Sunday Song Lyric:

The Janet Jackson breast flap continues to reverberate. This past week, Congress voted to increase the fines for indecency on the airwaves, radio conglomerates and the FCC are cracking down on their “shock jocks,” and MTV is removing racy videos from daytime, forcing kids to stay up late if they want to see a scantily clad Britney Spears.

Interestingly enough, one of the videos MTV has relegated to late night – Megalomaniac” by Incubus – has no sexual content whatsoever. Rather, it is a politically charged video suggesting President Bush is an oil-crazed, fascist. (The video is available in multiple formats here.) Instead of crotch shots or cleavage, the video features winged Hitlers, cartoon combat, and anti-war protests, so it’s hard to see how the move can be justified by MTV’s newfound fear of the FCC. Nonetheless, I think this is evidence that the FCC’s crackdown on indecency may have a chilling effect on political speech.

This is just a long-winded explanation for why Incubus’ Megalomaniac is this week’s Sunday song lyric. I don’t find the lyrics all that deep or provocative, and I disagree with the video’s paranoid political message, but the song’s not bad and I think the choice is justified by recent events, so here goes.

I hear you on the radio
You permeate my screen
It’s unkind, but
If I met you in a scissor fight,
I’d cut off both your wings on principle alone, principle alone.

Hey, megalomaniac
You’re no Jesus
Yeah, you’re no f**king Elvis
Wash your hands clean of yourself baby and
Step down, step down, step down.

If I were your appendages
I’d hold open your eyes
So you could see
That all of us are heaven sent
And there was never meant to be only one, to be only one.

Hey, megalomaniac
You’re no Jesus
Yeah, you’re no f**king Elvis
Wash your hands clean of yourself baby and
Step down, step down, step down.

You’re no Jesus
You’re no Elvis
You’re no answer.
Step down, step down, step down, step down, hey.

P.S. Of course, as a private broadcaster MTV has every right to decide what videos it will or won’t air, but that does not mean I have to like it.