SONGS TO SEE & HEAR, HERE:
NEWEST FIRST:
When the 99 Go Marchin’ In – part 1 Here we saunter through a survey of segues – anyway, the 17 issues from Bernie’s platform, rhymed up, to consider again as we enter the dismal swamp of the election. Eyes on the prize, peeps. This is part one (of two – so I guess there’s 8.5 issues in this one….approx….)
When the 99 Go Marchin’ In – part 2 The other 8-1/2 top issues from Bernie’s platform find their way into the rhyme zone for reconsideration/reaffirmation (see also part 1, duh).
No Nos Moveran: Immokalee Immokalee tomato pickers continue their vibrant, successful national campaign to wring a penny a pound more out of the big buyers, facilitating a living wage for those who get our food from farm to mouth.
When We Stand Up For Farmworkers Immokalee farmworkers lead the way in the Fair Food Fight. Be conscious of how your food gets to you, folks.
Native Americans are in full tilt revolt against the Dakota Access (to planet-destroying fossil fuels) Pipeline. Put your hands, up, don’t let them shoot the indigenous defenders of land and life. Send blankets and whathaveyou. https://nodaplsolidarity.org Two songs:
When Standing Rock Comes Marchin’ In
Read the
At Standing Rock
Stand up for rights, it’s time
To do more than talk
It’s time for banks to stop funding destruction
Find another way to boost your stock
Oh when the banks support big oil
They’re supporting tear gas
and pepper spray
There’s a battle on the river
And we’ve come here to deliver
We say no more bulldozing the world
If you support poisoning water
And desecrating sacred land
If you like to foment climate chaos
Then bank here and leave big oil
in command
Financial backing
Of Bakken fracking
Desecrating burial sites
It’s not easy being green
When your profit comes from being mean
We’re here to read your greed its last rites
Yes we are here, like Paul Revere
To tell you what’s around the bend
Well I want to be in that number
When the planet and the people we defend
Oil companies, just tell me please
How did you get eminent domain
Over indigenous folks,
your excuses are bad jokes
You’ve got no couth
and you are inhumane
Yes you’ve got clout,
but count us out
You’ll trade your cuff links for handcuffs
You’ve really crossed the line
Your business needs a re-design
Now first nations have said enough!
You’ve really crossed the line
Your business needs a re-design
Now first nations have said enough!
Bank the Knife: No DAPL
Read the
And it smiles when it takes your cash
When the bank failed, & got bailed out
Did our Prez do somethin’ rashNow they’re bankin’ on a pipeline
To pollute water and land
But the people in North Dakota
Say we’re uniting to take a standJamie Dimon, Stuart Gulliver
Brian Moynihan, & Johnny Stumpf
Well the CEOs are not right dear
The one percent are runnin’ this town
No they never take the high ground
They just take people’s land and lives
That’s why we’ve got to start a boycott
Til their social conscience revives
They put solar on the rooftops
Of bank branches to con the folk
That’s like vegans making millions
From slaughterhouses, what a joke
Jamie Dimon, Stuart Gulliver
Brian Moynihan, & Johnny Stumpf
Yes the line forms to the boycott
Cause the people are back in town!
Killery Klinton and Donnie the Drumpf What can I say about this so-called election? This.
(It Is) Right to Boycott The NY legislature couldn’t pass the bills to blacklist companies and organizations that support boycotts for human rights for Palestinians. So Gov. Cuomo executive ordered them, raising Joe McCarthy from his well-earned grave. A state-wide Freedom to Boycott coalition has been combating these atrocious bills, which are surfacing around the country. Here are some songs and images of this growing movement.
Short version:
National Drumpfhood Week
The less said about this, the better, so it’s short.
To which I offer a qualified harrumph
Almost makes me pine for Hubert Humphrey
Guess it’s clear I’m talkin’ bout Drumpf, see when heTalks about his weenie
And in many other ways resembles Mussolini
Some allege his hands are littler
You wouldn’t want him as a juror
He reminds you of the führer
As a racist he’s the rashest
As a sexist he’s the brashest
About Mexicans and Muslims he’s a krypto-not nice guyWhen he goes out on the stump
Rabid rioters in a clump
Had to lose the David Duke bump
Yes he’s a bit of a schlump, a frump,
Oh yes heLooks just like a mump
To spiff him up would take a sump pump
So far we’ve sadly failed in our attempts to dump—-
The Donald
I’m not sayin’ he’s corrupt
But he does have a penchant for going bankrupt
Kudos to those who show up to disrupt his braggadocio
And interrupt the Generalissimo
It’s fun to eulogize those who self-aggrandize
It’s only for four years so have no fear
For this boy from Queens, by all means a big Bronx cheer!
Triple W and H2 – Oh!
How to remember why we don’t quite like Hillary and perhaps would rather see her elected to prison.
Are Hillary’s three great loves
Check out w.w.w. – did I say dubya?
She just can’t get enough
Then comes the double H,
Haiti and Honduras
Ensuring continuity of coups –
OMG she’s got endurance!
Walmart, War and Wall StreetHillary’s three great lovesDown Central America way
Mining and clearcutting are her favorite sports
Never mind indigenous folks
Let’s get on with the exports
Who knows best?
Multinational corporations don’t you see
Let’s give them a fair shake
though they leave corpses in their wake
From sea to slimy seaSo triple dub and H2 – O!, let us not redact
Welfare reform which was really
wWelfare retract
Send single moms to bottom rung jobs
At, oh, let’s see, y’know, Wal-Mart
I believe it would be in history an utmost epic fail
If Hillary and company don’t all end up in jail
But she’s a liberal, so you say, she fights for us
Hey I’ll bring you a Frappuccino
When you wake up
After having been thrown under the bus
She couldn’t possibly be in the establishment
Cause she’S a woman running for president
She’s better than Ted and Don
But she’s still a center-right automaton
She’s right on women’s choice
For that we must rejoice
Won’t release her bankster speeches
Wonder why?
I don’t mean to pillory Hillary but it’s time to declassify
Anyone with such a penchant for artillery,
Makes me want to flee to a distillery
The most terrifying 14 words in the English language
I know this is true, it says so right on yelp:
I’m from the center-right wing of a centrist party
<br
and I’m here to help
When We Stand Up and Feel the Bern A singalong at Washington Square Park. Or near it. Among the 20,000 who didn’t get in.
And here’s the studio/jazzier/semi-pro/lotsa pix version, part one
and part two…..! And the Belgian TV piece including excerpts from the song and some interviewing and the Bernie crowd at Prospect Park, Brooklyn.
The Union, It Must Be Changin’ I wrote a medley for the Movement of Rank and File Educators (MORE), a caucus of the United Federation of Teachers in NYC working for a democratic union and actually educational schools. Here’s the singalong vid, filmed at their meeting.
National Berniehood Week
Here he is, warts and all – it’s not quite a campaign song, but something to help us get through yet another presidential selection ordeal, with one bright spot in it.
Read the
But he’s really too far left
Well if you can’t win against the 1 percent
Then it’s time to re-inventCho:
So I’m for Bernie, cause he’s so learn-ie
The others give me a herni- a of the soul
He’s slow on certain things
He’s right on bankster things
Might could get us closer to the goalHow he hopes to stem inequality
Without tackling war it’s frivolity
It’s a mystery, look at history
But Bernie he’s our guyHe’s got a record in civil rights
Good enough for cape and tights
Didn’t get black lives matter for a minute
But most everyone else is agin it
There really shouldn’t be a national chief
There should be six, that’s my belief
But then there shouldn’t be an empire either
(If you think there should, there shouldn’t be you neither)Yes it’s true that he’s a Democrat
Though not so much a fat cat
Voted for too many arms bills
So he can’t be in charge of thatDon’t ya know that Bernie is on a journey
At the very least he should be Goldman Sachs’s prosecuting attorney
Oh that Sanders, he never panders
He’s our new Debs, he never ebbs, yes he’s our guy
So vote for Bernie, the only one who doesn’t lie
I’m Still A-Mergin’ Even More At Phil Ochs’ 75th birthday celebration in Brooklyn I offered my re-take on “I Ain’t Marchin’ Any More.”
I Don’t Fight for Conquerors Having forgotten that “I Ain’t Marchin’ Any More” had already been written, I wrote this. Oh well can’t have too many anthems – unless they’re boring. (Also from Phil Ochs Night, 12/19/15)
All Along Renewable Power Climate Man rewrote All Along the Watchtower, and I rewrote his rewrite, so here’s the result.
The Climate It Is A-Changin’ Live at the climate march, NYC, Dec ’15.
Star of Goliath Song cycle with visuals about Palestine/Israel, remixed 2015.
At the Brooklyn Commons on August 22, 2015, Dave Lippman celebrated 50 years of making music for justice. The LippBand rolled out songs dating from the eighties right up into the Age of Technology. Videos from that night plus relevant graphix = The Illustrated Band.
2-minute overview of 50-year career
Cooperative Internationale
In the Hummertime
I Hate Wal-Mart
They’re Setting a Bad Example
Keep On Workin’
I Don’t Fight for Conquerors
and one vintage recording with new visuals:
Mr. Relocation
I Am the Very Model of a Modern Fundamentalist
Kentucky’s own Kim Davis didn’t want to marry gays – Gilbert & Sullivan and James Trumm have given us a lickety-quick commentary.
Read the
I am the very model of a modern fundamentalist
I’m not merely judgmental, I’m the absolute judgmentalest!
I always follow scripture and I act on God’s authority
But marital longevity was never my priorityI married first one husband, then two others, then another one
Because I think one man is pretty much like any other one.
I’ve never been too troubled by the dubious legalities
Of sex outside of marriage or of other trivialitiesBut when it comes to icky stuff like homosexuality
I’m always very strident with my Puritan morality.
In short in matters biblical and spiritual and Calvinist,
I am the very model of a modern fundamentalist!In questions of behavior I fall back on my Old Testament
(Though saying no to shrimp is way too much of an impediment).
I pick and choose the verses that support my little weltanschauung
And pledge never to change my mind from now til götterdämmerungI’ll ride this hobby horse until I’m richer than a sybarite,
There’ll always be good money in denouncing godless sodomites.
I’ll put my name as author on some books that I can barely read
And get a show on cable to inform the world what God decreedMy husbands all agree that I know more about what marriage is
Than five Supreme Court justices whose law my faith disparages.
In short in matters biblical and spiritual and Calvinist,
I am the very model of a modern fundamentalist!In fact, when I see what is meant by constitutionality
When I can do my job with requisite impartiality,
When I can join in marriage two young men who might be thespians,
Or issue nuptial licenses to enterprising lesbiansWhen I can see that love is love no matter what the sexes are
And understand that gays are just like me and my three exes are,
In short, when I have finally got a dose of moral clarity
I’ll find out what is meant by the idea of Christian charity
Til then I’ll flout the law and draw my wages from the county tax
Which is what God would do if only He was up on all the facts
Til then in matters biblical and spiritual and Calvinist
I am the very model of a modern fundamentalist!
Whistleblowers’ Blues We get our important news from the people who have to sneak it out the side door, since the media only mediate what their wealthy owners permit. Why aren’t the people who try to put these people in jail, in jail?
Bakken Frackin’ Oil Train Heavy, volatile fracked oil from North Dakota travels in flimsy, outmoded rail cars across the country, through communities, over reservoirs, and from time to time derails and blows up, killing scores in Ontario, exploding and burning in Illinois, Alabama, Virginia,…THIS is sustainable energy?!
Battle Hymn of the Public Written for the Fight For Fifteen, this one starts with a snip of performance at the New Brunswick, NJ rally, then on to the rest of the country.
When We Stand Up For 15
Views of the fight for $15 set to the tune of folks Marchin’ In, doncha know.
and companion piece, speakers at a Jersey rally, with same song wrapping it up.
Ciao, Inequality
Read the
Check your positions
Do you work for all of us
Or for the big bad banks
This plutocracy is no democracy
Rule by the rich,
Good gosh, no thanks!Don’t trust your hedge funds
Don’t trust dark money
You leave us homeless and bankrupt,
I wonder when
You will be moving to your new mansion
In the nearest federal penYou bleed the nation
Take a vacation
From killing jobs, hoarding gobs
Of ill-gotten gains
Shift your ambition
To abolition
This system’s clinically insaneYou hold us hostage
With stocks and bondage
Basic rights don’t mean shite
To the shareholding class
If you don’t wise up
We might just rise up
And plant our feet right in your…
PantsYou kill community
With such impunity
But we won’t let you get away
With this truth decay
We’re gonna build a better future
And we’re gonna start right nowSo politicians
Check your positions
Do you work for all of us
Or for the big bad banks
This plutocracy is no democracy
Rule by the rich,
Good gosh, no thanks!
When We Stand Up To Inequality
Read the
Oh when I lost my job last week
For health care I was up a creek
Oh, I don’t want to be in that number,
That’s why I will not be meekWhen workin’ folks must get food stamps
Or live like 1930s tramps
I don’t want to be in that number,
When workin’ folks must get food stampsYes we are here like Paul Revere
To warn you of what’s goin’ down
Oh, I don’t want to be in that number,
When our country’s goin’ downWhen we stand up for our fair share
When we stand up for our fair share
Well, I want to be in that number,
When we stand up for our fair shareWhen we stand up, and when we shout
Respect is what it’s all about
Well, I want to be in that number,
Respect is what it’s all about
Cooperative Internationale Cubans try to democratize and save socialism by forming worker cooperatives.
Hands Up, Don’t Shoot (live version) with MSO Trio, Caffe Vivaldi, NYC, 12/14.
The sleeping giant awakes: Walmart “associates” are disassociating themselves from the race to the bottom of the working class. Three cheers – and songs – for them!
Shake Up Walmart
Read the
We’ve got to wake up
Walmart let’s shake up
Discrimination keeps women from management
We’ve got to build a better future
To fight for freedom this we vowThey’re cutting corners
Making us mourners
While banking billions in profits
But not for us
We’ve got to build a better future
And we’re gonna start right nowTheir reach is global
But it’s not noble
They pay the least they can pay
Workers everywhere
We’ve got to build a better future
And we’re gonna start right nowSo let’s all wake up
Walmart let’s shake up
No more stealing of wages and health care rights
We’re gonna build a better future
And we’re gonna start right now
When Walmart Cuts
Read the
For health care we are up a creek
Oh, I don’t want to be in that number,
When Walmart cuts our working weekWhen Walmart pays minimum wage
And on our hours slaps a cap
No one wants to be in that number,
Hard-working folks reduced to SNAPWhen government picks up the slack
Cause Walmart policies are wack
Then it’s time to pay proper wages
To put the workers in the blackYes we are here to tell Walmart
Our workers’ rights we’re fighting for
Oh, I want to be in that number,
When workers’ rights we’re fighting forWhen we stand up for our fair share
When we stand up for our fair share
Well, I want to be in that number,
When we stand up for our fair shareWhen we stand up, and when we shout
Respect is what it’s all about
Well, I want to be in that number,
Respect is what it’s all about
Battle Hymn of the Associates
Read the
And had our hours cut and changed at whim
We’ve been forced to go on food stamps
Cause our wages are so slim
We’ve signed up for Medicaid
Cause in this job it’s sink or swim
But we’ll go marching onChorus:
Glory glory to a living wage
Glory glory place it on the page
With the wages you propose
We’ll be homeless when it snows
So we’ll go marching onNobody should go bankrupt
With gigantic doctor bills
Nor should people have to choose
Between their dinner and their pills
The studies are already done,
And lack of healthcare kills
So we’ll go marching on
ChorusWe are your friends and neighbors
And you see us every day
We work our asses to the bone
So hear us when we say
That when we aren’t respected
We don’t meekly go away
No, we go marching on
Chorus
When the State Steals Medicaid Half the states are refusing to accept free money to save lives. People are on the move in these red states. In Texas, in Georgia. In South Carolina, a Healthy Democracy roadshow.
Battle Hymn of the Caregivers Some caregivers at nursing homes work without a contract, for low wages, with prohibitive costs for their dependents’ health care. They’re mobilizing.
We Shall Not Be De-Climatized We marched, and will march again, and then will lie down in front of the liars, and stand up to the climate-killing profiteers.
In the Hummertime Burying a pink Hummer in an art park in Detroit – world’s most unsingable singalong.
Read the
You can drive a hummer and darken the sky
When the weather’s hot
We got oil wars and pollution on our mind
Have a drink, have a drive
Go see whose pocket’s being linedIf your daddy’s rich he can make oil plumes
If your daddy’s poor you can suck on the fumes
Speed along the lane,
Weighs 3 tons, or 3 tons and twenty-five.
When the sun goes down, no one’s lookin’
So you’re better on a bikeThey’re a threat, people, they’re dirty and mean
They’re civilian tanks for civilian marines
They need so much oil
They destroy most of the Caribbean sea
Don’t make us happy,
Life’s for destroying yeah that’s their philosophySing along with us, dee-dee-dee-dee-dee
Da da da da da, hum vee vee vee
We will bury you
Never again see your chassis on TV
Now we’re happy
Life’s for living yeah that’s our philosophyWhen the wind is here, then it’s party time
Bring the solar power, we’ll be doin’ fine
We’ll build buses and trains
That run on seaweed, seltzer and two buck chuck wine
No more guzzling gas
No more war for oil in our lifetimeIf your daddy’s rich which he must be
Takes a shitload o dough to drive a hum-fuckin-vee
Either that or you’re maxin’, maxin’ out your visa credit card
We’ll be better off
Now that we’ve buried it in Heidelberg Yard
Sing along with us, dee-dee-dee-dee-dee
Da da da da da, hum vee vee vee
We will bury you
Never again to see your chassis on TV
Now we’re happy
Life’s for living yeah that’s our philosophy
This Brand’s Not Made for You and Me A jaunt through the history of boycotts – the ones I’ve joined in, anyway – to help us realize the power of putting the wallet back in the pocket.
Read the
This brand’s not your brand
From Delano grape fields
To Montgomery buses
From Nestle’s formula to fossil fuel stocks
This brand’s not made for you and meI’ve roamed and rambled
And followed the footsteps
Of corporate criminals,
Government accessories
And all around me a voice was sounding
This brand’s not made for you and meAs I went walking
I saw South Africa
An apartheid system
With Polaroid passbooks
I didn’t play Sun City, I’m not that shitty
That boycott was made for you and meTo keep us buying
Sometimes they’re lying
Maybe domination
Is their occupation
Do they do aggression, even dispossession
That brand’s not made for you and meIf you’re ever wonderin’
Is the seller plunderin’
Let your conscience wake up
Give the thing a smell test
Is it bad for the planet or indigenous people
That brand’s not made for you and meThis brand’s not my brand
This brand’s not your brand
It oppresses workers
It oppresses women
So don’t buy bombers
Tear gas or land grabs
This brand’s not made for you and me
This brand’s not my brand
This brand’s not your brand
If it steals the wages
If it steals the farmland
If it takes the power
For one tenth of one percent
This brand’s not made for you and me
Hands Up, Don’t Shoot Michael Brown isn’t even the latest to die from white cops’ fear of black people and failure to implement non-lethal methods and most of all the warehousing of unwanted humans. He was – for two days.
More Dead and Gaza Moans
Israel periodically “mows the lawn,” as they themselves call massacres, to demoralize Gaza, while spinning insulting stories about their motives. It makes things even worse, right? Time to cut aid and boycott yet? Not yet? When, then?
Jet fighters and troops are coming
Apartheid has really grown
While westerners’ hearts are numbing
More dead and Gaza moansGotta get down to it
Settlement’s taking our town
Should have been stopped long ago
What if you knew us
And saw them blow up our homes
How can you run when you know?Jet fighters and billions coming
Palestinians on their own
They’re losing their land and water
Israelis must now atoneGotta get down with it
Indigenous people must live
Uprooting their trees is a crime
What if you lived in an
open air prison like us
How could you run when you know?
The Interdictacall
The present, actually-existing International that has been organized by The Man consists of a buncha robots logging your blogs, phone calls, thoughts and feelings…but if you’ve done nothing wrong, why you bitchin’?
Arise phone callers of the earth
For Google swipes your information
Of privacy there is a dearth
No more the NSA shall bind us
Arise ye slaves of the purloined call
Our metadata’s their foundation
We have been bought, now we’re in thrall
By the spies we have been tricked
Every call falls to these thieves
The international snooping class
A web through wi-fi weaves
‘Tis the time to encrypt
Close the book on their face
Their international cache of calls
Our hackers shall eraseOriginal lyrics: Eugène Pottier, 1871
Music: Pierre De Geyter, 1888
The Times They Aren’t A-Changin’
What actually is “fit to print?”Apparently whatever fits in the bubble that we’re not supposed to be aware we’re in. Pinnacle of journalism or stenography for the established order? You be the judge.
Whenever you’re stumped
And admit that George Orwell’s
Journalistically trumped
And accept it that context
And sense have been dumped
If the Times to you
Is worth bravin’
Then you better start skimmin’
Through the parts fit to print
For the Times they aren’t a-changin’Come writers and editors
Who supersize with your pen
You use misleading weasel words
Time and again
Like “the West” and “our interests,”
“Moderate” and “friend”
And there’s no end to all this renamin’
And the reader will vote
Based on the objectivity they pretend
For the Times they aren’t a-changin’Come publishers, headline writers
With your hidden point of view
That which “stirs up concerns”
May concern mainly you
Try putting your foot
In a poor person’s shoe
There’s a battle outside
And it’s ragin’
But you’d never know that
Inside the bubble that skews
For the Times they aren’t a-changin’Come all ye truth-seekers
Throughout the land
And do criticize
The sly bias at hand
These corporate insiders
Are deaf to our demand
Never calling for corporate jail terms
In a world upside down
Such clear vision is banned
For the Times they aren’t a-changin’The old gray lady
Will always stand fast
Do her best to stupefy
The news-reading class
As reliable reporters
They’re woefully miscast
Will alternative media save us?
Let the youth write their stories
Produce their own broadcasts
For the Times they aren’t a-changin’
Will Society Be Unbroken
Wisconsin Solidarity Singers rewrote this 1907 hymn, then I altered it some for the South Carolina activists. The beat goes on…
With my friends all gathered ‘round
Though they steal our health and welfare
We won’t let them get us down
CHORUS:
Will society be unbroken
By and by, oh, by and by
There’s a better time a-waiting
When these gangsters we defyThere’s a law says that our money
Must return to fill our needs
There’s a waiver
says never mind that
Priority is rich folks’ greed
ChorusWell I bought me an old Chevy
Paid a tax, 300 bucks
Same exact tax on a Lear Jet
Guess the poor are sitting ducks
ChorusThen the Fed says, take this billion
And expand your Medicaid
But the guv’nor that vaudevillian
Says our state you may not invade
Chorus
Music: Charles H. Gabriel (1907)
Lyrics: Ada Ruth Habershon(1907)/Wisconsin Solidarity Singers/Dave Lippman
Student Debt Is Rising High & Making Us Ferocious
(Supercalifragi…..)
Chorus:
Student debt is rising high & making us ferocious
You must admit the sound of it is really quite atrocious
If we don’t do something we’ll all end up on Skid Row-cious
Student debt is rising high & making us ferociousBecause we were afraid to speak about our rising debt
The bankers gave our loans a tweak that we won’t soon forget
But then one day they went too high and that’s when we awoke
They’re mortgaging our future, we’re not laughing it’s no joke
ChorusThey travel all around the world and everywhere they go
They make their super-profit out of reg’lar folks you know
When Dukes and Maharajas pass the time of day with them
We answer, This is over, your grand theft we do condemn
ChorusSo when the cat has got your tongue there’s no need for dismay
Just summon up a movement, then you’ve got a lot to say
This escalating ripoff we are going to prevent
They better listen to us, we’re the 99 percent!
Chorus
Jumbo Liar
Rewritten for South Carolina’s social justice movement, from rewrite by Wisconsin’s Solidarity Singers. Who’s next?
While they cut all the programs for the needy
Slashing services for our poor families
While providing tax cuts for their cronies
Chorus:
Grill some shrimp, tap a keg
Grow Palmetto
We will fight till the state is all betto
Pick guitar, fill fruit jar
Straight or gay-o
Send the Tea Party back
This very day-oConstitution promotes the general welfare
But the government defies what is writ there
They could make our economy prosper
With a job and health care for every worker
ChorusWe need someone like Robert LaFollette
To oppose corporate crooks on the ballot
To restore government to work for us
We will fight but first repeat one more chorus
Chorus
I Don’t Want Your Millions, Mister
An 80-year update for those of us still Greatly Recessed.
(thanks to Jim Garland for the original from the ’30s)
I don’t want your millions, Mister
Though it’s your fault that I am broke
All I want is a home and pension
Lost it all to the brothers Koch
Now I propose we jail the banksters
Don’t think Jay Z or me or you
Ever rhymed them up with wanksters
Well now it’s done, can’t hit undo
I believe that the aggrieved
Should be relieved of their indebtitude
And why not? Those lousy lenders
Against America did collude
No, I don’t want your Lamborghini
I don’t want your private jet
All I want’s a Prius maybe
Oh yes and please my old job back
I don’t want your millions, Mister
Though that would help to pay my rent
All I want is health, jobs, and schooling
And long jail terms for the one percent
Moral Mondays After Occupy, Tahrir, and Wisconsin comes North Carolina’s Moral Mondays campaign.
Imagine Trade Agreements – Bilingual ode to those working against the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Inspired by folks in Mexico, already victimized by NAFTA – and now this.
audio version:
Read the
Enemigo del maiz
The Trans-Pacific Partnership
Won’t make us mas feliz
Attacking labor standards
Food safety and health care rights
You may say I’m no redeemer
But I’ve seen this all before
If we all work together
Dictadura corporativa will be no more
The TPP will trick you
Esta no olvides
This global bankers’ wet dream
Es NAFTA en esteroides
Local laws suspended
Environment, who cares?
You may say I’m a screamer
But before these guys are done
They’ll give our world to Wall Street
Agroindustria will have wonTrust the transnacionales
They have your back for sure
For healthy food and families
Monsanto is the cure
Imagine all the countries
Obeying Uncle Sam
You may say they’re all schemers
Hope they’re not the only ones
I hope today we’ll all join up
For the good of daughters and of sonsImagine trade agreements
Good for earth, water, and air
Instead of corporate bullying
An economy that’s fair
Imagine all the people
With good food y buena salud
You may say es imposible
Corporations own the earth
But if we work together
Un mundo justo will be in birth
You Don’t Own the World – A simple singalong sums up the state of the “sale of our state” situation.
Foreclosed Nation Row – Wild Bill croons his impatience with your impatience with imperial meltdown.
Always Low Prices – Not much has changed from the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire 100 years ago to the catastrophe/mass murder in the Smart Export Garments factory in Bangladesh. They just move the most exploitative jobs around the globe. At the center, or forward edge, of this demonic regime is our old friend Wal-mart.