Global Confusion (with apologies to The Temptations)

Some wonderful friends recently moved to southern Alaska (hint: still farther north than almost anywhere). This week the weather there has been warmer than in much of the continental US. They also had no snow, whereas something like 50% of the continental US did. A Facebook discussion combined with the sorry state of research management, political finagling, and poor and confusing reporting, inspired this. If you haven't heard the Temptations song "Ball of Confusion", go youtube it now. I'll wait.

Back? OK, read on with my version for today.

 

People running out, people running in
Why? Because of the clothes on their skin
Sweat, freeze, fry but you can't decide
Don't know who's lyin or tellin me the truth
Vote for me and I'll set you free
Babble on, brother, babble on

Well, the only people talking real solutions ain't in power
And it seems nobody's interested in the truth but the flowers
Natural causes, carbon footprints, solar flares, automation
Correlation, determination, demonstration, disintegration
Aggravation, humiliation, obligation to my nation

Global confusion
Oh yeah, that's what the weather is today
Woo, hey, hey

The sale of votes is at an all time high
Leaders walking round with their heads in the sky
The cities blacked out in the summer time
And oh, the beat goes on

Evolution, revolution, price control, sell your soul
Shooting rockets to the moon, World economies grow too soon
Politicians say carbon taxes will solve everything
And the band played on

So, round and around and around we go
Where the world's headed, said nobody knows
Oh, great Googamooga
Can't you hear me talking to you?

Just a global confusion
Oh yeah, that's what the weather is today
Woo, hey, hey

Fear in the air, tension everywhere
Ocean level rising fast, racing to consume the gas
And it's not even safe to live on an Indian reservation
And the band played on

Eve of destruction, fracking deduction, pollution inspectors, solar collectors
Wind turbines in demand, population out of hand, Maldives, tornadoes
Hippies moving to the hills, people all over the world are shouting
'Climate change!?' and the band played on

Great Googamooga
Can't you hear me talking to you?

It's a global confusion
That's what the weather is today, hey, hey
Let me hear ya, let me hear ya, let me hear ya

Sayin' global confusion
That's what the weather is today, hey, hey
Let me hear ya, let me hear ya
Let me hear ya, let me hear ya, let me hear ya
Sayin' global confusion

The Great Presidential Campaign Massacree of 88

Composed in the Afternoon of Destruct... er, Election (1988-11-01)

Nowhere near my best, but I think it conveys the mood I was in facing such a nasty decision that day...

We wanted a tree so straight and strong
 To hold the sky up all day long
  Protect us from the heat of the day
   And keep the storms' destruction at bay
    But all we got was a scrawny bush.

We wanted a king to lead our land
 To hold at bay with outstretched hand
  The enemies coming to destroy
   Our world so fragile that we enjoy
    But all we got was a second-hand duke.

We wanted an eagle to fly so high
 We'd barely see him with our eye
  Our daily lives to so inspire
   That to these same heights we'd aspire
    But all we got was an unknown quail.

I wanted a metaphor as absurd
 As a tree, a duke, or a national bird
  But Bentsen to few things could compare
   Til one thing gave me quite a scare
    The last time we elected a hot dog Texan into the white
     house as VP to a Massachussets Miracle, we ended up deep
      sneakers in Vietnam!

And me a Texan-
 It is so vexin'...

Reproduced here exactly 26 years (OK, and a few hours) later than originally written. It would have been far more perfect in a presidential election year, but resurfaced as mid-terms are this Tuesday, the 4th.