In an interview with the New York Times Magazine, Sheryl Crow talks about the One-Square Scandal:
Last spring, you were held up as a parody of environmental correctness when you proposed restricting the use of toilet paper to one square per bathroom visit. What was that about? I think it’s a fantastic and eye-opening example of how the media is operated by political figures, of how Karl Rove was humiliated in the media and how, within 24 hours, he was able to humiliate me and take any sort of credibility away from me.
What are you saying? You think Karl Rove leaked the toilet-paper story to the press after you and Laurie David sparred with him about global warming at the White House correspondents’ dinner? I cannot tie him directly to that leak, but within 24 hours of our exchange, as we were leaving D.C., it was on the CNN ticker tape: "Sheryl Crow has proposed that we legislate toilet paper to one square."
Did you ever actually suggest that? It was always a joke. It was part of a shtick. It was part of a comedy routine that Laurie and I were doing on the "Stop Global Warming College Tour."
And her new album Detours, which features a song called "Gasoline":
Your new album updates the tradition of protest music, bemoaning the havoc wrought by the Iraq war, Katrina and even economic policy. "Gasoline" is surely the first song about high gas prices. It’s probably the first, and it could possibly be the last. It should be perceived as a futuristic song about people who would take to the streets and revolt and take back our freedom from the oppression of gas prices.
Below are the lyrics and a video:
"Gasoline" by Sheryl Crow, feat. Ben Harper
Way back in the year of 2017
The sun was growing hotter
And oil was way beyond its peak
When crazy Hector Johnson broke into a refinery
And the black gold started flowing
Just like Boston teaIt was the summer of the riots
And London sat in sweltering heat
And the gangs of Mini Coopers
Took the battle to the streets
But when the creed was handed down
For no more trucks and no more cars
They threw cans of petrol through the windows at Scotland YardGasoline
Will be free, will be free
Gasoline
Will be free, will be freeWhen the Mounties stormed the palace of the Saudi family
They held them up for ransom
Without disturbing their high tea
But their getaway was shaky
They stalled in the Riyadh streets
Cause you can’t make it very far
When your tank is on emptyThe final can of gasoline was loaded on a truck
And driven through the streets of Agra to the palace aquaduct
You see, all the majesty of worship that once adorned these fatal halls
Was just a target to the angry
As they blew up the Taj MahalGasoline
Will be free, will be free
Gasoline
will be free, will be freeGary ran a market way down in Tennessee
Where all the farmers got together and talked about this great country
But when the government turned its back on farming
Man, what I hear
They dragged the pumps out of the ground
With a big vintage John DeereI’ve got soldiers on my payroll
Standing guard on my front drive
Snipers on the roof poised at those
Who don’t want me alive
Cause they audited my taxes
My family under threat
Cause I’ve got a message and a megaphone
And I’ll scream it to the deathGasoline
Will be free, will be free
Gasoline
Will be free, will be freeYou got the farms in Argentina
Making fuel from sugar cane
You got the bastards in Washington
Afraid of popping the greed vain
Cause the money’s in the pipeline
And pipeline’s running dry
And we’ll be the last to recognize
Where there’s shit there’s always flies
