The Beatles: Conservative Prophets?

Remember Beatlemania? Yeah, me neither. But I've read a lot about it. Idolized by the fans as none were before or since (save, perhaps, The One?), many spent endless hours studying their lyrics and album art convinced that this band was either the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (see Manson, Charles, if you must), or prophets of a new era.

Silly? Yes, as silly as the adulation of Barack Obama has turned out to be. And yet...looking back now, with decades having past, one can look at their songs and lyrics and start to wonder if these guys were in fact prophets, just not prophets of the Sixties and Seventies, but prophets of the 21st century. For all of their misleading, confusing, songs with oblique lyrics, it is the songs the speak the clearest that most accurately portend the world, circa 2010.

I've already applied "Revolution". Now let's hop in the WABAC machine and head to 1966, when a young George Harrison wrote...Taxman.

Did he foresee Barack Obama and the Democratic Congress of 2010? Let's see:

Let me tell you how it will be;
There's one for you, nineteen for me.
'Cause I'm the taxman,
Yeah, I'm the taxman.

Should 5 per cent appear too small,
Be thankful I don't take it all.
'Cause I'm the taxman,
Yeah, I'm the taxman.

And isn't that the underlying threat of the Democrats in power today? "Give what I ask for, and say "thank you" when you are giving it, lest I demand, and take, even more"

Now, can we deconstruct this stanza? Yes we can!

If you drive a car, car, I'll tax the street;
If you try to sit, sit, I'll tax your seat;
If you get too cold, I'll tax the heat;
If you take a walk, I'll tax your feet.

A cold prophecy of cap and trade. The taxation on gasoline (and the soon-to-be imposed tax on mileage), and the taxation on energy usage, including heat, which Obama has been promising for years. Tax our feet? Hello, health care reform! Wait until you see what a podiatrist will cost you in 2012...

Finally, the Death Tax:

Now my advice for those who die, (taxman!)
Declare the pennies on your eyes. (taxman!)
'Cause I'm the taxman,
Yeah, I'm the taxman.

And you're working for no one but me.

Taxman!

Oh...my...God. It's like...they knew of the horrors that would befall us! Nostradamus, move over. I'm diggin' through my old Beatles collection, looking to hear what Obama and the Democrats are going to pull on us next. Thank you George, Paul, John, and Ringo!

Hat tips: Here and here