THEY ALL KNOW THAT CRAP IS KING


when it's said and done they haven't told you a thing.

I woke up this morning to hand-wringing about the U.S. Women's Gymnastics Team's heartbreaking loss (you know, as if being second best in the world is something that'll haunt you for the rest of your life), brow-furrowing about exactly when and where and how (but, thank God, not how long or deep) John Edwards carried on with that camcorder-toting glorified groupie, and garment-rending over a young boy who survived a bear-attack in the Great Smoky Mountains (if he'd survived a vicious bear attack in New York City, that might have been news), and I'd just suffered through Cris Collinsworth's Phelps family profile and Mary Carillo's panda porn report before going to bed, so I was in just the right frame of mind to hear and enjoy and maybe even revel in a little iTunes shuffle-up this afternoon of a song that, I had to remind myself, and now remind you, was written twenty-six years ago.

We knew it was good, and accurate, back then. But we had no idea, only two years after the launch of CNN, and still six years before the internet would open to commercial interests, how truly prophetic it was...


DIRTY LAUNDRY
Don Henley

I make my living off the evening news
Just give me something, something I can use
People love it when you lose
They love dirty laundry

Well, I could've been an actor, but I wound up here
I just have to look good; I don't have to be clear
Come and whisper in my ear
Give us dirty laundry

Kick 'em when they're up, kick 'em when they're down
Kick 'em when they're up, kick 'em when they're down
Kick 'em when they're up, kick 'em when they're down
Kick 'em when they're up, kick 'em all around

We got the bubbleheaded bleach-blonde comes on at 5
She can tell you 'bout the plane crash with a gleam in her eye
It's interesting when people die
Give us dirty laundry

Can we film the operation? Is the head dead yet?
You know the boys in the newsroom got a running bet
Get the widow on the set
We need dirty laundry

You don't really need to find out what's going on
You don't really want to know just how far it's gone
Just leave well enough alone
Keep your dirty laundry

Kick 'em when they're up, kick 'em when they're down
Kick 'em when they're up, kick 'em when they're down
Kick 'em when they're up, kick 'em when they're down
Kick 'em when they're stiff, kick 'em all around

Dirty little secrets, dirty little lies
We got our dirty little fingers in everybody's pie
Love to cut you down to size
We love dirty laundry

We can do the innuendo, we can dance and sing
When it's said and done, we haven't told you a thing
We all know that crap is king
Give us dirty laundry...

Posted: Wed - August 13, 2008 at 07:01 PM          

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