The G20 summit in London last week reminded me of this song by The Who – Won't Get Fooled Again. The summit communique promised to tighten financial regulations so people don't fooled again and the world is saved from another economic collapse like the one we are witnessing now. The summit also issued an explanatory guide.
But it's best to take such resolutions with a grain of salt. For lightning never strikes twice in the same place. This time it was the subprime crisis that brought the global economy down. Earlier there was the dotcom bubble, which burst in March 2000 when the NASDAQ collapsed, and before that the 1997 Asian financial crisis. Who knows what will cause the next crash?
The Who's Won't Get Fooled Again has a healthy dose of scepticism. (The lyrics are at the end of this post.)
Incidentally, the Who -- much older -- performed Won't Get Fooled Again at the Live 8 concert in July 2005 to mark the G8 summit To Make Poverty History. It didn't.
A good read that recaptures that era is Ian Rankin's Inspector Rebus mystery, The Naming Of The Dead.
But there is another reason why this song seems so appropriate to the times.
Won't Get Fooled Again appeared on the album, Who's Next, in 1971, according to Wikipedia.
1971 – that was a watershed year.
It was not just the year of the Bangladesh War.
1971 also saw a fundamental change in the international monetary system. It was more radical than what the G20 promised or delivered.
China now wants the dollar to be replaced by a new global reserve currency.
Something just as big happened in 1971. It involved the dollar and the gold – and President Richard Nixon.
Nixon is now remembered for the Watergate scandal and ping-pong diplomacy bringing together America and China.
He also changed the Bretton Woods international monetary system. See the post below.
Now back to the song and it's lyrics…
And the world looks just the same
And history ain't changed
'Cause the banners, they all flown in the last war
I'll tip my hat to the new constitution
Take a bow for the new revolution
Smile and grin at the change all around me
Pick up my guitar and play
Just like yesterday
No, no!
I'll move myself and my family aside
If we happen to be left half alive
I'll get all my papers and smile at the sky
For I know that the hypnotized never lie
Do ya?
YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!
There's nothing in the street
Looks any different to me
And the slogans are replaced, by-the-bye
And the parting on the left
Is now the parting on the right
And the beards have all grown longer overnight
I'll tip my hat to the new constitution
Take a bow for the new revolution
Smile and grin at the change all around me
Pick up my guitar and play
Just like yesterday
Then I'll get on my knees and pray
We don't get fooled again
Don't get fooled again
No, no!
YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!
Meet the new boss
Same as the old boss
