Glenn Beck: Behind the Music

Beck's revelations about "Revolution" and other hits

Beck and crew call Springsteen's "Born in the U.S.A." "anti-American." On Beck's radio show, co-host Pat Gray stated: "How many of us go to the Fourth of July fireworks display, we see the fireworks blasting, exploding in the air, and we hear 'Born in the U.S.A.' by Bruce Springsteen, and we're like, 'Yeah, "Born in the U.S.A." ' And you get filled with patriotic pride, and then you find out that Bruce Springsteen's 'Born in the U.S.A.' is anti-American." After Beck read the lyrics of the song, Gray said, "That's what it's all about. That's what America's about, according to Bruce Springsteen." Beck responded: "See, here's the thing that I don't think people understand yet -- I think you do -- that it is time for us to wake up out of our dream state, wake up out of the propaganda." [Premiere Radio Networks' The Glenn Beck Program, 3/11/10]

Beck warns viewers that Woody Guthrie's "This Land Is Your Land" is "about a progressive utopia." On his Fox News show, Beck read lyrics from "This Land Is Your Land" by Woody Guthrie -- whom he identified as a communist -- and stated: "This song is about a progressive utopia where there are no owners of anything. We all just share it. It's made for you -- it's your land, it's my land. We all have it together. Some people have property now, and some people don't. We can all think of this song as an American song. Yes, it is -- an American progressive song." [Fox News' Glenn Beck, 3/10/10]

Beck analyzes Beatles' "Revolution" to illustrate progressives' plan to slowly institute Marxism. On his radio show, Beck implored his listeners to "listen to the words" of the Beatles' "Revolution." After playing part of the song, Beck asked, "Do you know why those two lines -- evolution and revolution -- are in this song?" Beck then said, "If you know the history of progressives" and stated that progressives and Marxists "believe in all the same stuff." Beck continued: "Their [progressives'] idea was you don't need a bloody revolution. You just evolve things slowly, and you'll change the world." After playing more of the song, Gray said, "This is all -- it's peaceful." Beck responded, "But it's progressive." [The Glenn Beck Program, 1/21/10]

Beck again on "Revolution": "[I]t's all about understanding how progressives have been operating." On his January 25 Fox News show, Beck again warned about the Beatles:

BECK: Last week on radio, we were talking about the Beatles song, "Revolution." I really listened to the words of this and I got to tell you something, the Beatles spells it -- they spell it all out. And it's all about understanding how progressives have been operating.

[...]

BECK: The Beatles knew. They knew, opening and defending Mao, or attacking the Constitution would be suicidal. You can't change it. You can't have a revolution. But you can make the Constitution evolve. You can make it a -- what is it progressives said around the turn of the century -- a living document! Evolution. Evolution, not revolution -- slowly, step-by-step. [Glenn Beck, 1/25/10]