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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.

Yeah they say he’s got some heft
But he’s really too far left
Well if you can’t win against the 1 percent
Then it’s time to re-invent
Cho:
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 goal

How he hopes to stem inequality
Without tackling war it’s frivolity
It’s a mystery, look at history
But Bernie he’s our guy

He’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 that
Don’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.”

1
Oh I marched to the battle of the Enron trench
In a scam that was bound to end all scams
Energy stocks were flying, who knew that we were lyin
But I’m still mergin even more

2
I foreclosed my share of houses in a thousand different towns
Maybe the house where you were born
The American dream is ending
Thanks to predatory lending
No I ain’t a virgin anymore

It’s always the rich to teach us how to fail
Always the poor to learn
Now look at all we’ve won
With deregulation
Tell me was it worth your house

3
Oh I marched through downturns of every stripe
At the end of every roaring boom
There were Panics and Depressions
And 21 recessions
Yes I was binge and purgin all along

4
For I ponzied up my default swaps till no one knew
What the hell they were selling on spec
Though it wasn’t strictly legal
At least we lost Glass-Steagall
Yes we were surgin through the store

It’s always the rich to hold onto the bonds
Always the poor in the stocks
Now look at all we’ve won
With deregulation
Tell me was it worth your job

5
And I marched in the battle of Seattle too
Though not in the streets with you
I was globalizing profit
You were yelling hey come off it
And now I’m splurgin’ even more

6
Now AIG and Lehman both are billions in the hole
City Group screams at Manhattan’s shore
Call it pyramids or teasin
I admit I am the reason
That you’ve got no margin anymore
But I’m still chargin’ plenty more
And I’m enlargin’ even 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)

I didn’t fight for the Romans
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

All Along Renewable Power

Climate Man rewrote All Along the Watchtower, and I rewrote his rewrite, so here’s the result.

There must be some way out of here
Said the broker to the thief (same guy)
My profit comes from climate change
Destruction of barrier reefs
Droughts and floods and fires
Our greed destroys the earth
None of us who ruin it
Know what any of it is worth

No reason to get excited
The skeptic slyly spoke
It’s just a hoax from socialists
Or maybe some kind of joke
But you and I must shout it out
Or this will be our fate
So let us not talk falsely now
The hour is getting late

All along renewable power
Has been clearly in view
While all the oilmen plundered us
Coal and nuclear too
Outside all the people
Marched for sanity
Moment of truth approaching
To save humanity