I was pissed off when I heard that Bush had sung a version of “Green, Green Grass of Home” at a recent press event, chronicling what his life will be like after the Presidency. That song belongs to Johnny Cash, Elvis, or at the very least, to Tom Jones.
But after seeing Bush’s version on YouTube, I have to admit that Tom Lehrer couldn’t have come up with a better satire of him than Bush did himself. In the original song, a prisoner has visions of returning home, only to wake up and find he’s still in jail on death row. In Bush’s “Brown, Brown Grass” version, he envisions himself back on the ranch in Texas clearing brush, only to wake up and find himself in the oval office with Condi and Dick, his “old compadre, talking… about some oil-rich Saudi.” There’re even jibes about Scooter Libby and about Dick Cheney’s missing documents! I really hope to learn someday that his ghosts-writers on this material hate Bush as much as 80% of the nation does, and tricked him into making himself look stupid.
Of course, when I think about it more, it enrages me that this man is free to make jokes about his own illegality and skirting of legal and constitutional responsibilities. Basically, he’s sitting there mocking us and the Congress for letting him retire scott-free from his spying, lying, warring ways. But it’s still a funny song.