EDITOR’S NOTE: This week on NRO, we’re rolling out the first five and then all 50 songs from a list John J. Miller compiled that appears in the June 5 issue of National Review. To get the whole list NOW, check out the latest issue of National Review. For itunes links to all 50 songs, hang on until Friday, when we’ll unveil the whole list.
#2 “Taxman,” by The Beatles (1966). buy CD on Amazon.com
There are no big ideas here, just a neat articulation of a perpetual complaint against government: Stop taking so much of my money. For that reason, “Taxman” is an odd little song to find inside the poetic elegance of the masterpiece album Revolver; odder still that it opens the entire record; oddest of all that this gem of a screed is the foyer to the mansion that is “Eleanor Rigby,” the magnum opus that follows.
Like taxes themselves, “Taxman” is the burr under the saddle; the pebble in the shoe: No matter how many times you play this album of graceful aural portraits, this parochial complaint is always up front, giving you something to overcome before you can enjoy the rest of what’s there.
Such a song probably couldn’t be recorded by a major rock group today. Although “Taxman” has been covered in recent years by the likes of Tom Petty, Stevie Ray Vaughn, and Nickel Creek, a new song that said the same thing now would meet with overwhelming scorn. Can you imagine politically correct groups such as Green Day or Pearl Jam daring to complain about taxes?
Songwriter George Harrison also deserves kudos for doing something utterly conservative: He states his complaint precisely and he gets his math right, first dividing the taxpayers’ money as “one for you nineteen for me,” then allowing the taxman to threaten as how “five percent”–one out of 20, as George just pointed out–may be too small.
Edward Heath or Harold Wilson–the Bush-Kerry of 1966 Great Britain–it didn’t matter. The taxman is forever greedy and mean, Harrison sings, and he doesn’t care who’s in charge. The taxman finishes his song by reading our minds, and acknowledging what we suspected he has always thought: “And you’re working for no one but me.”
Lyrics:
Let me tell you how it will be
There’s one for you, nineteen for me
‘Cause I’m the taxman, yeah, I’m the taxman
Should five per cent appear too small
Be thankful I don’t take it all
‘Cause I’m the taxman, yeah I’m the taxman
If you drive a car, I’ll tax the street
If you try to sit, I’ll tax your seat
If you get too cold I’ll tax the heat
If you take a walk, I’ll tax your feet
Taxman!
‘Cause I’m the taxman, yeah I’m the taxman
Don’t ask me what I want it for (Ah, Mr. Wilson)
If you don’t want to pay some more (Ah, Mr. Heath)
‘Cause I’m the taxman, yeah, I’m the taxman
Now my advice for those who die
Declare the pennies on your eyes
‘Cause I’m the taxman, yeah, I’m the taxman
And you’re working for no one but me
Taxman!
–Michael Long is a director of the White House Writers Group and the editor of “Too Tough for TV: Rejected jokes of the late-night comics.”