British Music Legend Elvis Costello Nailed the Rise of Modern American Fascism In a Song From 1978

One could easily argue that America has always been at least a little fascist. After all, we built this place on the back of not one, but two genocides (three if you count the California Gold Rush, which you should).

However, in the years since all of that, the American government has sold this country as a bastion of freedom, where anyone can come and live the dream hassle-free. Sure, there have been few, if any, moments in history where that was actually an accurate description of America, but hey, at least we pretended for a while!

It seems like we’re done pretending now. The age of secret American fascism is over. We’ve always walked the walk, but now we’re talking the talk to go along with it.

In unrelated news, I’ve been working on rebuilding my digital music collection over the past couple of years and, most recently, have been laser-focused on amassing any and all albums from one of my favorite artists of all-time, Elvis Costello.

As you’d expect, this means I’ve been listening to a lot of Elvis Costello songs lately. It was during that trip down memory lane that I realized one of my absolute favorite tunes of his plays a little different when you listen to it in 2025.

The song is a sorta obscure album track from his 1978 sophomore effort, This Year’s Model, called “Night Rally”.

What’s remarkable about the song is how damn near every line sounds like it was written in response to America’s most recent descent into fascism which started, I dunno, 45 years ago or so? I don’t credit Ronald Reagan with much, but he definitely gets the anti-kudos for shaping our modern political landscape. Donald Trump is just an angrier and louder Ronald Reagan.

Now, it’s not a huge surprise that “Night Rally” seems to be describing the current political situation in the United States. The song was written in response to the rise of a far-right fascist political party in the UK called National Front. Founded in 1967, the group was at the height of its popularity when Elvis Costello was writing and recording This Year’s Model, mostly on the strength of stirring up hysteria over … say it with me … immigration.

So it makes perfect sense that “Night Rally” would evoke images of Trump and his rise to power. Fascism has a playbook. Everyone follows it.

Now let’s dive into the lyrics to see all the ways a song from 1978 perfectly summarizes United States politics over the last few decades.

“I would send out for assistance but there's someone on the signal wire”

If you didn’t know any better, you probably wouldn’t be at all surprised if someone said this first line is about how much of a surveillance state America became after 9/11.

The National Security Agency (NSA) has been around since 1952, which makes it highly concerning that most of the general public didn’t get confirmation that it even existed until after 9/11. Even then, the extent of their activities and abilities remained a well-kept secret until the Edward Snowden leaks in 2013.

The Patriot Act, which was passed in response to 9/11, cleared the way for the NSA to develop new intelligence gathering systems for cell phones and the internet.

A 2010 Washington Post article about the NSA includes this alarming line: “every day, collection systems at the National Security Agency intercept and store 1.7 billion e-mails, phone calls and other types of communications. The NSA sorts a fraction of those into 70 separate databases.” Yikes!

“And the corporation logo is flashing on and off in the sky”

This is an easy one to project onto America. Corporations essentially are the American government and have been since sometime around WWII. Or at least they were before they got toppled by the oligarchs in the 2024 election. Problem solved!

“They're putting all your names in the forbidden book”  

It’s probably more like a forbidden computer database now, but it’s pretty clear that right-wingers have been and still are making lists of all the people they want to jettison from society. Just ask anyone currently living in mortal fear of getting cancelled for making jokes about Charlie Kirk.

That’s just one example. How many stories have we seen already about various government agencies being made to hand over lists of names and data to DOGE, the DOJ, ICE, or whoever else the government decides needs a list?

Like how, in July, the IRS was forced to hand over taxpayer data to ICE in the name of helping this administration’s deportation dreams come true. Ditto for Medicaid.

A 2023 book by a former Trump staffer from his first administration, Cassidy Hutchinson, includes a claim that the author was tasked with creating a hit list, including pictures, of any Republican who voted in favor of impeaching the president.

“I know what they're doing but I don't want to look”

With any oppressive regime, on one side will be the supporters who champion everything the fascists do, and on the other side will be the people who turn up to oppose said fascists. Then there’s the third group. The people positioned firmly in the middle who either recognize what’s happening but know it won’t impact them, or just don’t want to want to think or know about politics at all. You tell them the Nazis are coming and they’ll tell you they “don’t pay attention to all that stuff.” Must be nice!

“You think they're so dumb, you think they're so funny. Wait until they've got you running to the night rally”

This is another line that’s really easy to tie to this country’s current state of affairs. Remember when Trump announced he was running for president back in 2015 and everyone but me laughed and laughed and laughed at the idea that he could even come close to winning?

Also, who loves a rally more than Trump? I give it a year before attendance is mandatory.

“Everybody's singing with their hand on their heart, about Deeds done in the darkest hours, that's just the sort of catchy little melody, to get you singing in the showers”

As I mentioned earlier, what’s happening in this country right now didn’t start with Trump. If we’re strictly talking this 2000s version of fascism, again, I blame Reagan.

That said, George W. Bush and his dad both have more than a little blood on their hands when it comes to how the modern Republican party operates. They both oversaw heinous wars in Iraq, and both of those wars came with a side order of mandatory patriotism. If you didn’t support those wars, you were either a crazy, tree-hugging peacenik (Iraq I), or you got cancelled like the Dixie Chicks (Iraq II).

The second of those wars also resulted in lots and lots of songs, mostly country, about how great America is and how we’ll put a boot up your ass if you disagree.

The part about “singing in the showers” refers to how rabid patriotism eventually turns to nationalism which then stands a great chance of turning into straight up Nazi stuff. For an example of this, just look around.

So, what do these lyrics have to do with fascism in the United States in 2025? Nothing, yet. This verse is describing that point where loving your fascist rulers becomes the law. You will participate in praising their leadership and you will like it. Sure would be a shame if you accidentally got sent to El Salvador or something, right? If you need help figuring out why you love the government, reeducation classes will be made available. Please wear your identifying symbols with pride.

It should go without saying that this is what we should still be hoping to avoid in America, because it is closer than anyone wants to believe. We’re already at the point where the president decides what you can and cannot say on TV or the internet. It’s not a long drive from “don’t say bad things about me” to “by law, you must say good things about me.”

We aren’t there yet, but the car is on the road.