The Corruption Tango
A dance in four movements.
I. A Touch of Sleaze
I know, I know, an oil company bribing in Kazakhstan,
Angola, Indonesia, Nigeria, Russia and Uzbekistan?
Captain Obvious, who would have thought it? Why bother, very passé
Or, alternatively for the more world weary, isn't that so blasé?
It's the very definition of oil barons everywhere in the wild west
That's how robber barons and monopolists amass their treasure chests
So nineteenth century, so railroad tycoon, so captain of industry
So very Portuguese explorer, so very East India Company
And truth be told, it's really no big thing,
A bit of imperialism or monopolistic trading
To make a such a fetish out of a few bribing actions
In a world of rampant stock market manipulation
Where we celebrate ruthless and unscrupulous business practices
On a frequency and scale worthy of a swaggering industrialist
It's not like rubber farming in Liberia by way of the Dunlop family
It's not like a banana republic run by the United Fruit Company
It's a small thing, just a temporary lapse in ethics
That found ordinary Joes caught looting in a crisis
The post-facto rationalization of age old greed is termed mercantilism
Humbug, as Marx might have remarked, it's the thin veneer of capitalism
Fortune favors the bold, the lure of black gold makes brave men take chances
Well... yes and no. Bear with me if you will, as I invite you to a dance.
We aren't talking of eccentric moguls in wonky health
Using exploitative strategies to amass wealth
Profit making for those with an aversion to shame
Pure pricing power for winners of the great game
Rapacious, these highway bandits, to the third degree
The simple secret of their success is a touch of sleaze
There will be blood, if not exploitation, by these canny merchants
There's always a shortcut when you encounter Never Never Man
The preferred tactic of this nouveau aristocracy
Best exemplified by Rockefeller and Carnegie
Is to scrub reputations with overdue philanthropy
Extravagant gestures, museums and public libraries
Serenely unrepentant in his lifetime was the colossus named Rhodes
Even since, the legacy scrubbing has taken on colleges and scholarships
So manifest was his destiny - his confession of faith doth nakedly appall
That centuries later, the cries continue to ring out that Rhodes must Fall
The biographers can argue about his complicated legacy, of course
But unlike Alfred Nobel's example, there was no buyer's remorse
Fallen angels like him and King Leopold
practiced the conqueror's catechism
What many forget is that, during their lifetimes,
they faced the charge of racism
But these are merely the opening steps,
as when the dancers gather for the show
The intimate legacies of men,
it takes two to do the corruption tango
The Corruption Tango: A Playlist
A soundtrack for this note. (spotify version)
- Takes22tango by Dwele
The funky shuffle and irresistible step, see Snoop vibe out to the groove. - (It Takes) Two To Tango by Lester Young With Oscar Peterson
A fun romp in the studio. "Take off your drawers ...", now there's a seduction - It Takes Two by Marvin Gaye & Kim Weston
Baby... to make a thing go right. - Rob Base & DJ EZ Rock - It Takes Two
You better think - Think (About It) by Lyn Collins
One of James Brown's great productions. Mama Feelgood herself, duly sampled by Rob Base and countless others. - Just the Two of Us by Grover Washington, Jr. and Bill Withers
We can make it we try, you and I - Two Of Us by Cameo
Although this is more in the devotional mode, the lyrics are instructiveYou've got to help one another
- Think Twice by Erykah Badu (feat. Roy Hargrove)
A lazy groove, easy living - Sleaze by Abstrac'
"A low down dirty excuse for a man" - Hypocrites by Alpha Blondy
I too am scared of hypocrites. - Thinkin' One Thing and Doin' Another by Miles Davis
On the Corner, he went for the electric funk. - Tea For Two by Thelonious Monk
Well the Criss-Cross album is full of contention. A real cooking session. - Two-Part Contention by Dave Brubeck
Continuing in the jazz mode, this is a solo piano piece - Takes Two To Tango by Ray Charles and Betty Carter
Two great vocal stylists enjoying their meeting. We know that Ray was one for the ladies, but there's no word on if he was able to corrupt her royal highness. - Talkin' Out The Side Of Your Neck by Cameo
Speaking with forked tongue - Two Can Win Jay Dee
An ironic title, he samples "only one can win". Dilla's donuts are bananas. - Baby, You Oughta Think It Over by Bobby Womack
Walk away with your head held high - Dinner for Two by Michael Cooper
The Cameo alumni goes mellow - Who Do You Think You're Fooling (pt 1 & 2) by Symphonic Four
Quintessential soul music, a divine lead falsetto and rugged background vocals, the boys are a chorus: "when your mind stinks, you forget your soul" - Carriage For Two by Tricky
In the background you hear Lady Day's lyrics: "God bless the child that's got his own". The album title is apposite: Angels With Dirty Faces - Hypocrites by Bob Marley
Dry land tourists feigning airs - Tea For Two by Jacky Terrasson & Cassandra Wilson
A delicate, nightly rendezvous
The Corruption Tango
A dance in four movements. I nominate this internal displacement for The Things Fall Apart series under the banner of Fallen Angels.
Next: Part 2: Cease and Desist
File under: corruption, culture, observation, perception, humour, USA, rogues, oil, Black Gold, gremlins, parasites, interplay, capitalism, poetry, economics, regulation, Fallen Angels, Africa, Observers are worried, Things Fall Apart, toli
Writing log. Concept: July 7, 2005; March 8, 2021
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