Song Category: Lipp Band
In the Hummertime
I Hate Wal-Mart
I’ve always hated Starbucks
Amazon, almost as much
If I’m not boycotting at least 3 oil companies
I start to feel out of touch
I wouldn’t be seen in Google Glass or any such
And I hate Wal-Mart
2
I don’t like whips, I don’t like chains
I don’t go choppin up my neighbors’ brains
Don’t really even like shopping
except at the Flea Mart
And I hate Wal-Mart
3
Now you may wonder what’s all this fuss?
If you don’t like the train, take the bus
But I’ve found religion, and just between us
I hate Wal-Mart
4
If you didn’t hear the story, here’s how it is
Big company sells below cost
Drive mom and pop out of biz
Pretty soon all over the land
One big square store, identical brand
And that’s why I hate Wal-Mart
5
Used to be you could drive around
Stop in at three or four towns
Encounter different sights and sounds
Different if not unique
Different accent, different smell
Different things to buy and sell
Now it’s all Taco Bell
I hate Wal-Mart
6
Roads used to dip and wind
You drive slow, relax your mind
Never knew what you’d find
Round the next bend
Now the freeway goes so straight
It’d go right past the Pearly Gate
I don’t feel human, I feel like freight
I hate Wal-Mart
7
I like to roam, I like to greet
Individuals on the street
You always know the one you meet is
One of a kind
But more and more they seem to be
Reflections of something on TV
When we’re all alike, nobody’s free
I hate Wal-Mart
8
I boycott Burger King, I boycott Newt Gingrich
I boycott everything which I’ve seen advertised
I used to go out to dinner in a diner
Now they say fast food is finer
But it tastes like fell out of an airliner
It’s enough to make you weep
9
I don’t like board games
I don’t like brand names
They make inflated claims
They’re full of bleep
Everyone I meet is a high-tech dealer
Wants to sell me a digital potato peeler
At least we’ve still got Garrison Keillor but
But he’s so white
10
Turn on my radio dial
Like to hear somethin’ new once in a while
But it’s the same old crap in a brand new style
Clear Channel, please!
Still I try to pick and choose
Turn the dial but I always lose
They only play the worst rock and roll
And once in a while if you’re lucky one little rhythm and blues
And that’s why God made mp3s.
11
Used to be we wore beads and bells
Made our own clothes in our own way
Now we all wear a uniform says
Hard Rock Cafe
We’re in a state of sartorial decay
And that’s why I hate Wal-Mart
12
If there’s a pretty spot they’ll pave it over
Put a cloverleaf over a four-leaf clover
Black paint on the White Cliffs of Dover
It never fails
They’re bankin’ billions
We make minimum wage
Whole towns closed up, where’s the rage?
Not that I believe in nations per se
But if just might be time
To nationalize Wal-Mart
They’re Setting a Bad Example
My buddy says to me
Hey man, what you think about Poland?
Such a sorry sight to see
We got to do what we can
Bout the trouble in Afghanistan
We could bomb the Soviets, but better yet
Let’s bomb Grenada
They are nationalizing everything
I knew it would be this way
They say if you want to make a profit
A greater tax you must pay
We need freedom of investment
Just like we’ve got in Formosa
Maybe we could give Grenada
To Merrill Lynch Pierce Fenner and Somoza
Chorus:
Cut off their aid, cut off their trade
If that don’t persuade em, we got to invade em
Or blockade em, or stockade em
Switchblade em or grenade em
They’re setting a bad example
Star wars are more fun than guerrilla wars, of course
You see, we are Americans so we never like to use force
We’re generous to a fault
But these things get out of hand
Imagine, they want to decide for themselves
Which crops to grow on their land!
The people down there don’t seem to care
I was really quite shocked
They drive into town, take a walk around
Leavin their car door unlocked
This is clearly Communism
So let’s bring in the choppers and tanks
We’ll bring back pluralism
A choice between the IMF and the World Bank
Chorus
Keep On Workin’
Grew up in Kentucky
Don’t know how I survived Chicago
I guess I just got lucky
My oldest brother went to war
Second one went to crime
Youngest went on welfare
And we’re all doin time
I live in a factory
Eight hours every day
I risk my life
And then I die of boredom
I worked for Ford
For fifteen years
Then I got laid off
After the Vietnam War
We lost incentive
We used to be so proud
So patriotic, but now I wonder
What for!
Chorus:
Keep on a-workin, that’s what they told me
Later I found out somebody sold me
Keep on a-workin, everything’ll be ok
But you know sometimes I’m a-thinkin
There’s bound to be a better way
I used to go out and give some hell
To the demonstrators
I used to go out and yell
Why don’t you all get a job!
Then I got laid off,
Went down to the food stamp office
Now I’m a welfare bum
Myself
They were shoutin the streets
We were rippin off the people overseas
Companies would pay a dollar a day
For what they couldn’t steal
I was paid all right
Yeah, they kept me on their side
And in my pride I said “We’re the best
That’s how I feel!”
But now they’re movin the factories
Yeah, they’re movin em overseas
Cause there’s so much competition
And we’ve fallen to our knees
Must be bad over there
If it’s like this over here
Now I can’t even buy the things
I’ve made for all these years
Chorus
Yeah the company hit the skids
There’s been layoffs left and right
To throw away a worker
Is such a waste
I’ve got feelings
Hell, I’ve even got expenses
I think it’s the company
That should be replaced
And they say I’m not tryin
That I’m not even buyin
The economy is dyin
And it’s all because of me
When I was young
I learned that anyone
Can get ahead, if somebody don’t make it
It’s cause he didn’t try
I was told I had a place assured
Looks like they told me wrong
They were wrong about it
But still they lie:
Chorus
I Don’t Fight for Conquerors
I fought for the Christians and Greece
But when Christians turned into Crusaders
I prayed for their tribes to decrease
And I didn’t fight for the Spanish,
French, Portuguese or Dutch
When their ships sailed into the Indies
I said look but do not touch
And I didn’t fight for the English
When the colonies had to go
But I have to say, the very next day
I was fightin for Geronimo
Chorus:
And I don’t like to kill
Never have and never will
But I will fight for freedom
Though the battle be uphill
And I don’t fight for conquerors
Even if they’re presidents
They try to buy me with dollars
They must think I’ve got no sense
And I don’t keep my silence
When my country bombs a town
Cause I don’t fight for conquerors
I fight to bring them down
I didn’t fight for the Ottomans
Or the empire of the czar
When they asked me to kill in their colonies
I said who do you think you are?
And I didn’t fight for the Nazis
No, I fought for the Jews
And when Israel asked me to conquer
You know I had to refuse
I didn’t crown the Shah of Iran
Greek colonels or a butcher in Zaire
Didn’t bank on Franco or apartheid
Or any who ruled by fear
Chorus
I didn’t overthrow Chile
Slaughter peasants in El Salvador
And when they went in with shock and awe
I knew exactly what it was for
I didn’t send men to be tortured
Leave their families living in dread
I didn’t build prisons all over the world
And pretend it was freedom I spread
Yes they say they’re spreading democracy
With their soldiers and CIA
Is that why they propped up Mr. Marcos,
Suharto, Duvalier
Vietnam and Iraq, I protested
While all of my Presidents lied
When Presidents stoop to conquer
I’m on the other side