Who doesn't love to pay taxes? The only thing more enjoyable than giving your money away to the government is the actual fun of filling out the forms. Why send in an E-Z form when you can amend all types of bizarrely numbered sheets of paper where your "non-farm" compensation can be modified into numbers that no one understands? Me, I got people! And they tell me what to do and I cross my fingers and hope they know what they're doing. Though next time they try to get me to invest in some land called Rio Rancho that I've never seen, I might take a pass. That didn't work out so good.

Musicians--the ones who make money--have to pay taxes. They don't always do so good with that. Chuck Berry had his problems and Willie Nelson even made an album for the IRS in hopes of placating their annoyance with his evasion tactics. I don't know if I would put it down in a song myself. It seems like he who doth protest too much...well, the "doth" will get you every time.

"Taxman"--The Beatles: George Harrison liked to complain. His first Beatle composition was "Don't Bother Me" after all. By the time Eric Clapton stole his wife, he had reasons to be a little annoyed, and from what little I've heard about the British tax system of the 1960s, well, "Taxman" was probably long overdue. No wonder so many British rock stars ended up tax exiles in California and the south of France. It was like what the Cayman Islands--and heck, Delaware--is to corporations these days.

"Sales Tax"--Bo Carter: Thankfully not every bluesman sang about his baby leaving him. Bo Carter managed to inject social consciousness into his material with this rallying cry against paying sales tax. As you can see, nothing much changes. Musicians rally the troops. People protest. And we still have to pay the stinkin' tax. These days a tea party ain't nothin' more than a tea party.

"1040 Blues"--Robert Cray: Apparently every couple of decades a bluesman comes out with a song against the taxation system, which is more often than jazz, classical and children's music combined. Cray even got the number right. You almost expect that musicians wouldn't know this information. Drug measurements, yes. The amount of time it takes to get from the hotel to the stage and back to the hotel, of course. The phone numbers of attractive ladies in the audience, no problem. Tax forms? Uh, no.

"Me And The IRS"--Johnny Paycheck: When he wasn't telling his employers to take their jobs and shove it, he was apparently courting the IRS regarding payment for work he didn't do in the first place. Johnny was an outspoken critic on just about everything. If he was still a hot commodity these days, that is alive, he'd be a cable news anchor, a Larry Kudlow without the loud suit.

"Sunny Afternoon"--The Kinks: Ray Davies got a lot of play in the 1960s for being a great "social critic." And here the tax man's taken all his dough, and that's not even the worst of his situation. We won't even get into what he thinks about his brother! But the answer isn't blowing in the wind for Ray, it's sitting right in front of him in the form of an ice cold beer. It's a good thing his liver can't write songs.