My feelings are very mixed on this one. The song itself is interesting and not without merit. It echoes quite a few of the feelings that were going through my mind in the Summer of '04, particularly when contextualized with the neocon proselytizing of my unit by our Evangelical Crusader, Bible-thumping Commanding Officer.
The song's major weakness is simply that I'm not sure it's striking the right tone. Part of the problem is that Cass Dillon - the pipsqueak "singing" the song - is not up to the song from either a musical or maturity standpoint. As a vet, I don't feel like I can respect him or his image. I like that Billy Joel felt that he should give the song to someone of my generation, and I tip my cap to him for that consideration, but I'd have much preferred he give it to someone with more gravitas and testicular fortitude.
Dillon's performance reeks of an extremely unfortunate "pretty-boy newly gone solo from his Metallica tribute band" stench, something I'd expect from some lame douche bag with long hair who thinks a wardrobe rife with Hot Topic clearance rack Tatzenkreuze makes him a musical bad ass, and who is currently living in his parents' basement - but just until he gets the "big break" that is never coming (unless you count playing at every poser-dive bar in white bread suburban Chicagoland).
I sincerely want people to respect this song and who and what it represents (and not just because I'm part of that group). I simply don't think it's possible with the weenie Billy Joel put out there to front it, particularly when his grating, rangeless whine is upstaged by the "Oorah!" chorus.
Isn't there a young performer out there somewhere who has the stones necessary to record a song like this, no matter if they hang externally or not?
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