Twisted Sister not gonna take Clive Palmer lyrics

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Opinion

Twisted Sister not gonna take Clive Palmer lyrics

By Jeff Apter

You know it’s election season when politicians and musicians start clashing over the use and abuse of songs. While it’s perfectly reasonable for a pollie to license a tune for use, it’s equally reasonable for the artist to make it clear where their political allegiances lie (or, in most cases, don’t).

In recent weeks, NSW south-coast Christian Democrat Paul Green got into a lively brouhaha with Grammy winners Portugal the Man after a Green video appeared using their song Feel it still. In a move that deserves the Shane Warne award for deflecting blame, Green said it was his son’s work, not his - he even cited a Bible passage (‘The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it’) as his own unique way of explaining copyright law. The video, inevitably, was pulled.

A Clive Palmer billboard in Windsor, Sydney, in June 2018.

A Clive Palmer billboard in Windsor, Sydney, in June 2018.Credit: Jason South

It seems that politicians can’t help themselves. Donald Trump clashed with just about everyone during his presidential campaign, being rebuked by Adele when he used her songs Skyfall and Rolling in the deep; Aerosmith, who hit Trump with a cease and desist letter, which led to their hit Dream On being pulled from his rallies; as well as REM, Neil Young and the Rolling Stones. How Sympathy for the Devil would have fared as a Trump signature tune remains a mystery, sadly.

Elsewhere, even an invite to chow down at the White House didn’t stop Bobby McFerrin insisting that George W. Bush stop playing his earworm Don’t Worry, Be Happy every time he walked out in public.

And proving that he truly is The Boss, Bruce Springsteen rebuked no less than three vote-seekers — Ronald Reagan, Bob Dole and Pat Buchanan — from commandeering his anthem Born in the USA, which just goes to prove how little attention they’d paid to the song’s scathing lyrics.

Bob Dole, like Trump, is a serial user and abuser; soul greats Sam and Dave threatened to sue him for $10,000 every time he played their song Soul Man during rallies (he’d tweaked the lyrics to read, ‘I’m a dole man’). Dole did the sums and dropped the song.

Of course Clive Palmer has proved a master of the art. Palmer recently busted out his own twisted version of the Twister Sister classic, We’re not gonna take it, which, in a turn of phrase that "Weird Al" Yankovic would have admired, Clive reworked to read, ‘Australia ain’t gonna cop it.’

Dee Snider of Twisted Sister.

Dee Snider of Twisted Sister.

When Twisted Sister frontman Dee Snider - who had OK’d Donald Trump’s use of the song during his presidential campaign announced that he was seeking legal advice, and ‘if that doesn’t work, I’ll be Down Under in three weeks to deal with it myself!’, Palmer insisted that he ‘wrote the words’. Well, sort of.

Snider will be in the country at the end of this month. It could get lively.

Jeff Apter is the author of The Book of Daniel: From Silverchair to Dreams.

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