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Arcade Fire Cover Dead Kennedys, Impersonate California Governor Jerry Brown

Watch Arcade Fire Cover Dead Kennedys

Arcade Fire have been embellishing their Reflektor tour with geographically appropriate cover songs, and now the Canuck band adds to that repertoire a version of Dead Kennedys’ “California Über Alles.” At the Santa Barbara Bowl on Monday, August 4, Win Butler donned a papier-mâché mask of California governor Jerry Brown and introduced the 1979 non-conformist anthem: “I am Governor Jerry Brown, my aura smiles and never frowns, soon I will be President.” The tongue-in-cheek punk song originally played with Nazi terminology to evoke a critical comparison of the state under Brown’s leadership from 1975 to 1983. What makes it relevant now: Brown returned to that office in 2011.

While the theme song for “Beverly Hills Cop” may seem like a quirky outlier, the Canadian sextet has paid tribute to a rogue’s gallery of music legends thus far, including Jane’s Addiction and Guns N’ RosesCreedence Clearwater Revivalthe SmithsEcho & the BunnymenR.E.M., Boyz II MenPrince, and Stevie Wonder. Watch fan footage of the latest sonic salute above.