Fishbone, a ska/funk/metal/rock band that formed in 1979 and has continued to tour and release albums ever since, has a song from their newest CD, Still Stuck in Your Throat, called “Party With Saddam” that is arguably the cheeriest, most hopeful, and most danceable song I’ve heard about the former Iraqi president.
The song is a standard ska romp, and it’s catchy chorus goes like this: “We won’t see the end / If we party till our colors blend / Party till Saddam’s your friend / Never drop a bomb again / All right / We can break the chains / If we party like our blood’s the same / Party till we lose our aim / Never shoot a gun again.” The song was actually released in Europe in August ’06, but after Saddam’s death last December, the band has since been inviteded to talk about/perform the song (a crowd favorite) on radio stations. Here’s one acoustic performance:
Fishbone’s been around for decades (I’ve seen them live a dozen times), and despite having only two original members, they keep making socially-conscious, energetic, up-tempo music that most of their musical peers probably can’t—or just don’t want to—keep up with anymore.