Opinion - We Need to Bring Back Protest Songs

A protest against the Vietnam War in Sweden in 1965.

A Million Dollar Load

I'll be discussing a music video for "Million Dollar Loan" by Death Cab for Cutie. This video is a pretty unusual example of a genre I would call "protest songs". If you can't tell, this is a song to protest Donald Trump's (at the time) Presidential Campaign.

Musically the piece can be considered as indie pop. A heavy beat and a guitar melody form the majority of the soundscape. There is a subtle piano section with calm synth pads. As a protest song this is pretty calm compared to other similar protest songs, such as "Sleep Now in the Fire" by Rage Against The Machine.

Lyrically the song revolves around the statement by Donald Trump that he received "a small loan of a million dollars" from his father when he was starting out as a real estate developer in New York. Here is an excellent, in-depth look at the Trump family finances by the New York Times if you are curious to learn more.

While the songwriters make their disdain for Trump clear, the song itself isn't very aggressive in my opinion. The song paints a very lonely and isolated image of a man lost in some very unhealthy principles. Listening to the song almost makes you feel sorry for Trump. The message is of sarcastic ire, but it is sang in a very calm and peaceful tone, fitting of a pop ballad. It is almost like Trump telling his story, thinking it's amazing, while others laugh at his disconnection from reality.

The video itself is a very minimalistic lyrics video. A lookalike actor plays Trump and his face is not revealed clearly, only slightly the very end. The color scheme alternates between red and blue symbolizing the colors of the american flag. This color scheme is also very prevalent in political campaigns in the US. There are flashing lights, like photographers, american flags and "Trump" is making gestures, like during a political speech.

The main "story" of the video is the building of a cinder block wall, which progresses throughout the video. This is a clear reference to Trump's border wall proposals. The video ends when the very last cinder block is put in, seemingly isolating Trump inside his own wall. This visual speak the narrative of a man lost in, from the songwriters perspective, misguided ideals and eventually being imprisoned by them. This all contributes to Trump seeming like a pitiable character in some sense, like I mentioned earlier.

Conclusion

This video is very simple in it's premise, but delivers a very though provoking glimpse in to a controversial man. This song was part of a project by several musicians called "30 Days, 30 Songs" leading up to the US 2016 election. The project eventually switched over to "1000 Days, 1000, Songs", but I'm not sure it's being updated anymore. Check it out here.

There is a very interesting video on protest songs by Vox on YouTube you should check out. This is the video through which I discovered the song featured in this post initially.