The other day, I was giving the 1988 album "Big Thing" yet another listen. It's one I like a lot, with the club grinder "All She Wants Is" and the beautiful songs "Do You Believe in Shame" and "Palomino."
But when I listened to it the other day, the song that absolutely blew my mind was "The Edge of America." I sat and listened to the lyrics. Then I put in my earbuds and listened again. I pulled up the full lyrics to read and listened again, then found a great live version (included at the end of this post).
As I sat and listened, I felt a chill run down my spine. They released this song in 1988, but it feels like they were writing about what is going on in this country (and John Taylor's adopted one, at least part-time) right here and now. Take a look at the full lyrics.
The Edge of America (written by Duran Duran)
Walk the edge of America
A concrete beach to scrape my hand
Inside the subway stinking fear and shame
Becomes the violent breath
Vigilantes out on dawn patrol
But now there's nothing left to hide
I'm just a number on the metal fence
Which marks the great divide
Hey boy
Give your dreams a rest
If you're tired of searching
This is where it ends
There's nothing left to lose
Nothing to protest
Learn to love your anger now
Anger here is all you possess
Welcome to the age
Below the towers of the citadel
Seems someone overlooked the cost
Forgotten soldier of paradise
Now paradise is lost
Recognition never realized
Salvation lost among the crowd
So tell me beside this sterile sea
Where is your nation now?
And we say
Hey boy
Give your dreams a rest
If you're tired of searching
This is where it ends
There's nothing left to lose
Nothing to protest
Learn to love your anger now
Anger here is all you possess
Welcome to the edge
I'm not sure what was in their minds in 1988 when they were writing this, but doesn't it feel pertinent to 2022? Sometimes I feel that we're on the edge and with every new finding from the January 6 Committee, we're understanding how perilously close we came to falling off.
I still feel a visceral horror when I watch footage of those people storming our Capitol building and I feel deep-seated anger that there were people in the previous administration who were cheering it on. Not to mention any names. AHEM. Some are trying to say it was "just a protest" and no big deal. One Republican said the rioters were tourists. It's been a year but I haven't forgotten one moment of that. They were not tourists, it was not just a protest, and yes, it was a very big fucking deal.
Don't try to gaslight us.
Soon we'll have public testimony before the Committee and they'll release their report after that. I suspect there will be some referrals to the Department of Justice, although I'm not sure how high up they'll go. You-know-who is promising to pardon the insurrectionists if he's reelected. It is within our power to ensure that does not happen and that all those responsible for that dark day are held accountable to the full extent allowed by the law.
Anger may be all that they possess. Anger at their "country being taken away" from them, with all the implications that carries. We have more than that and let's not forget it.
Don't let our country slip off the edge.
