As I begin to analyze the deeper political meaning behind Johnson’s “My Mind is For Sale,” it is essential to also consider the time of this song’s release. Johnson released this song in July of 2017, just several months after President Donald Trump was inaugurated into office as the 45th President of the United States. Throughout Trump’s campaign and leading up to his inauguration in January of 2017, the media environment was filled with the constant storm surrounding the wall.

 

Taking a look back at the dialogue surrounding Trump’s presidency and previous campaign leads one to see the common thread: Trump’s wall. Beginning in 2014, Trump already began tweeting about his plans to “secure the border” and build a wall, one that would completely block out all immigrants from coming into the United States (The New York Times). Reflecting back on this New York Times article concerning Trump’s wall, manifests the ensuing dialogue that has occurred from 2014 to the present.

 

Thus, given the recent political times and some of Johnson’s lyrics within “My Mind is For Sale,” it leads me to believe that this song was written by Johnson in response to Trump’s presidency, as well as in response to the wall that Trump has so often advocated for throughout his campaign. This is especially evident to me through some of the lyrics throughout Johnson’s song.

 

Primarily, directly referencing the wall, Johnson says,

 

“I don’t care for your paranoid

‘Us against them’ walls

I don’t care for your careless

‘Me first, ‘gimme gimme’ appetite at all”

 

Johnson’s chorus (stated above) clearly views Trump’s wall in a negative light – “paranoid” is used to describe his wall, and it seems as though Johnson views Trump as being careless and greedy with his “me first appetite.”

 

Furthermore, it seems as though Johnson directly references Trump through the opening lines of his song,

 

“The cameras zoom into

His mouth begins to move

Those hateful words he uses”

 

Throughout much of his presidential campaign, as well as his time in office thus far, Trump has been noted for many of his hateful comments, from those tagged as racist to sexist. It’s alarming to simply google, “Trump hateful comments” and see the array of articles that result, from ABC news, to Forbes to The New York Times. These hateful words have been directed at people of all sorts, from women, to other men, to people of various races. Johnson showcases his dismay at these hateful words through the lyrics above.

 

Although this is the just the beginning to some of my deeper research and analysis of “My Mind is For Sale,” I can already see a connection between Johnson’s song and the presidential storm of this time period. I am looking forward to finding out more about the ties between these two subjects.

 

Best,

Madison