"I Went To Bed Knowing The Revolution Had Been Postponed ..."

"Sell it and they will come", as one song puts it.

Earlier this evening, as a car commercial played on the television to the strains of "Dust in the Wind" by Kansas, the Cautious Wife turned to me and said, "Hey, guess who sold his music for a car ad?" I was unaware, and she informed me, of a new Chevy Truck ad with Steve Earle's "The Revolution Starts Now" as the theme music.

Well, imagine my surprise.

Other folks were taken aback, for example, this gentleman I found while "Googling" around for some reactions -

When the Left Hand Don't Know What the Devil's Right Hand Is Selling

The most shocking moment of yesterday's All-Star Game? No, not Tim McCarver spending 15 minutes explaining his man-crush on the missing Derek Jeter (whose looks are much better than his ability to field, except for that go to his right slide and pop up move that probably truly sends Tim's heart a-flutter). No, not even the ubiquitous plug for the needless remake of Bad News Bears, with Billy Bob Matthau.

It was a Chevy truck ad. I sat there thinking, "Gee, that background music is familiar," but couldn't place it for a few seconds, probably because it was by one of the last people I ever expected to sell his songs. For what to my wondering ears did appear but the voice of harcdore troubadour Steve Earle telling us buying this Chevy meant "the revolution starts...now."

Okay, so that particular song meant something other than "trucks" at one time on this site. But, on the other hand, what better way to carry songs and their ideas to the country at large, than by entering through the door marked "pickup truck ads"? Or, is this something that has no deep meaning whatsoever?

In any event, for a Steve Earle song with a Chevy truck in it, you have to look to "The Week of Living Dangerously" ("Buddy you'd be surprised how fast a Chevrolet truck can go"), where the protagonist runs off from wife, kids and job to cut loose in Mexico, but ends up right where he began -

Well I woke up in a county jail 'cross the line in Laredo
With a headache and a deputy staring at me through the door
Well he said "Now how you got across that river alive, I don't know
But your wife just made your bail so now you're really dead for sure"

Now my wife, she called my boss and cried so I got my job back
And the boys down at the plant, they whisper and stare at me
Yea well my wife can find a lot of little jobs to keep me on the right track
Well, but that's a small price to pay for a week of living dangerously

Some of the best Steve Earle songs have a little irony in them. So, if capitalism carries a little bit of the message out, who's laughing last?