3 Song Comparison Assignment

Songs about imperialism

1) The Beatles-Bungalow Bill

This song may not seem to be about imperialism but theres some deeper meening behide the lyrics. For instence

 the line ''He's the all American bullet-headed saxon mother's son" and the line "Deep in the jungle where the mighty

 tiger lies" are refering to the american invasion of Vietnam. This makes sense since the Vietcong were called tiger's by

 the american G.I's because they would jump out of the bushes and surprise american soldiers. The song also

 references "Captain Marvel" zapping a tiger in the eyes which would be an american shooting a vietnamese

person. I think however that the biggest piece of evedence would be the lines"The children asked him if to kill was

 not a sin."Not when he looked so fierce", his mummy butted in "If looks could kill it would have been us instead

 of him". This set of lines shows that the american had shot a civilian simply because he looked like the enemy.

This shows true imperialism because the american shows no remorse over killing the man because hes seen as less

 of a person then him.

2) Minutemen-The Price of Paradise

This song is much more to the point of the imperialism of vietnam. It even mentions it in the line "Across the ocean

 in a land they call Vietnam. Young men dying is all it would cost". The song talks about the heavy loses on both sides

 because of the war and about how the vietnam war was only fuelled by greed and corruption. One of the heavier

lines in this song is "All pawns and puppets of flesh and bone. Will die for their leaders far from their homes.

These are men who died very young. Afraid to see that their cause was unjust" which talks about even though the

 soldiers though they were doing some good for the country they were really just using it for its naturel resources and

 money.

3) Dead Kennedys-California Uber Alles

This song is less about the Vietnam War and more about the corruption and imperialism of the United States.

The song compares the United States to the Theird Reich in many different way. In the lines "Now it is 1984.

 Knock-knock at your front door. It's the suede/denim secret police. They have come for your uncool niece."

 the song talks about how government oficials dreeses as citizens will come to peoples houses and take away

people they deem unfit for society. They go further into this and the Nazi comparisons in the next four lines

 "Come quietly to the camp. You'd look nice as a drawstring lamp. Don't you worry, it's only a shower. For

your clothes here's a pretty flower." . The references are pretty clear in these lines, the showers are obviously

refering to the concentration camp showers that the Nazi's used during WW2. This song has many references to

imperialism and inner-country corruption and even if its not the most obvious choice for an imperialistic song i think

 its different while still talking about the same thing.