Rod's swan song: 'Sweep the streets I used to own'

When the chief justice of the Illinois Supreme Court announced that the governor was "in the building" to attend his impeachment festivities, a few cynical commentators made snide remarks about Elvis.

Rod's fascination with Elvis Presley may have led some to believe he actually was The King reincarnated (you never saw them in a photo together, etc...). After all, some of Elvis' most famous songs certainly fit Blago's bill: "A Fool Such as I;" "Put the Blame on Me;" "Suspicious Minds;" "T-R-O-U-B-L-E;" "There Goes My Everything;" and maybe eventually, "Jailhouse Rock."

But as Rod looks to the arts for a bridge o'r these troubled waters, perhaps he has been looking the wrong direction. Instead of searching the distant past for musical inspiration, he should have been listening to the present.

Or at least since last May.

That is when a popular band called Coldplay released a song called "Viva la Vida."

A keen news observer named Peter VandeMotter in Mundelein brought the song to my attention, figuring that I am too old to have ever heard of the group or the song on my own. "I likely would not find many of last year's top 40 on your iPod," he wrote.

Overlooking the obvious ageism of his comments, I went straight to YouTube to check out the music video. Peter was right. "Viva la Vida" ought to be renamed "The Ballad of Rod Blagojevich."

"I used to rule the world," the song begins. "Seas would rise when I gave the word; Now in the morning I sleep alone; Sweep the streets I used to own."

Some Coldplay fans believe the song is about the demise of Napoleon Bonaparte, the short but great emperor of France. Like Rod, Napoleon thought he could do no wrong.

"I used to roll the dice; Feel the fear in my enemy's eyes; Listen as the crowd would sing: 'Now the old king is dead! Long live the king!'"

Whether it is intended to be about Napoleon, or about Blagojevich who many suspect suffers from a Napoleonic inferiority complex, you can't listen to it without thinking of Rod.

"One minute I held the key; Next the walls were closed on me; And I discovered that my castles stand; Upon pillars of salt and pillars of sand.

I hear Jerusalem bells a ringing; Roman Cavalry choirs are singing; Be my mirror, my sword and shield; My missionaries in a foreign field.

For some reason I can't explain; Once you go there was never; Never an honest word; And that was when I ruled the world.

It was the wicked and wild wind; Blew down the doors to let me in; Shattered windows and the sound of drums; People couldn't believe what I'd become.

Revolutionaries wait; For my head on a silver plate; Just a puppet on a lonely string; Oh who would ever want to be king?"

So, as our former governor jogs into the sunset, contemplating how to reinvent himself, he should dump the Elvis tunes from his iPod and leave the Rudyard Kipling poems-on-tape at home.

On the long and lonely trail ahead; the security guards gone and the media moved on, Rod needs to hear Coldplay: The Ballad of Rod Blagojevich, our very own Napoleon. Especially the final passage of the song.

"For some reason I can't explain; I know Saint Peter won't call my name; Never an honest word; But that was when I ruled the world."

• Chuck Goudie, whose column appears each Monday, is the chief investigative reporter at ABC 7 News in Chicago. The views in this column are his own and not those of WLS-TV. He can be reached by e-mail at chuckgoudie@gmail.com.