Rolling Stone -- Mordechai Shinefield

The snot-nosed punks of Sum 41 aren't the first Canadian artists to pick a fight with the president

The snot-nosed punks of Sum 41 aren't the first Canadian artists to pick a fight with the president — that honor belongs to Neil Young. But we're pretty sure they're the first to threaten the Commander In Chief's life on a single. On Sum's new "March of the Dogs," frontman Deryck Whibley sings, "And now the president's dead/ Because they blew off his head/ No more neck to be red/ I guess to heaven he fled."

While calling out the President takes some balls — we're sure Avril doesn't want her husband interred indefinitely in Guantanamo Bay — Whibley almost immediately undid whatever bad-ass points he might've racked up for the stunt: When MTV asked Whibley to explain the lyrics, he waxed poetic, saying that they're just a "metaphor for how Bush is so ineffectual and incompetent as a president." It's entirely possible that Whibley doesn't actually know what a metaphor is, because the rest of the lyrics seem fairly straight-forward: "It may be I'm a pessimist/ But I say we need an exorcist, / The root of all evil standing tall, /Under god and above us all," the song goes on to say.

Here's the thing, Whibley: When you critique the President, call him "gay," call for an exorcism, and then discuss his death, you aren't constructing a metaphor. You're using a different literary device: Rhetoric to incite violence. Punks pushing the envelope aren't new (the Sex Pistols got in trouble for calling the British crown a "fascist regime"), but backing off your lyrics is weak. You're supposed to be punk, so act like it.

What does this anti-Bush rant, metaphorical or otherwise, mean for Sum 41? We talked to a spokesperson for the house minority leader yesterday, who called the song "inflammatory and assinine" — perhaps best review Sum 41's ever gotten. Could the Canadian rockers get deported? Hey, it's happened before. Mr. Cat Stevens got shipped off to the U.K. when he tried to enter the United States in 2004. We're all for free speech, but we wouldn't be all that sad to see Whibley and his cohorts go.

Deryck Whibley (Sum 41)

I barely graduated high school an he's supposed to be the professional writer for Rolling Stone?

Since this Rolling Stone writer has chosen to attack me in this blog, a forum where I have no way to defend myself, instead of calling me and asking me directly (funny how he calls the house minority leader before he calls the actual person who wrote the song). I thought I would repay the favor. The writer says I "undid whatever bad-ass points" I gained by saying what I said in those lines of the song by calling it just a metaphor. Well I'm sorry to be the one to tell you but it is a fucking metaphor.

Definition of metaphor
1. A figure of speech in which a word or phrase is applied to an object or action to which it is not literally applicable.

Let me say this right now.

I don't want to kill the president! I believe in peace and non-violence and I would never encourage the killing of a president or anyone for that matter. I don't have murder in my blood. I am however a song writer and a lyricist. And I chose to sing a song about the way I feel the president is ruining the world. And I like to use lyrics that create imagery because they are more effective and it means more to the listener and myself.

And the fact that it has turned into what it's turned into is perfect example. I'm really surprised someone who obviously has intelligence would pick apart my lyrics so literally. And the writer goes on to say that I don't know what a metaphor is because I say the line "it may be I'm a pessimist but I'd say we need an exorcist". Which blows my mind because his example is exactly a metaphor. Does he really think I want an exorcism performed? Does he know the meaning of the word "literal"? I barely graduated high school an he's supposed to be the professional writer for Rolling Stone?

I was asked in an mtv interview what do the opening lines of the song march of the dogs mean. So I told them exactly what I meant when I wrote them. I meant that it is a metaphor for how ineffectual and incompetent the president is at his job. And I still stand behind that. I have never wavered from my stance. The song then goes on to explain how I feel about the current administration. And now to clarify what the end means (just so there's no confusion). In my opinion, the president has done so badly that he has killed his legacy. He has ruined whatever name he had and will be remembered as one of the worst presidents in history.

Now having said that, I may be canadian and some might say I shouldn't be allowed to comment on the american president or american politics. But to the people who say that, I would ask them do you have to be german (or austrian for that matter) to criticize hitler? Do you have to be iraqi to criticize saddam? To dismiss my words and say they're not relevant because I am from another country is the easy way out for people who don't really know how to retaliate.

I'm not anti-american in any way. I love america. I live in america! But the choices and decisions the president makes effect the whole world, not just america. But no matter how bad of the choices are I will never want to kill the president. That's their right to make those choices. But it's also my right to criticize those choices and decisions. And it's blog writers right to criticize people as well. It's just lame because usually the person they are talking about has no way to respond or defend themselves. So this is my response. We'll just call it "getting off my chest" thanks for reading.