The New Revolution

2010


The New Revolution consists of a piece of green screen paper hung on a wall and an audio loop sampled from the synthesizer intro to "Won't Get Fooled Again" by Pete Townshend/The Who.


Lyrics

Maya Allison wrote the following wall text for a show at the David Winton Bell Gallery at Brown University: "Green screens are used in television studios to create illusions: for example, to make it look as if a meteorologist is standing in front of a satellite image. This screen’s technological potential remains untapped, as if inviting us to project our own ideas onto its surface. The opening bars of The Who’s 'Won’t Get Fooled Again' loop quietly in the background. The title is taken from the song’s lyrics, which are available at the gallery desk."

Here are the lyrics:

We'll be fighting in the streets
With our children at our feet
And the morals that they worship will be gone
And the men who spurred us on
Sit in judgment of all wrong
They decide and the shotgun sings the song

I'll tip my hat to the new constitution
Take a bow for the new revolution
Smile and grin at the change all around
Pick up my guitar and play
Just like yesterday
Then I'll get on my knees and pray
We don't get fooled again

The change it had to come
We knew it all along
We were liberated from the fold, that's all
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
Pick up my guitar and play
Just like yesterday
Then I'll get on my knees and pray
We don't get fooled again
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?

Yeah!

There's nothing in the streets
Looks any different to me
And the slogans are replaced, by-the-bye
And the parting on the left
Is now 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
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!

Yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!

Meet the new boss
Same as the old boss