06-09-2016, 06:04 PM
Gustav Mahler, "St. Anthony Preaches to the Fishes", from Des Knaben Wunderhorn
Technically this is a Lied and not a song -- but it catches the hypocrisy that a child might see in the adult world. Saint Anthony, finding the church empty, decides to instead preach to the water creatures (including turtles and crabs which technically are not fish). They listen with rapt attention as he preaches, but after he leaves they return to their old vices.
But they loved the sermon!
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated Communist but instead the people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists -- Hannah Arendt.