Track 5: Gift Horse - Idles

Politics is local.

So yes, I voted today. You should vote too. Now that I’ve voted I’m depressed. People often say “No matter what happens, at least we live in Massachusetts,” and I suppose that’s true, but also makes it seem like Massachusetts is this political paradise immune to corruption, bureaucracy, or conservative ideology disguised as blue blooded neoliberal nonsense.

You should know I’m often described as a left-wing lunatic by people who hear more of my real ideas about politics for more than five minutes. The thing is politics should be very simple, and yet even among people who more or less agree with me on the broad political spectrum, I’m often surprised at how an ideology that basically boils down to “just take care one another” is painted as extreme, unfair, or too far. The establishment has ingrained that idea into us so much that any nudge of the weight firmly placed at the center on the Overton window towards the left side of the spectrum sends up red flags, flares, and alarms.

So I voted and focused on the ballot initiatives. There are two candidates for President but really only one choice. There are quite a few things I’m not happy about with the only real choice - all related to policy - but votes aren’t for perfection, they’re for preference.

Still, my depression is rooted into just how broken it all is. Just how far away we are from the strikingly simple philosophy of “just take care of one another.”

I had a hard time choosing a song today so I just went to get a cup of coffee and Gift Horse came on, and it seemed to fit the mood well. The analogy to a horse race, the boasting about which steer is best, the sheer pointlessness of it all, the emphasis on what’s really important.

Tangk is Idles’ fifth album, released earlier this year. I didn’t give it a fair chance because I had been burned by the last couple of Idles albums. I got into them with the release of their second LP - Joy as an Act of Resistance. After that, their album releases felt flat and similar, stuck in a dull holding pattern. Given that Idles is inexplicably popular, a lot of music fans freaked out over Tangk and I originally ignored the noise, but then a close friend said I should give it a listen, so on a recent train ride, I did. And it’s very good.

This song was the third single and although it sounds somewhat sarcastic, I suspect lead singer Joe Talbot is serious when he’s describing his baby in the breakdown:

My baby she-she's so raw /
I give her love and she gives me more /
Ask us to kneel and bow to the floor /
She said, "No, " and she asked, "What for?" /

My baby, she-she's so strong /
She talks me straight when I'm doing wrong /
Ask us to sing your empire songs /
She laughs, tells you where I'm from /

In other words, Talbot’s not looking a gift horse in the mouth. The gift horse is his baby. He’s grateful for what he’s got. What love does he have for the King?

Fuck the King! He ain’t the king, she’s the King!

A lesson to not look to closely at our own gift horses. Politics is local. Be grateful for what you have. Be grateful for who you have. It’s not perfect but it’s better than politics.

Click here for the Infinite Mixtape on Spotify.
Click here for the Infinite Mixtape on Apple Music.