Easy Dreams at the End of a Chain-Smokin' Day, Easy Dreams At the End of the Day

NBC rocked that Opening Ceremonies as if they thought that every set of eyes in America was glued to their coverage. And they chose to end the thing with Simon and Garfunkel's new single, "Citizen of the Planet?" Which is a total up-with-people imploring-for-peace type of song. It features the rhetorical question device so common (and tasty!) in 1960s protest folk-rock.

"Citizen of the Planet" features such sentiment as: "Who are we to demand / That the leaders of the land / Hear the voices of reason and peace?" The answer? You! Me! We are all citizens of the planet! and the people have the power! Who are we to demand anything of our leaders? We're the motherfucking citizens of the planet, by golly. (Emanci-motherfucking-pater of the slaves, yeah yeah yeah).

So, wait. This mega ratings-whore ended with a peacenik hippie-dippie song by a couple of Jews with receding hairlines?

Doesn't all of this feel an awful lot like 1971?

[Via abstract dynamics via this official one]

Anyway. I'm going to start looking for the summer of love. And, drat it! I was just in San Francisco and I didn't see it. Dang!

"I'm empty and aching and I don't know why."

Yup. That's why I'm walking off to look for Amerika. A time when Amerika was spelled with a "K."

Lyrics:
Citizen Of The Planet

I am a citizen of the planet
I was born here
I’m going to die here
Come what may
I am entitled by my birth
To the treasures of the earth
No one must be denied these
No one must be denied
Easy dreams
At the end of a chain-smokin’ day
Easy dreams at the end of the day

Who am I to believe
That the future we perceive
Lies in danger and the dangers increase
Who are we to demand
That the leaders of the land
Hear the voices of reason and peace

We are the citizens of the planet
We were born here
We’re going to die here
Come what may
We are entitled by our birth
To the treasures of the earth
No one must be denied these
No one must be denied
Easy dreams at the end of a chain-smokin’ day
Easy dreams at the end of the day

Who am I to deny
What my eyes can clearly see
And raise a child with a flame in his heart
Who are we to believe
That these thoughts are so naïve
When we’ve all disagreed from the start

We are the citizens of the planet
We were born here
We’re gong to die here
Come what may
We are entitled by our birth
To the treasures of the earth
No one must be denied these
No one must be denied
Easy dreams at the end of a chain-smokin’ day
Easy dreams at the end of the day