unnotable notes

Mexican cake icing – foto by Smith

“Music hath charms to soothe a savage breast, to soften rocks, or bend a knotted oak.” William Congreve

I’ve heard a lot of good Mexican music, but none of it in our 15 months in Mexico. Down there the best I heard was Cuban jazz. Most Mexican music we heard was Mariachi horns, pumping oompa-oompa accordions, the soap operatic wailing whining vocal pyrotechnics ala our current popular overwrought diva wave of Celine Dions and Mariah Careys, and clumsy over-produced counterfeit country music.

The CIA has been using American music as a torture device to break the spirit and minds of the “enemy combatants” they’ve illegally kidnapped and are torturing and murdering in Guantanamo Bay Prison. Perhaps our CIA should switch to Mexican music instead.

Here in no particular odor is a list of American music the CIA has used to torture:

AC/DC (“Hells Bells,” “Shoot to Thrill”)
Aerosmith
Barney the Dinosaur (theme song)
Bee Gees (“Stayin’ Alive”)
Britney Spears
Bruce Springsteen (“Born in the USA”)
Christina Aguilera (“Dirrty”)
David Gray (“Babylon”)
Deicide
Don McLean (“American Pie”)
Dope (“Die MF Die,” “Take Your Best Shot”)
Dr. Dre
Drowning Pools (“Bodies”)
Eminem (“Kim,” “Slim Shady,” “White America”)
Lil’ Kim
Limp Bizkit
Matchbox Twenty (“Gold”)
Meat Loaf
Metallica (“Enter Sandman”)
Neil Diamond (“America”)
Nine Inch Nails (“March of the Pigs,” “Mr. Self Destruct”)
Prince (“Raspberry Beret”)
Queen (“We Are the Champions”)
Rage Against the Machine (“Killing in the Name”)
Red Hot Chili Peppers
Saliva (“Click Click Boom”)
The “Sesame Street” theme song
Tupac (“All Eyes on Me”)

[ thanks to Peter Ball of the music group Apartment One for sending me this list, which he got from “Music As Torture” By Terry Teachout, Wall Street Journal, 2-14-2009 ]

Mexican cake icing – foto by Smith