No One Listen

Hey man, call the D.A., call the National Guard,
Call the President
Call anyone in the land of the free
'Cos they ain't gonna listen to me...

This one better get some airplay in New Orleans. For those who haven't been paying attention, Ray Davies has spent some difficult times in New Orleans, but he's not singing the slow and pain-filled blues. "No One Listen" is a hard-driving and relentless rock-out of a song.

The voice on the phone says we'll
get right back but they say
All the computers are down
And the chief prosecutor had to go out of town
No one listen, nobody listens
No one listens to me...

I feel like that a lot these days. So many examples everywhere I turn: The Executive Branch only listens to the Decider, while Republicans refuse to listen and Democrats claim they are listening but can't act. Meanwhile presidential candidates claim they don't listen to lobbyists or corporate donors.

Hey man call the government
Write to City Hall, United Nations
Tell the preacher at the missionary
'Cos he ain't gonna listen to me.
But nobody listen to me.

The more I look around my city, the more depressed I get at all the for-sale signs sprouting like fungi in the front yards of every neighborhood, rich to poor.

Blame the hurricanes, blame the drug trade,
The economy,
Blame the ghettos in the land of the free
'Cos they ain't gonna listen to me

Mayor says we are going to have a "green print" for Akron, but dumps that into the laps of the non-profit organization responsible for planting flowers around the city. Um, don't you think we need a few scientists, engineers, architects, water and energy experts and probably lawyers involved in the planning?

Everybody knows it's a cryin' shame
how the little guy gets kicked around
Everybody I talk to agrees that if you wanna get
heard its connections that count

Tell the National Guard
Tell the talk show on the TV
Tell the winos in the old man bar
'Cos they ain't gonna listen to me.