Jesse Welles<\/a> was scrolling on his cell at home in northwest Arkansas \u2014 Siloam Springs, population 21,000 \u2014 when he came across a recruitment ad for the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE to most of us).<\/p>\n\n\t\u201cI thought, \u2018Well, that sounds like a great use of my time,\u2019\u201d he says drolly. Putting down his phone, Welles mulled over the subject, opened a Google doc, and began tapping out lyrics written in the voice of a bottled-up ICE agent: \u201cThere\u2019s a hole in my soul that just rages\/Well, the ladies turned me down\/And told me I was a clown\/Well, won\u2019t you look at me now\/I\u2019m putting folks in cages.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tWelles grabbed one of his acoustic guitars, set his words to a plucky folk melody, and eventually made his way to a nearby city park. To ensure as little background noise as possible, he headed for his preferred spot on a hill where the wind doesn\u2019t blow so hard. Setting up his phone, pointed at himself, he began singing in a voice that evoked both Kurt Cobain\u2019s anguish and John Prine\u2019s wry mischievousness, his floor mop of hair bobbing back and forth to the beat. In no time, the new song \u201cJoin ICE\u201d was on Welles\u2019 social feeds, eventually racking up more than 1 million views.<\/p>\n
\n\tScore another viral hit for Welles, and another step in the comeback of the protest song.<\/p>\n\n