Everything Is Everything, "Witchi Tai To"

On America's infamous Tax Day, I'd like to remind everyone that to be taxed is a privilege. It is a remarkable achievement that the U.S. has been able to pave roads, deliver mail, put out fires, police streets, educate children, and in so many other ways "provide for the common defense and promote the general welfare" of its people. I fail to understand how all the Tea Partiers and people threatening to "go Galt" can claim to love America and yet hate Americans so. Seems to me that a truer patriotism is to help ensure that our fellow countrymen have a fighting chance of survival.

But let me offer something ameliorative rather than confrontational regarding the day when the big bill comes due. "Witchi Tai To" was a #69 hit in 1969 for Everything Is Everything, featuring songwriting and vocals from the late saxophonist Jim Pepper, who apparently said once that the seemingly Native American phrase witchi-tai-to doesn't actually mean anything. Still and all, it's a nice, soothing song that evokes the utopian we're-all-in-this-together warm fuzzy feeling that one only gets these days in San Francisco or on drug excursions.

Enjoy.