THE POLITICS OF DANCING, PART FOUR OR SO. Part something-or-other in an occasional series in which I relate pop lyrics to the workings of my own tangled cerebellum. Previous installments include: theological reflections on the Cramps’ “Eyeball in My Martini“; Cat Power and postmodernism; and Queen’s “Princes of the Universe” and beauty. This time: Elvis Costello’s “Brilliant Mistake,” as a preliminary to a more in-depth post on America (probably later this week). The song is too long to post the lyrics, but you can find them here. You can find a previous post on America here. For now, I just want to throw out some statements, some of which I mostly agree with, some of which I mostly disagree with, to be riffed on later. Feel free to email me about any of these; your comments will be incorporated into the longer post.

America is the name of our dream.

America is the place where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in.

The sun never sets on Coca-Cola.

America is a nation with the soul of a church.

America is the great antidote to the poisons of enthusiasm and superstition.

It is the eternal destiny of America to remain forever young.