Now here's a little story I've got to tell
About three bad brothers you know so well
It started way back in history
With Adrock, M.C.A., and me - Mike D.
Been had a little horsy named Paul Revere
Just me and my horsy and a quart of beer!
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Had to be done:
About three bad brothers, you know so well
It started way back in history
With Adrock, M.C.A., and me, Mike D.
Been had a little horsy named Paul Revere
Just me and my horsy and a quart of beer
Riding across the land, kicking up sand
Sheriff's posse on my tail cause I'm in demand
One lonely Beastie I be
All by myself, with nobody
The sun is beating down on my baseball hat
The air is gettin' hot, the beer is getting flat
Lookin' for a girl, I ran into a guy
His name is M.C.A., I said, "Howdy", he said, "Hi"
He told a little story, that sounded well rehearsed
Four days on the run and that he's dying of thirst
The brew was in my hand, and he was on my tip
His voice was hoarse, his throat was dry, he asked me for a sip
He said, "Can I get some?"
I said, "You can't get none!"
Had a chance to run
Pulled out his shotgun
Quick on the draw, I thought I'd be dead
He put the gun to my head and this is what he said,
"Now my name is M.C.A., I've got a license to kill
I think you know what time it is, it's time to get ill
Now what do we have here, an outlaw and his beer
I run this land, you understand, I make myself clear."
We stepped into the wind, he had a gun, I had a grin
You think this story's over but it's ready to begin
Now, "I got the gun, you got the brew
You got two choices of what you can do
It's not a tough decision as you can see
I can blow you away or you can ride with me" I said,
I'll ride with you if you can get me to the border
The sheriff's after me for what I did to his daughter
I did it like this, I did it like that
I did it with a whiffleball bat
So I'm on the run, the cop's got my gun
And right about now, it's time to have some fun
The King Adrock, that is my name
And I know the fly spot where they got the champagne."
We rode for six hours then we hit the spot
The beat was a bumping and the girlies was hot
This dude was staring like he knows who we are
We took the empty spot next to him at the bar
M.C.A. said, "Yippe Yo, you know this kid?"
I said, "I didn't.", but I know he did
The kid said, "Get ready cause this ain't funny
My name's Mike D. and I'm about to get money."
Pulled out the jammy, aimed it at the sky
He yelled, "Stick 'em up!", and let two fly
Hands went up and people hit the floor
He wasted two kids that ran for the door
"I'm Mike D. and I get respect
Your cash and your jewelry is what I expect"
M.C.A. was with it and he's my ace
So I grabbed the piano player and I punched him in the face
The piano player's out, the music stopped
His boy had beef, and he got dropped
Mike D. grabbed the money, M.C.A. snatched the gold
I grabbed two girlies and a beer that's cold.
Ha! I'm not the only one to reference the Beastie Boys...
Is that Paul "The Traitor" Revere?
Hey if your government hadn't allowed the sugar barons of the Carribean to dictate unfair trading laws in Parliment to bolster their own fortunes during the mid 18th Century, perhaps we would be part of the Commonwealth right now. Hard to tell. Hindsight is always 20-20.
At least you folks got rid of the rotten boroughs they used to buy for their interests in 1832...
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I remember going on holiday to Boston a couple of years ago, and of course if you do the tourist stuff you hear Paul Revere's name absolutely everywhere. We also went to a sort of multimedia diorama which explained what he did and what happened afterwards. Now, looking at it from the British side, ultimately what the whole thing looked like at the time was British subjects firing on their own troops. It wasn't even really a glorious battle or anything - the settlers stood on top of hills and took potshots at the redcoats walking down the road. If it hadn't worked, the ringleaders would most definately have been hanged as traitors to the British Crown.
I really can't get that sort of elevated feeling that this was a big strike for freedom and instead it seemed to be more about money than anything else. (And it is worth noting that the rights the settlers wanted were not actually granted to anyone at home either.) So I get a bit cynical when I hear the name Paul Revere, particularly as he wasn't a big deal at the time and it was Longfellow's poem long after the events that sealed his fame, and that he seemed to be almost a sort of cynical tourism icon ("Hey, we need to get some tourists in - let's call this the 'Paul Revere Amusement Arcade'") than a real man anymore.
Now, don't get me wrong, America is easily the second best country in the world and I have no beef about American independence. But the whole episode to me seemed quite grubby. That's not to say we don't do similar things here either - Guy Fawkes Night effectively memorialises the subjugation of Catholics, international plotting and espionage and a very brutal execution as well as the foiling of a plot to assassinate King James I. But, I dunno, the rather gleeful tone in Boston rather bothered me at the time.
Now, don't get me wrong, America is easily the second best country in the world and I have no beef about American independence.
And what would be the "first best country in the world" for you ?
Just curious.
... But, I dunno, the rather gleeful tone in Boston rather bothered me at the time.
That's the problem. I live in Massachusetts, and I think that Boston is over the top. It has always been a magnet for rabble rousers and radicals. Heck, we have a large Irish-American population that thinks the IRA are 'freedom fighters' while they chant 'death to al-Qaeda!' We regularly riot over sports teams winning OR losing, and our legislatiors are the laughingstock of America. (Although the media has done a bang-up job lately buffing Teddy's tarnished image now that he is terminally ill.). Boston also has a huge amount of universities, which I believe lends itself to its radical air. Nothing more radical that a young adult going to school on the parents' dime.
Boston has always liked to claim the 'Cradle of Revolution' status, but when you peel back the jingoism, it was a trade war gone sour, and an unwillingness to allow the 'colonists' to have a say in the laws being enacted that pushed them over the edge. 'No taxation without representation' is a cogent point of the whole sad affair. The radicals were the frontmen for the Boston shipping interests who were becoming a great power in the world at that time. These 'Boston Brahmins' went on to fund the American Industrial Revolution. If a colonial Parliament with power over the colonies' laws had been arrainged, we would be a lot more English these days, IMHO.
Now I must say, that the American Revolution did have beneficial side effects. The American Constitution was a magnificent achievement, and the fact that it still stands 220+ years after its creation with only slight amendments says something. Despite a few years of hostility, England and America are fast friends. Don't take Boston as America. It's like taking Salisbury as England.
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Now I must say, that the American Revolution did have beneficial side effects. The American Constitution was a magnificent achievement, and the fact that it still stands 220+ years after its creation with only slight amendments says something. Despite a few years of hostility, England and America are fast friends.
Oh, I agree totally - the founding fathers were (generally) very far-sighted and America has been a beacon of democracy (more so than the UK) for centuries (though, like any power, not without its imperfections).
Yeah, nobody in New England likes Boston! ;)
Well, with New England Atlantic Amber (Norwalk, CT) no longer available, Samuel Adams stock ale will do in a pinch.
Don't forget the Celtics in the '60's and '80's!
Contributor, RPG Superstar 2008 Top 4, Legendary Games
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I was on a driving trip through New England last spring, and one of my stops was at Concord and Lexington and the series of parks in between that trace the path of Revere and his two companions that night. It actually was a really neat experience, one of my favorites of the trip... following the trail, reading historical markers. Like: "This spot, RIGHT here, that's where Paul Revere was captured. THE Paul Revere." And then he went back to jail in Lexington while his homies went on to Concord to roust the militia. Another neat spot there, just on the east side of the "Old North Bridge" (the site - the bridge there now was built much later), there is a grave for a group of British soldiers who died in the battle and whose bodies weren't claimed or repatriated.
It was moving. History coming to life...
P.S. Wow, that portrait does look uncannily like a clean-shaven Jack Black.
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I was on a driving trip through New England last spring, and one of my stops was at Concord and Lexington and the series of parks in between that trace the path of Revere and his two companions that night. It actually was a really neat experience, one of my favorites of the trip... following the trail, reading historical markers. Like: "This spot, RIGHT here, that's where Paul Revere was captured. THE Paul Revere." And then he went back to jail in Lexington while his homies went on to Concord to roust the militia. Another neat spot there, just on the east side of the "Old North Bridge" (the site - the bridge there now was built much later), there is a grave for a group of British soldiers who died in the battle and whose bodies weren't claimed or repatriated.
It was moving. History coming to life...
P.S. Wow, that portrait does look uncannily like a clean-shaven Jack Black.
I was there too (though I doubt I traced the route as assiduously as it sounds like you did). I liked Concord and Lexington - nice towns.
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Contributor, RPG Superstar 2008 Top 4, Legendary Games
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I was there too (though I doubt I traced the route as assiduously as it sounds like you did). I liked Concord and Lexington - nice towns.I was on a driving trip through New England last spring, and one of my stops was at Concord and Lexington and the series of parks in between that trace the path of Revere and his two companions that night. It actually was a really neat experience, one of my favorites of the trip... following the trail, reading historical markers. Like: "This spot, RIGHT here, that's where Paul Revere was captured. THE Paul Revere." And then he went back to jail in Lexington while his homies went on to Concord to roust the militia. Another neat spot there, just on the east side of the "Old North Bridge" (the site - the bridge there now was built much later), there is a grave for a group of British soldiers who died in the battle and whose bodies weren't claimed or repatriated.
It was moving. History coming to life...
P.S. Wow, that portrait does look uncannily like a clean-shaven Jack Black.
It was also neat for me, as a guy from the West Coast, where anything over 100 years old is considered REALLY OLD for buildings, towns, etc. (speaking of Anglo settlements and establishments - the Pacific Northwest tribes didn't really leave much in the way of man-made monuments like the Anasazi ruins or the Cahokia mounds in other parts of the US), to cruise around towns that have been around since the 1600s. Never been to Europe or Asia or Africa, but I'm sure I'd have the same sense there, but even more so.
Meh. I guess growing up in that area kinda desensitizes you. I live in a town that was incorporated in 1630 and I shop in Plymouth for my groceries ..you know, the one with the rock.
I'm sure our European comrades shrug and laugh at us in New England thinking we are old-school as well. One reason I have to make a trip to Blighty is to sample a little actual medieval atmosphere.
One thing I hate about living in an old-settled area is the fact the towns were set up before cars. One thing I loved about the West Coast was the straight fourlane streets and the highways everywhere. A typical residential neighborhood in Cali had better roads than downtown Boston.