Beatles Song of the Week: Revolution

The meaning of this song is quite self-explanatory after you listen to it. Written by John Lennon, "Revolution" was the B-side to the Beatles' famous "Hey Jude". On the left is the original, recorded in 1968, while the video on the right is a cover from "Across the Universe" (as usual).

  

Politics and arts are inevitably linked together. The arts are our method of expression, through words, pictures, and sounds. In different societies throughout human history, opinions on politics - whether it is a moment of anger or hope - is captured in art. Struggles in Latin America is expressed in their poetry; cartoons and satires reflect political opinions; paintings and posters show political and religious propaganda; music reflects the composer's support and frustration. "Revolution" is John Lennon's frustrations on the Vietnam War. This image and time is recaptured in the clip shown above.

The frustrations continue. It can be the War on Terrorism. Corrupt governments. Reckless decisions in economics leading to lost pensions and recessions. Tax hikes. Environmental Disasters. Climate change. Human rights. But how can we actually fix these problems? Most of our solutions are just as corrupt as the problems (if not worse).

The movie "Evan Almighty" used this song in its soundtrack. The main character, Evan, plays a local politician who runs for Congressman with the slogan "Change the World", with an optimism that is similar to Obama's change campaign, "Yes We Can". But one and a half years later, is the world any different?

I'm not saying that we should give up. But as "we all want to change the world", it's helpful to step back and re-evaluate our positions, to make sure we're not falling into the traps that we're trying to remove. And in those times of great frustration - have faith, "everything's going to be all right".