Musitorial – Raindrops

 

musitorial n mashing music, musings and editorials, music and song that evoke thought and commentary.

“Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head”

Today’s musitorial comes from the soundtrack of the film, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, 1969.

For me, the cut, “South American Getaway,” nicely frames recent events in the news from south of the border – way south.

I was struck by a Jan. 26, 2025, interview of U.S. VP J.D. Vance on CBS Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan. I can understand why Vance was chosen as running mate for Pres. Donald Trump. Where Trump is partial to ‘shock and awe’ for attention, Vance is a masterful rhetorician, someone who is very articulate and convincing.

The absence of vocal fillers, lack of unnecessary repetition and a convincing demeanor make quite a package. His ‘boss,’ on the other hand rants and rambles like a sidewalk derelict. Vance was deftly handled by Brennan.

It struck me that Vance complements Trump in a great many ways. Where the president is brash and bellicose, Vance is calm and practiced. The pair put me in mind of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (starring Paul Newman, as Butch, and Robert Redford, as the Sundance Kid), a film that got wild raves in its day. The soundtrack, by famed American popular composer Burt Bacharach, included a number of popular hits that dominated the airwaves for a long period of time.

As an added bonus (for my musitorial), President Trump’s dustup with Colombia over the deportation of undocumented migrants also ties in nicely (though in the film, Butch and Sundance met their demise in Bolivia, not Colombia).

Trump is Butch Cassidy, the mouthy gunslinger, whereas Vance is the Sundance Kid, quiet, calculating and articulate. Butch Cassidy shoots off his mouth, Sundance shoots to kill. A match made in … well, you decide.

=30=

Link to info about the film: https://tinyurl.com/56juh2ud

Link to YouTube for “South American Getaway”: https://tinyurl.com/2wm9ebrj