..

      by dolphin777 on Wed May 14, 2008 at 09:28:01 PM PDT

  •  his old road is rapidly aging n/t

    by TrueBlueMajority on Wed May 14, 2008 at 09:44:49 PM PDT

•  Do any of you doubt me any longer when I say...

  ...we are in the midst of the third American Revolution?

  You people...somewhere beyond my screen are the great-great-great-great grandchildren of the "Son's of Liberty."

  by David Kroning on Wed May 14, 2008 at 09:10:43 PM PDT

  •  not in the midst

    but in the formative period preceding a revolution, what saul alinsky called a "restoration," where people come o realize that the old order has to be swept away.

    What Comes Next will determine how that happens, and whether it comes gracefully or painfully. regardless, both both pat buchanan and we know that it's coming, inexorably.

    by wu ming on Wed May 14, 2008 at 09:16:28 PM PDT

    •  We can quibble on the phase....but

      the die is cast and I don't think even Obama knows the form his change will take.

      What is clear is that historians will record that 20th century ended in November of 2008.

      by David Kroning on Wed May 14, 2008 at 09:23:52 PM PDT

    •  Growth is inevitable

      Growth is inevitable, we get to pick the direction.

      by MeToo on Wed May 14, 2008 at 09:33:41 PM PDT

  •  Sons, and daughters.

    Enough, already.

    by DrJeremy on Wed May 14, 2008 at 09:18:46 PM PDT

•  Dig it. :) Thx, wu ming. n/t

  by srkp23 on Wed May 14, 2008 at 09:12:49 PM PDT

•  Very, very cool

  Well done.

  by eugene on Wed May 14, 2008 at 09:15:38 PM PDT

•  Bob Dylan

  Come gather 'round people
  Wherever you roam
  And admit that the waters
  Around you have grown
  And accept it that soon
  You'll be drenched to the bone.
  If your time to you
  Is worth savin'
  Then you better start swimmin'
  Or you'll sink like a stone
  For the times they are a-changin'.

  Come writers and critics
  Who prophesize with your pen
  And keep your eyes wide
  The chance won't come again
  And don't speak too soon
  For the wheel's still in spin
  And there's no tellin' who
  That it's namin'.
  For the loser now
  Will be later to win
  For the times they are a-changin'.

  Come senators, congressmen
  Please heed the call
  Don't stand in the doorway
  Don't block up the hall
  For he that gets hurt
  Will be he who has stalled
  There's a battle outside
  And it is ragin'.
  It'll soon shake your windows
  And rattle your walls
  For the times they are a-changin'.

  Come mothers and fathers
  Throughout the land
  And don't criticize
  What you can't understand
  Your sons and your daughters
  Are beyond your command
  Your old road is
  Rapidly agin'.
  Please get out of the new one
  If you can't lend your hand
  For the times they are a-changin'.

  The line it is drawn
  The curse it is cast
  The slow one now
  Will later be fast
  As the present now
  Will later be past
  The order is
  Rapidly fadin'.
  And the first one now
  Will later be last
  For the times they are a-changin'.

  by Brad007 on Wed May 14, 2008 at 09:16:53 PM PDT

  •  Amazing that that remains an anthem! n/t

    by dolphin777 on Wed May 14, 2008 at 09:30:16 PM PDT

    •  the classics are timeless

      the years only make you appreciate them more.

      by TrueBlueMajority on Wed May 14, 2008 at 09:34:39 PM PDT

      •  Some my personal faves date back to Woodie

        Guthrie, Pete Seeger ...

        Aloha   ..  ..  ..

        by dolphin777 on Wed May 14, 2008 at 09:52:02 PM PDT

        •  I love Woody Guthrie

          All You Fascists

          I'm gonna tell you fascists
          You may be surprised
          The people in this world
          Are getting organized
          You're bound to lose
          You fascists bound to lose

          Race hatred cannot stop us
          This one thing we know
          Your poll tax and Jim Crow
          And greed has got to go
          You're bound to lose
          You fascists bound to lose.

          All of you fascists bound to lose:
          I said, all of you fascists bound to lose:
          Yes sir, all of you fascists bound to lose:
          You're bound to lose! You fascists:
          Bound to lose!

          People of every color
          Marching side to side
          Marching ‘cross these fields
          Where a million fascists dies
          You're bound to lose
          You fascists bound to lose!

          I'm going into this battle
          And take my union gun
          We'll end this world of slavery
          Before this battle's won
          You're bound to lose
          You fascists bound to lose!

          by Brad007 on Wed May 14, 2008 at 11:38:37 PM PDT

          •  gotta love woody

            this one's another of my faves:

            Jesus Christ was a man who traveled through the land
            A hard-working man and brave
            He said to the rich, "Give your money to the poor,"
            But they laid Jesus Christ in His grave

            Jesus was a man, a carpenter by hand
            His followers true and brave
            One dirty little coward called Judas Iscariot
            Has laid Jesus Christ in His Grave

            He went to the preacher, He went to the sheriff
            He told them all the same
            "Sell all of your jewelry and give it to the poor,"
            And they laid Jesus Christ in His grave.

            When Jesus come to town, all the working folks around
            Believed what he did say
            But the bankers and the preachers, they nailed Him on the cross,
            And they laid Jesus Christ in his grave.

            And the people held their breath when they heard about his death
            Everybody wondered why
            It was the big landlord and the soldiers that they hired
            To nail Jesus Christ in the sky

            This song was written in New York City
            Of rich man, preacher, and slave
            If Jesus was to preach what He preached in Galilee,
            They would lay poor Jesus in His grave.

            by wu ming on Wed May 14, 2008 at 11:45:51 PM PDT

            •  "...plus ca change..."!! n/t

              by dolphin777 on Wed May 14, 2008 at 11:59:11 PM PDT

            •  ditto for this one--wow

              Woody wasn't ahead of his time, he was timeless.

              blessings on Dylan and Arlo and everyone else who took their songwriting cues from him.

              by TrueBlueMajority on Thu May 15, 2008 at 04:52:54 AM PDT

          •  hey--I've never heard that one

            or even heard OF that one!

            no wonder Woody was considered such a troublemaker!

            by TrueBlueMajority on Thu May 15, 2008 at 04:51:32 AM PDT

•  Awesome, Wu Ming

  Really appreciate Dylan.  He sort of cleanses things after the filth of Buchanan.

  Least that MSNBC could do would be to cover him with a white sheet and hood.

  Thanks.

  by mattman on Wed May 14, 2008 at 09:18:49 PM PDT

•  yikes...all I can say is ...bravo MSNBC

  for picking someone so obviously repugnant to represent the right.

  by ksh01 on Wed May 14, 2008 at 09:31:56 PM PDT

  •  you are uh right

    Maybe there is method in the madness of keeping pb on. He makes the right look like sub humans.

    by lascaux on Wed May 14, 2008 at 09:33:08 PM PDT

•  beautiful music

  I would love to speak to p.  buchanan in person and just tell him, with my nose up against his...there is no us. I don't care if we have the same color, his values are so far from mine. Us, Us, Us. I don't want to be part of us, if it means I am not part of them.

  I have already sent complaints about him. I am going to stay on it until it happens. This is unacceptable. This is deadly speech. Who the fuck does he think the people from Oregon, Ohio, Iowa are? I live in the Northwest and always have to sooth my friends of color when they visit it's true--everybody is white here, or mostly they are. It's not a big deal in the end. It's values and humanity that matters.

  Those poor bastards in PA and WV are in terrible trouble, but it's not because of Barack!

  Yes, we can.

  by lascaux on Wed May 14, 2008 at 09:31:58 PM PDT

•  It's amazing how timeless Dylan's lyrics are.

  This is a great mashup.

  As another topical Dylan song, Masters of War speaks as eloquently about the Iraq War as it did about Vietnam

  by D Wreck on Wed May 14, 2008 at 09:37:19 PM PDT

  •  Yep. I brought Masters of War into my lit class

    this spring during our war unit--and brought it in relative
    to the Iraq War.

    by begone on Wed May 14, 2008 at 09:43:22 PM PDT

    •  Eddie Vedder sang the frak out of that song

      I love Dylan, but Eddie's version sends chills down my spine.

      by TrueBlueMajority on Wed May 14, 2008 at 10:01:01 PM PDT

      •  yup

        i actually heard eddie's first, on the michael moore fahrenheit 911 soundtrack.

        by wu ming on Wed May 14, 2008 at 10:16:10 PM PDT

        •  Oh my, wu, I am SO much older than you.

          I was singing along angrily with Dylan's version during
          the Vietnam War. But I'll be hitting iTunes for Eddie's.

          by begone on Wed May 14, 2008 at 10:37:31 PM PDT

          •  i was born the year the war ended [for americans]

            and was raised by [albeit rather liberal] republicans on the other side of that great boomer chasm. i didn't really discover dylan until the late 90s, and didn't hear him until a long road trip up I-5 with my wife in 2004, when the moment was ripe.

            what's sad is that in a generation or even two, we haven't really learned to hear dylan, as a society if not as individuals. i'm wrecked looking at the pictures coming out of sichuan lately, and when it dawned on me that that disaster and human suffering is but a fraction of your average war, it set me to weeping again.

            by wu ming on Wed May 14, 2008 at 11:28:44 PM PDT

            •  Damn, I guess Dylan's North Country Fair

              keeps being yanked from YouTube. Wanted to post it in your
              honor.

              by begone on Wed May 14, 2008 at 11:59:57 PM PDT

              •  no matter, a mention is enough

                to get it playing in my head.

                by wu ming on Thu May 15, 2008 at 01:03:51 AM PDT

                •  And I blame you for every 99 cent Dylan download

                  happening on my laptop tonight. It's Lay Lady Lay
                  at the moment because that song distracted me.

                  by begone on Thu May 15, 2008 at 01:27:47 AM PDT

          •  Yes - listened to him on WBAI, New York

            back in the day. When John Wesley Harding came out they played it for at least 12 hours, inviting phone-in listener comment on what the lyrics meant.

            by Creosote on Thu May 15, 2008 at 03:26:27 AM PDT

        •  Heard Eddie sing it live

          at the Wiltern in L.A.

          Goosebumps.

          by occams hatchet on Wed May 14, 2008 at 10:59:27 PM PDT

          •  such a haunted timbre

            so perfect for that song.

            by wu ming on Wed May 14, 2008 at 11:29:20 PM PDT

            •  exactly--his voice is haunting

              that gut wrenching emotion that is his signature tone is perfect for the righteous anger of great protest music.

              "even Jesus would never forgive what you do" is a great line off Dylan's pen and a great line out of anyone's mouth but Eddie made it sound like a prophet's authoritative pronouncement.

              by TrueBlueMajority on Thu May 15, 2008 at 04:50:09 AM PDT

              •  heard eddie/pearl jam perform it...

                ... in washington dc in 2006, 20,000 voices strong singing the last verse.

                later in the show eddie played a "special request" for dick cheney - neil young's "fuckin' up"

                they closed the show with yellow ledbetter with an outro guitar solo of the national anthem

                art as social criticism

                very moving

                by D Wreck on Thu May 15, 2008 at 05:30:36 AM PDT

    •  See Chritopher Ricks's book -

      Dylan's Visions of Sin (HarperCollins, 2005).

      Ricks is "a professor of humanities at Boston University," per the Publisher's Weekly info, who "confirms Dylan's poetic genius and elevates the poet of the north country to canonical status alongside Tennyson, Shakespeare and Milton."

      by Creosote on Thu May 15, 2008 at 03:24:14 AM PDT

    •  New national anthem, maybe. n/t

      by Creosote on Thu May 15, 2008 at 03:27:15 AM PDT

•  if you have never heard the referenced S&G song

  this was the final cut on the album "Parsley Sage Rosemary and Thyme" that Simon and Garfunkel released in 1966 as the Viet Nam war was raging:

  (the crickets at the end are not part of the song.)

  by TrueBlueMajority on Wed May 14, 2008 at 09:39:25 PM PDT

  •  though it is a quiet song

    it is best to play this loud so that the newscaster voice is clear

    by TrueBlueMajority on Wed May 14, 2008 at 09:46:47 PM PDT

    •  my memory also

      recalls that while S&G were in stereo the newscaster was only in one speaker and he eventually got so loud that his volume was almost equal to theirs...

      it is hard to hear the news reader in this version but you get the point.

      by TrueBlueMajority on Wed May 14, 2008 at 09:48:44 PM PDT

  •  that song always brings me close to tears

    the banality of it all, knowing that when it was written there was still a decade's worth of war for americans, and more after that for the vietnamese and cambodians.

    by wu ming on Wed May 14, 2008 at 09:49:52 PM PDT

•  Love this, Wu Ming.

  It would be good if Buchanan could see it. Might make him realize Dylan's voice will ring for ages but his sorry hate filled rants will pass into obscurity along with him.

  by dirtfarmer on Wed May 14, 2008 at 10:00:22 PM PDT

  •  Heheh...history truly is the final arbitor

    Few will remember Pat Buchanan, but Obama already has his place in our history and in our future.

    by David Kroning on Wed May 14, 2008 at 10:05:37 PM PDT

    •  as a historian

      albeit not of modern american history, i suspect that pat buchanan's place in the making of the post-68 order will not be overlooked. the judgement isn't likely to be kind, but he will be remembered, in a sense.

      by wu ming on Wed May 14, 2008 at 10:30:02 PM PDT

      •  We historians remember many things...

        but, what makes it into the "mystic chords of memory" is not only up to us.  The people have their own way of remembering what is important.  That is to what I've been referring all night.

        by David Kroning on Wed May 14, 2008 at 10:35:40 PM PDT

•  Thank you!

  This was perfect.

  by britta on Wed May 14, 2008 at 10:23:49 PM PDT

  •  you're welcome n/t

    by wu ming on Wed May 14, 2008 at 10:30:21 PM PDT