Song? Frank Sinatra's "I did it my way" is the manifesto. I'm surprised no one here has mentioned it yet. The other end of the spectrum: Streisand's "People who need people."

Now for pure listening joy (my father was a classical concert pianist) nothing tops Liszt's Second Hungarian Rhapsody. Hardly anyone can play it well enough for my refined ears, though this Horowitz version ranks high: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v95I6kGg...

Thanks to all for sharing links to their favorites. I'm enjoying hearing them. What an amazing mix of tastes and talents.

Great description, Brad. Pure poetry!

Kate Upton playing chess. . "Will you be my hero?" -- j
.

death is a strange thing -- you just can't get your
imagination around it. . the very essence of finality,
and a graceful sort of thing also. . the long sleep. -- j
.

It's a fantasy war, more like chess than say, that one about carjacking. What troubles me is those who live in the fantasy rather than the challenges of the real world.

Until you get real close to the reality of war. Say, holding a dying friend in your arms and unable to do anything except watch him die. The great wonder is that there are men and women willing to be in the military. They deserve our respect and support. One should always keep in mind that when they do something stupid, it's usually because some politician made it so.

game of war ad:::

http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=game...

-- j
.

and the movie "war games" which is an interesting
exposé on nuclear war. . but, lately, some of us are
enjoying the public service announcements on the
tv which mention "game of war" -- fascinating!!! -- j
.

Never thought of it like that. Of course. Whenever describing a war or a battle the phrase "laying waste" usually appears. You make it an entire category with war at the top. One more reason to avoid it if possible. (Good grief! Those War games on your computer. AAArgh.)

the process of laying waste to value is everywhere,
but war is the ultimate waster. . we have a long list,
from tiny time-wasters like retrieving a written-down
password to big ones like government waste -- but
war trumps them all. . many would consider it
government waste. -- j
.

'Six Pieces for Orchestra ' by Tony Banks.
'Piano Concerto No.1 by Keith Emerson, especially the first movement.

'Six Pieces for Orchestra' by Tony Banks

They're all nasty. People actually killed each other. I think that younger generations really don't understand war. They think it's what they see on TV. It doesn't touch them personally. When I told some of my grandson's friends that the purpose of an army was to kill people and break things, they were polite, but I could see that they didn't believe me.

I bet that situations like that happened frequently --
that was a nasty war. -- j
.

I wouldn't call the Saint-Seans concerto a song. Heart-tugging beautiful, however. Did you know that during WW2 he was vacationing on one of the Canary Islands when he was arrested for being a spy. Someone saw him sketching out some musical phrases on staff paper and thought he was writing a message in code.

Yes, that's the self-pitying idiot.

Gilbert O'Sullivan?

happy to see references to rush. let me add one, hold your fire. also the who's won't get fooled again.

Boiling: Imagine by John Lenin. Oops. I meant lennon.

Best Flash Mob I've seen yet!!!

Oh, and on the other side of the argument, the song that has really bothered me is "War Pigs" by Black Sabbath. Love many Black Sabbath and Ozzy songs but War Pigs rubbed me the wrong way!!!

When I bought the LP 2112, I took it home and put on my headphones. Started side one while reading the album cover, by the time side one ended I was in awe.

This is from Wikipedia:
In the year 2062, a galaxy-wide war results in the union of all planets under the rule of the Red Star of the Solar Federation. By 2112, the world is controlled by the "Priests of the Temples of Syrinx," who determine the content of all reading matter, songs, pictures — every facet of life.

A man discovers an ancient guitar and learns to play his own music. Thinking he has made a wonderful discovery that will be a boon to humanity, he goes to present the guitar to the priests of the Temples, who angrily destroy it and rebuke him for unearthing one of the "silly whims" that caused the collapse of the previous civilization. He goes into hiding and dreams of a world before the Solar Federation. Upon awakening he becomes distraught and commits suicide. As he dies, another planetary battle begins resulting in the ambiguous ending "Attention all planets of the Solar Federation: We have assumed control." (This spoken section was created by Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson reportedly "messing around with a tape recorder.") On the "2112/Moving Pictures" episode of the television series Classic Albums, Neil Peart confirmed that he intended the ending to be a happy one as the people of the Solar Federation are liberated.

On the album, Peart credits "the genius of Ayn Rand." Rand, a Russian-born, Jewish-American novelist and creator of the philosophy of Objectivism, wrote a novella titled Anthem (itself adopted as the title of another Rush song, from the album Fly By Night) from which Peart borrowed the broad strokes of the plot. This caused the band significant negative publicity, the band often being labeled as right-wing extremist, the British NME even making allusions to Nazism, an insinuation particularly offensive to lead singer Geddy Lee whose parents survived a Nazi concentration camp.[4]

This album inspired me from the time I was 17.

Boingo's 'Only a Lad' vs 'Love the one you're with.' Neither speaks directly to capitalism, but more to society and choices in general

Here's one from a surprising source, Oingo Boingo called "Capitalism"

Oops. I forgot the yang to my yins. Doesn't make my blood boil, but definitely turns my stomach when ever I hear John Lennon's "Imagine". Blech! Then on the other hand, I really get a hoorah kick from the Beatles' "Taxman".

Btw, I am really enjoying going through and listening to the music. Thanks all.