Debbie Nathan

Wall Street Crash Music

In “Born-Again Democracy,” a comment in the Oct. 20 issue of The Nation, William Greider notes that “Our country is at a rare and dangerous juncture. The old order is crumbling, and virtually all the centers of power that govern us have been discredited by events…Given that political paralysis, people have to find their own way. Corny as it sounds, the necessary first step is honesty — getting a clear understanding of what we are facing and what can be done,then forcing our views and ideas on the governing circles in both parties.”

Well, if that’s corny, then long live corny. And to get in the corny mood while reclaiming our honesty, why not listen to some on-point music?

Over the generations, capitalist disasters on Wall Street have inspired cool (and corny?) popular tunes. To hear some right now, just follow the audio links in “The Sound of the Market Crashing,” a piece by me in today’s (click here) New York Magazine.

And for more on songs, cartoons, plays, and other artifacts of Wall Street love, ridicule and loathing (depending on whether we’re in a bull market, a bear market or a totally road-kill market), read historian Steve Fraser’s brilliant book “Every Man a Speculator: A History of Wall Street in American Life.”

It’ll definitely help in the Clear Understanding department, and it’s also a lot of fun. Fraser is the one who dug up most of those songs I tracked to the web. Here’s what he has to say about the huge Crash, also in The Nation (click here):

“Breakdown in the 1930s elicited contradictory emotions and behavior. Despair, apathy and resignation were widespread. So too were more phobic, meanspirited reactions. But the era is perhaps best known for the repoliticization of millions of formerly inert citizens…The relationship of concentrated wealth to democracy, equality and the hierarchies of power, normally hidden beneath the myth of American individualism, was suddenly exposed to the light of day. Such revelations transformed the national psyche and gave the era its special frisson.“

Which included the music, of course. Now it remains to be seen if and how we’ll write the new songs.