Die for Oil, Sucker
1991 · Alternative Tentacles VIRUS 90 · San Francisco, California
- Artist
- Jello Biafra
- Title
- Die for Oil, Sucker
- Release
- Die for Oil, Sucker / Pledge of Allegiance
- Year
- 1991
- Label
- Alternative Tentacles # VIRUS 90
- Format
- 7" · Single
- Language
- English
- Country
- San Francisco, California, USA
- Songwriter
- Jello Biafra
- Genre
- Spoken Word · Speech
- Primary theme
- Post-War
Annotation
Jello Biafra, from Colorado, US, known for his satirical, spoken-word and punk records throughout the 80s and 90s, including membership of the well-known Hardcore Punk group Dead Kennedys. He released two spoken-word tracks as a solo artist regarding the Vietnam War: "Vietnam Never Happened" (1987) and "Die for Oil, Sucker" (1991). He also released the song "Wish I Was Back in El Salvador" (1989) which referenced the Vietnam War, in collaboration with Hardcore Punk group D.O.A.. With the Dead Kennedys, he released the Vietnam-related songs "Holiday in Cambodia" (1980) and "We've Got a Bigger Problem Now" (1981). On this single was the spoken-word track "Die for Oil, Sucker" (Alternative Tentacles # VIRUS 90), about the First Gulf War, under President George H. W. Bush, which, as stated in the title, focused on the oil economy, politics, and war. The narrator argued that the country had forgotten the Vietnam War: "Vietnam just a time life book memory, the mask is off again". The song also discussed the Vice-President, Dan Quayle, who had avoided the Vietnam War draft by joining the Indiana National Guard, which he served from 1969 to 1975, arguing that it was a form of draft inequality, not available to people from a socially-economically deprived background: "can't buy our way out like rich folks like Dan Quayle... burn you draft card". Note that the song also referenced the Arab-Israeli conflict, and nuclear bombs.
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
Lyrics
English: You are just about the ripe age to be drafted.... / Die for oil, sucker...sucker...sucker / Born on the firecracker Fourth of July / Raised on football and MTV / Never felt what its like to have to fight to stay free / Vietnam just a time life book memory / The mask is off again this time nobody cares but you can't keep dancing if your legs are blown away.... / You too can get your spinal cord snapped to save greedy kings from the greed of Iraq / Give your life for a country where women can't vote and people still get their hands and heads chopped off.... / But they finally did outlaw slavery in 1962, so progress is being made / And they're sitting on something we can learn to live without but certain fat cat's bank accounts cannot, oil / For this you get to be all you can be, a dead army, navy, air force, marine... / Bush talks about bombing a path to Baghdad 75 miles wide / And if the big bad wolf still won't give up we're going to drop the nuclear bomb and after that we'll just waltz right in to colonize their hearts and minds.... / What's so sick about this is that there's is a better way / Stop selling guns to Arabs and to Israel / Don't need to keep ourselves hostage to oil, use our star wars know how to build solar powered cars.... / For those of us who can't buy our way out like rich folks like Dan Quayle... / Burn you draft card, burn the flag, and burn the Pentagon too
About the artist
Born 17 June 17 1958, Boulder, Colorado, USA. Currently San Francisco, California, USA.
Themes
Draft · Anti-War · First Gulf War · Disabled Vet · Cold War · Saddam Hussein · Film · George H. Bush · Vietnam Analogy