Line #40 Music/DavidRovics


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/david_rovics_800_1082_90.jpg]]
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3	David Rovics (born April 10, 1967) is an American indie singer/songwriter and anarchist. His music concerns topical subjects such as the 2003 Iraq war, anti-globalization, and social justice issues.
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5	David Rovics grew up in a family of classical musicians in Wilton, Connecticut, and became a fan of populist regimes early on. By the early 90’s he was a full-time busker in the Boston subways and by the mid-90’s he was travelling the world as a professional flat-picking rabble-rouser. These days David lives in Portland, Oregon and tours regularly on four continents, playing for audiences large and small at cafes, pubs, universities, churches, union halls and protest rallies.
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7	!!Tropes associated with David Rovics and his music:
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9	* AnArmAndALeg: "The Face of Victory" is sung from the perspective of a returned veteran who lost both legs to an IED in Iraq.
10	* BombThrowingAnarchists: As an anarchist himself, Rovics does not subscribe to this view of anarchy, but the protagonists of at least two of his songs could be viewed this way. "The Face of Victory" ends with the disabled vet protagonists contemplating an Oklahoma City style bombing, and "Halliburton Boardroom Massacre" is about ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin with a ShellShockedVeteran massacring the board of the company he sees as responsible for the war for oil which caused his terminal illness.
11	* CorruptCorporateExecutive: The evils of corporate greed is a recurring theme in David's work, including "Henry Ford Was a Fascist":
12	-->''Ford built tanks for the Nazis\
13	And the Nazis used those tanks\
14	To gun down lots of soldiers\
15	In the U.S. Army ranks\
16	Yes, Henry Ford was a fascist\
17	And a nasty one was he\
18	He'd build tanks for anyone\
19	For the proper fee''
20	* HorribleHistoryMetal: Rovics has multiple songs about historic events, including "The Battle of Blair Mountain" about [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin The Battle of Blair Mountain]]: [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Blair_Mountain the largest labour uprising in United States history and the largest armed uprising since]] UsefulNotes/TheAmericanCivilWar[[note]]And how many Americans have even heard of it?[[/note]].
21	* JaywalkingWillRuinYourLife: "Deadhead in Prison" is based on the true story of a woman who spent 20 years in a Texas prison after being arrested for dealing small amounts of marijuana and LSD to support herself while following Music/TheGratefulDead on tour in her late teens.
22	* KillerCop: In "Butcher for Hire", David expresses this opinion about RealLife police chief [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Timoney_(police_officer) John Timoney]], who was hired by multiple different cities (and the Republic of Bahrain) to conduct brutal crackdowns on civil disobedience.
23	-->''But someday he'll meet his end\
24	He's already half-way round the bend\
25	He'll take stock of what he's done\
26	Stare at the notches on his gun\
27	He'll look into the mirror and at his poor wife\
28	And say, "Oh my God -- I've been a scumbag my whole life"''
29	* LyricalDissonance: Several of Rovics' songs, such as "Butcher for Hire" and "Henry Ford Was a Fascist", combine very dark subject matter with an upbeat and catchy tune.
30	* MurderIsTheBestSolution: Subverted by "Do Not Kill Your Landlord", which lists many other ways of coping with an unreasonable landlord, like a DartboardOfHate, playing loud music outside their house (specifically about [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revolutions_of_1848 1848]]), or organizing a tenant union, but advises against murdering them:
31	-->''But do not kill your landlord, it will not end well,\
32	You'll be living rent-free - inside a prison cell.''
33	* PieInTheFace: "Song for the BBB" is a musical tribute to the Biotic Baking Brigade: a loosely connected group of activists famous for throwing pies in the faces of such figures as Bill Gates, San Francisco mayors Willie Brown and Gavin Newsom, anti-gay preacher Fred Phelps, economist Milton Friedman, Swedish King Carl Gustaf, former Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chrétien, conservative journalist William F. Buckley, right-wing Dutch politician Pim Fortuyn, former WTO head Renato Ruggiero, and Ann Coulter, among others.
34	* RecruitersAlwaysLie: "Song for Cindy Sheehan":
35	-->''He wouldn't have to fight\
36	Cindy hoped this was the case\
37	And prayed for him every night\
38	That was before they sent him\
39	To the desert with a gun\
40	She is every mother\
41	And he was every mother's son''
42	* SuicideByCop: The end of "Halliburton Boardroom Massacre":
43	-->''I'll spare you the details, I did what I had to do\
44	There's a boardroom blown to hell and soon I will be too''
45	* TakingYouWithMe: From "Halliburton Boardroom Massacre":
46	-->''I thought of Halliburton and the military brass\
47	And the things they get away with\
48	All for their ruling class\
49	But I'm not a pawn and I can't let it be\
50	And if I'm gonna die I'm gonna take some of them fuckers with me''
51	* TeenyWeenie: "The Alligator Song" explains how pollution is causing alligator dicks to shrink and how this could happen to humans:
52	-->''I’m not beating around the bush\
53	I’m making you a promise\
54	Say goodbye to Long Dong Silver\
55	Hello to Tiny Thomas\
56	You can forget about Viagra\
57	Boys, what I mean is\
58	It’s all a matter of minutiae\
59	When you’ve got a half-inch penis''
60	* ThatManIsDead: From "Halliburton Boardroom Massacre":
61	-->''I was supposed to stay a year\
62	They sent me for four\
63	By the time I got back home, no one knew me anymore\
64	Of the man I once was there didn't seem to be a trace\
65	And when I looked me in the mirror I didn't recognize my face''
66	* WarIsHell: A common theme in Rovics' work, his songs tell how the horror of war leaves no one untouched: the soldiers (e.g. "When Johnny Came Marching Home"), the non-combatants (e.g. "Baghdad") and those left at home (e.g. "Song for Cindy Sheehan").
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Context Music / DavidRovics