Sunday, January 20, 2013

‘IMAGINE’ BY JOHN LENIN

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John Lennon’s song ‘IMAGINE’ climbed to number 3 on the Billboard charts in 1971, and it is a staple on ‘Classic Rock’ radio stations today. I never did like it. Even when I was a teenager cramming my record collection with so many new hits of the day, and before I was really politically aware enough to understand the dippy hippie anti-Christian / 
anti-Capitalism message of Lennon’s ‘Imagine’, I didn’t like the song for another reason: I thought the melody was sleepy and super-sugary and the music sparse and boring.
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The only thing that changed for me over the years was that I became politically and religiously enlightened enough to reject the Marxist message of ‘Imagine’.
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‘Imagine’ – a slow and boring Marxist anthem. Could any piece of crap music be worse?
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It’s odd what miniscule, inconsequential details from our lives we can sometimes remember decade after decade. I still distinctly recall unwrapping a particular gift on Christmas Day, 1976, when I was 16 years old. It was from my brother Nappy (or, Napoleon, for long), and it was obviously a music album (that twelve and a quarter inch by twelve and a quarter inch flat square was always impossible to disguise with pretty paper, ribbons and bows).  The only question was: What album is it?
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I ripped away a piece of wrapping paper from the front cover of the album and a slice of blue sky was revealed to me. That was 37 years ago, but I still remember thinking this: 
Oh, no! Please don’t let it be John Lennon’s ‘Imagine’.
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I was greatly relieved to discover that brother Nappy had given me the album ‘Stormbringer’ by Deep Purple (one of my favorite bands at that time) and NOT 'Imagine' by John Lennon.
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The older I got, the less I liked John Lennon. I eventually came to realize what a bitterly unpleasant and idealistically silly man he was. In fact, he was so bitter deep inside that the bitterness even manifested in his physiognomy:
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BITTER BRITISH BOY
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In the April 8, 2002 edition of ‘The New American’ magazine, the article ‘Is It Only Rock ‘N’ Roll?’ by Steve Bonta included the following paragraph:
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Regarding ‘Imagine’, John Lennon once admitted, "the song ... is virtually a communist manifesto, even though I am not particularly a communist and I do not belong to any movement. You see, ‘Imagine’ was exactly the same message, but sugar-coated. Now, ‘Imagine’ is a big hit almost everywhere -- anti-religious, anti-nationalistic, anti-conventional, anti-capitalistic song, but because it is sugar-coated it is accepted. Now I understand what you have to do. Put your political message across with a little honey."
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It can be argued whether or not Lennon was in fact a communist. He may have preferred to publicly reject the label because of the negative impact it would have had on his sales and popularity. But one must ask: Why would someone who is “not particularly a communist” write a song that he later described as “virtually a communist manifesto”?
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At its core, Marxism is a diabolical control-the-wealth scheme, not a share-the-wealth plan. And communist or not, John Lennon was a jackass who seemed to find a way to sufficiently enough overlook the terrible atrocities that were occurring in the communist countries to put the “communist manifesto” to music. [Most probably 46 million, 689 thousand human beings murdered in Russia; 37 million, 828 thousand human beings murdered in China; 2 million, 397 thousand human beings murdered in Cambodia ...just to begin with.]
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Last week, DiscConnected posted a new installment titled ‘Redistributing The Wealth’ on his political blog BACK IN THE USSR (one of my very, very favorite political blogs). Something he wrote there gave me the idea to rewrite the lyrics to John Lennon’s ‘Imagine’ and post them as a comment.
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In response to my ‘Imagine’ comment, DiscConnected wrote:
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McDogg --
I'm holding up a lighter!
Encore!
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I took that to mean my “reimagining” of Lennon’s song was a hit with DiscDude. Later, I got the idea that my rewrite of ‘Imagine’ might make a decent blog bit, and so here it is!
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In reworking the lyrics to Lennon’s song, I decided to expose the tyranny that lies behind the dippy hippie, lovey-dovey utopian lyrics. In other words, the dystopian reality hiding in the wings and waiting to step in and take over when “the world will be as one”.
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However, in reimagining the words to ‘Imagine’, I was thinking even more about the coming ‘New World Order’ than I was about the history of Communism. In his truly essential book None Dare Call It Treason25 Years Later’, John Stormer wrote the following:
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The Communist world revolution has been largely financed from its start in 1903 until the present day by American wealth, public and private... every Communist country in the world literally has a 'Made In The U.S.A.' stamp.
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Those International Bankers who gave the world Communism actually have bigger fish to fry, and Communism was merely a stepping stone to something even much worse – the ‘New World Order’ (NWO). And if we can believe what Jesus said, when the single Global Government, or ‘New World Order’, is finally installed “there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be. And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect’s sake those days will be shortened.” [Matthew 24:21-22]
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That is to say, the coming ‘New World Order’ is going to be even more horrendous, by far, than Communism was (is). The principal difference between Communism and the NWO is that the NWO will have a demonic spiritual component to it that purely secular Marxism lacks.
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Alright, here’s how the ex-Beatle wrote the song:
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‘IMAGINE’ by John Lennon
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Imagine there's no heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today...
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Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace...
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You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one
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Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world...
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You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one
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And now I’ll post my more accurate version of the song, but first I need to define a couple of things for some of my non-regular readers.
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The people who ordinarily read this blog are quite intelligent and highly educated with a sound knowledge of world history and the U.S. Constitution. So the following definitions are not meant for them, but for any lesser informed visitors who might stumble upon this blog bit in the future:
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The expression “pie in the sky” was originally coined by a Socialist named Joe Hill, and it basically means: Completely unrealistic expectations of a future reward or eventual positive outcome.
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One definition of the word “undone” is: “brought to destruction or ruin”. [Random House Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary]
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OK, now everybody’s ready.
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‘IMAGINE’ by John Lenin
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Imagine there's no money
It's easy if you try
No shoes below you
Above you only pie
Imagine all the sheeple
Working without pay
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Imagine there's no handguns
It isn't hard, you foo’
Nothing you could rebel with
And no freedom for you
Imagine all the sheeple
Craving milk and meat
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You may say I'm a schemer
But I'm not the only one
I know someday you'll fear us
And the world will be undone
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Imagine no possessions
‘Cept what I took from you
No need for bread or circus:
Your playing days are through
Imagine all the sheeple
Sharing all the pain
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You may say I'm a schemer
But I'm not the only one
I know someday you'll fear us
And the world will be undone
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And there you have it – the truth behind the Pop poop.
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Incidentally, if you’re not already ‘Following’ the political blog BACK IN THE USSR, I highly recommend you do so. It’s a smart examination of contemporary issues that often mixes in a good deal of humor with which to balance the bad news.
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~ Stephen T. McCarthy 
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YE OLDE COMMENT POLICY: All comments, pro and con, are welcome. However, ad hominem attacks and disrespectful epithets will not be tolerated (read: "posted"). After all, this isn’t Amazon.com, so I don’t have to put up with that kind of bovine excrement.
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22 comments:

  1. That was awesome! When you have some time, I suggest you rework:

    "Peace Train"

    "Almost Cut My Hair"

    and then come back to Lenin for a crack at "Give Peace a Chance".

    I loathed Lennon at the time, and in particular this song. I WAS political as a mere child, and I knew damned well he was a collectivist. Heck, I went through a period where I completely disavowed all rock music. Since I disagreed philosophically so profoundly with these people I could not fathom how their artistic endeavors could be worth anything. That was my strictly Beethoven, Bach, and Mozart (with a little Rachmaninoff) period. Later on I lightened up and decided that music was a primarily emotional rather than rational choice, and that I should just go with my gut.

    My gut at the time mostly said: The Who.

    Fun blog bit, Brother.

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  2. SHEBOYGANBOY SIX ~
    Hokey-smoke! You found this one while it was still warm and steaming from the posting.

    Thanks! Glad to know you liked it so much. I almost didn't put it together - wondering whether or not the "comment" I left on another blog was even worth trying to expand into a full blog bit. (It was a form of "poetry", and I have usually been uncertain about the value of my attempts at "poetry".)

    >> . . . and then come back to Lenin for a crack at "Give Peace a Chance".

    Ha!-Ha! What, and no 'Power To The People'?

    I actually alluded to 'Give Peace A Chance' in the block of text just below this blog's title. I kind of jumbled up 'Give Peace A Chance' with Obama's stupid slogan in the 2008 presidential campaign.

    ~ D-FensDogg
    'Loyal American Underground'

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  3. Stephen,
    Love this blog bit. Very accurate and knee slappin hee-lary-ous.


    Love it brother,
    Marc

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  4. BR'ER MARC ~
    Thanks, Bro!

    That's two "thumbs up".

    I guess 'LUMPY GRITS' will be along soon enough to register his/her voice of disapproval. (It always hurts me so deeply when I see that negative vote appear.)
    [;-)}

    ~ D-FensDogg
    'Loyal American Underground'

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  5. No discernible beat, you can’t dance to it, and from day one I was left wondering; is anybody really listening to what this guy is promoting?

    Glad you got ‘inspired’. For what it’s worth, I believe you’re right on the money.

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  6. FARAWAYEYES ~
    Yeah, no beat, no soulfulness - about the Whitest "Cracker" song I can think of.

    Er... well maybe Paul Anka's '(You're) Having My Baby' has it beat by the width of a nose hair.

    >> . . . from day one I was left wondering; is anybody really listening to what this guy is promoting?

    Well, from the looks of things around us - the slide into Marxism on the part of the U.S.A. - I'd say some people were definitely listening.

    ~ D-FensDogg
    'Loyal American Underground'

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  7. I love this. You get extra credit for using the term 'sheeple.'

    My friends always give me shit for not liking John Lennon. Well, tough titties, but I don't.

    I usually cite his song 'God,' where he proudly proclaims that God is just a concept and he doesn't believe in Him, he only believes in himself. Which people always say is such a brilliant way of expressing his individuality, and yet I see it as just an arrogant way of patting himself on the back and putting himself ahead of the man upstairs. But who needs something like humility, because after all, John Lennon was "bigger than Jesus", remember?

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  8. OK, I stand corrected, but what I was trying to say was 'anybody with a brain, who wanted to be treated like more than cattle' (anybody meaning the general populace who still, I hope, had a few red blood cells left,at the time. I'm sure the wizards loved him and his imagining)

    I hate to admit it, but I actually laughed so hard, I snorted at the mention of Paul Anka's YHMY - definitely a snort-worthy tune. Ha, ha, ha.

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  9. Have to say I agree with everything here, and always have. I did see your re-work on BITUSSR, and Lol'ed all over the place.

    And for Sheboyganboy's request for a re-work on Give Peace A Chance, a friend of mine combined it with his and Yoko's "love-in" and got, "All I am saying... is look at my (well, you know)..."

    ReplyDelete
  10. >>Now, ‘Imagine’ is a big hit almost everywhere -- anti-religious, anti-nationalistic, anti-conventional, anti-capitalistic song, but because it is sugar-coated it is accepted. Now I understand what you have to do. Put your political message across with a little honey."

    So that's why I have to look at a 70 foot high, blue profile of Ho Chi Minh when I drive through Boston. (He's got that long, wispy thin beard on the left side of the blue splash.) Then again, I did see Ringo Starr's profile in a cloud the other day.

    Rainbow Swash

    SigToo

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  11. BEER BOY BRYAN ~

    >> . . . I usually cite his song 'God,' where he proudly proclaims that God is just a concept and he doesn't believe in Him, he only believes in himself.

    I'm not even familiar with that song, THANK GOD! But when it comes to John Lennon's deity... I'M AN ATHEIST!

    >> . . . John Lennon was "bigger than Jesus", remember?

    I do remember. But if memory serves me (which, at 53, is questionable), I also seem to remember that the Beatles fell all over themselves trying to "explain" and perform "damage control" regarding Lennon's remark when Americans started burning Beatles records.


    FAE ~

    >> . . . I actually laughed so hard, I snorted at the mention of Paul Anka's YHMY - definitely a snort-worthy tune.

    That's about as bad as a song gets. I think I'd rather listen to Gangsta Rap.

    Way back in the day, on my now defunct 'STUFFS' blog, I used to run these monthly polls. I eventually discontinued that feature due to dwindling interest on the part of voters.

    But I recall that in one poll, I invited readers to vote on which was the worst song of the four or five I proposed. I can't remember all the songs I mentioned, but one was definitely 'I AM WOMAN' and another one was '(YOU'RE) HAVING MY BABY'. (I think 'FEELINGS' may have been another entry.) I cast my own vote for Paul Anka's horrible, bloody mess.

    ~ D-FensDogg
    'Loyal American Underground'

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  12. CW BRO ~
    Thanks for LOL'ing all over the place! I appreciate the appreciation.

    >> . . . a friend of mine combined it with his and Yoko's "love-in" and got, "All I am saying... is look at my (well, you know)..."

    HA!-HA! Yeah, unfortunately, I DO KNOW. Funny stuffs, man!

    John & Yoko - two bozos I would NEVER have wanted to see sans clothing! (Is there some way of eradicating that image from my mind? I'd pay big bucks for the mental healing!)

    But, man, John & Yoko - talk about "a match made in hell"!

    ~ D-FensDogg
    'Loyal American Underground'

    ReplyDelete
  13. SigToo ~
    Ho Chi Minh's profile? Sheesh, man, I didn't see nuttin' like that. I even hollered for Nappy to come and look at it and he didn't see no "Ho" either. (We must not be mainlining the right drugs!)

    Although I must confess that, to me, the dark “RED” streak on the left looked an awful lot like Yoko Ono's 'OH NO!'

    ~ D-FensDogg
    'Loyal American Underground'

    ReplyDelete
  14. Stephen-

    Actually, the melody and arrangement of Lennon's song were SO simple, I got the mass appeal.

    And on the surface, the message appears to be one of peace.

    The time was right-early 70's, a world sick of war-if you did not listen too closely you missed the anti-Christian overtones.

    But while I never loathed the music, like you, I simply grew up enough to realize WHY communism cannot work except as "a diabolical control-the-wealth scheme, not a share-the-wealth plan."

    People, at their core, are not "good" enough for a "share-the-wealth" plan to work.

    All you have to do is read the fable of the ant and the grasshopper.

    Capitalism knows this, and counts on humanity's flaws to make the system work.

    When I was young and idealistic, I thought a world where everyone shared equally would work....until I entered the working world and saw an awful lot of people who were willing to coast and let others do the work for them.

    Now add the removal of the values of Christianity from an already flawed populace.

    What does it look like?

    America in 2013!

    I'm still waving my lighter for this repeat performance!

    Encore! Let's hear the full band version!

    LC

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  15. the Beatles fell all over themselves trying to "explain" and perform "damage control" regarding Lennon's remark when Americans started burning Beatles records

    I always wonder why bands try to stop this practice?

    They've got to BUY the album before they burn it!

    And you know in two weeks they'll forget why they were pissed, want to hear the hits, and BUY it again!

    LC

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  16. DISCCONNECTED ~

    >> . . . the melody and arrangement of Lennon's song were SO simple, I got the mass appeal.

    Yeah, it was kinda like 'HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU...' but without the genuine love.

    >> . . . if you did not listen too closely you missed the anti-Christian overtones.

    Yes, especially if you somehow missed the very first words that "Lenin" sang: "Imagine there's no Heaven."

    Considering how many dope-smoking, acid-dropping societal dropouts there were back then, I guess it was actually possible to miss that.

    >> . . . But while I never loathed the music, like you...

    What "music"? A little tinkling piano? I wouldn't say I "loathed" it. How does one "loathe" sugar-coated dove feathers gently floating on a barely perceptible breeze?

    There's not enough 'THERE' there for anyone to loathe. "I [just] didn’t like the song."

    It wasn't until I got a good deal older and truly understood what Lenin was saying that I came to "loathe" the song.

    >> . . . People, at their core, are not "good" enough for a "share-the-wealth" plan to work.

    I kinda gotta disagree with that. People, at their core, are the very "image" of God, created BY God and in HIS image.

    The earliest Christian community was in fact "communistic". But it was a completely VOLUNTARY community with a shared belief system based on the teachings of Christ.

    Marxism, on the other hand, has always given the world communities forged by force and violence and based on a 180-degree opposite belief system from the first Christian community: There is no God other than the State.

    I was pleased to have an opportunity to promote your excellent blog.

    ~ D-FensDogg
    'Loyal American Underground'

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  17. My appreciation for rock and roll was nurtured by the Beatles and I always liked their music. I was still a Beatles fan when John's album came out, I did get the album for Christmas right after it was released, and I liked it. I don't remember what songs were on it, but I suppose I would still enjoy hearing it.

    My thing is that I don't listen to lyrics much. I didn't pay much attention to Lennon's life or anything back then. For me music is just music and I try to skip the message that is attempted to be conveyed.

    It really grates on my now to hear singers covering "Imagine" and I don't like the song like I used to. But I can dance to it. I'm a really slow dancer and I have no coordination when it comes to tripping the light fantastic.

    Lee
    Tossing It Out

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  18. I was a teenager when the Beatles burst onto the scene. My friends all but swooned at their music, but I was never a huge fan. I like all kinds of music, (except rap) but for some reason, dismissed most of their stuff as too white bread and mayonnaise-y. A little bit of their sound goes a long way for me.

    Good job on the rewrite!

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  19. LEE --- I don't think I've ever heard a cover version of Lenin's 'Imagine'. The original was more than bad enough for me.


    SUSAN --- Thanks! When I was maybe 14 and 15, I loved The Beatles' music (even though I always felt that their 'Sgt. Pepper's' album was quite overrated). However, I grew real tired of their music pretty quickly.

    Today, I like only a small handful of their songs, such as 'Got To Get You Into My Life', 'All You Need Is Love' (reminds me of 5th and 6th grade and my all-time favorite teacher), and side two of "The White Album". That covers most of it.

    ~ D-FensDogg
    'Loyal American Underground'

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  20. I heard Robera Flack sing it at the Civil Rights game in Cincinatti a few years back. Next to the drunk guy who ended up with the ticket we sold to a scalper, it was the lowlight of the night.

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  21. SEE DOUBLE YOU ~
    I can certainly understand why those would be "lowlights" of the night.

    I think from my own perspective, the former would be worse than the latter. I could always get intoxicated myself, making the drunk next to me seem less obnoxious (and maybe even funny); but how does a person "unhear" Roberta Flack sing 'Imagine'?
    Ha!

    ~ D-FensDogg
    'Loyal American Underground'

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  22. Exactly. My son named our neighboring fan "Howard the Drunk" and he has went down in family lore ever since. There's no way to spruce up the dumbest song of all time.

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