Listen&Watch

Think of it this way, they come to your door
They say you must move and they will prove it
That can’t happen here you say, this is the USA

But it’s not the same for those who were here
Before Columbus came…they’ve got to give up their claim

In 19 hundred 23 a tribal council came to be
To represent the Navajo of the Big Mountain soil
The causes of the council’s birth
Will tell you what the council’s worth
The council was formed by Standard Oil

They came to conquer, possess and destroy
Steal land and livestock, livelihood and joy
Rape and destruction of the Mother Earth
When the water is poisoned, what’s it worth?

The natural law says to live with the land
And keep it for a daughter to hold in her hand

Chorus:

To those who fence and confine it
Who kill it in order to mine it
All I can say is Mr. Relocation, shame on you!

To help the Indians to help themselves
Sounded like a noble goal
Until the lawyer for the relocation
Turned out to work for Peabody Coal
Money-grubbing politicians, they all got ambitions
To turn traditions into their opposites
Even a commissioner said the relocation
Reminded him of a place called Auschwitz

To live a life of fear, it is not pretty
Think about it
Whatever happens here will happen in your city
Do not doubt it
The land is the answer, the land is the cause
You try to break our lives
We’ll have to break your laws
Chorus

lyrics by James Trumm
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 priority

I 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 trivialities

But 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 götterdämmerung

I’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 decreed

My 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 lesbians

When 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!

I hear that whistleblower alerting us again
The truth ain’t seen the sunshine since I don’t know when
I’m stuck with politicians who lie both night and day
When I hear that whistleblower it blows my blues away

The bribery was rampant, the corruption everywhere
The boys in blue in New York kept the people unaware
Beyond the wall of silence the truth would never flow
But someone had to be Frank, and it was Serpico

Those liars in the government destroying Vietnam
Along came Daniel Ellsberg and he dropped a different bomb
Purloined Pentagon papers, the secret war exposed
You never know how who’s lying until the whistle blows

With Nixon in the White House, paranoia was the rule
They bugged the opposition, which is totally uncool
The ship of state was listing, it was a leaky boat
They’d have never got the plumbers if not for good ol’ Deep Throat

Now no one was allowed to know if Israel had a stash
Of nuclear devices, to turn us all to ash
It took a whistleblower to bring us all the news
What is it that we’re needin? More Mordecai Vanunus

And while we’re talking of things nuclear remember Kerr-McGee
They said atomic power would set the nation free
Then up spoke Karen Silkwood, “you’re tamp’ring with our lives”
When I think of what she went through, I hang my head and cry

Now the CIA is known to all as freedom-fighting blokes
Yes they fight for freedom for the one percent of folks
No they’d never stoop to torture, that’s such a wack world view
But then we learned of waterboarding from John Kiriaku

They were violating privacy, fourth amendment rights
The boys down at the NSA had us all in their sights
The abuse of public trust there, it really takes the cake
But we found out all about it, thank you Thomas Drake

We would never know the war crimes of the army in Iraq
Were it not for secret footage showing murderous attacks
More tortures they were planning, if they could keep it mum
Thank God for Chelsea Manning, come on, let’s give him some

When he was just a contractor for NSA and such
Ed Snowden figured out we were all spied upon too much
He found the files to prove it, these crimes we all condemn
Now when Big Brother tries to snow us, we’ll wiki leak on them

Well I voted for the new guy, they all said he would be great
By the time we knew his wily ways, it was years too late
Charged more whistleblowers than all the ones before
When I saw how I’d been taken, I hung my head and swore

Well if they freed me from this prison, stopped the secrecy and lies
I bet I would be sharp enough to cut them down to size
Democracy will flourish, the truth shall set us free
When you hear that whistle blowin’, it blows for you and me

[Chattanooga Choo Choo:]
Pardon me boys, is that the bakken frackin’ oil train?
Right on track by my house
Endangering my spouse and cat & parakeet, I gotta tweet
I can’t afford the stored explosive crude that rolls there
It isn’t fair, & they don’t seem to care

It leaves the North Dakota bakken Yes that is where they drill
Our neighborhood is burned & blackened when there’s a spill
20 trains a week, we’re really up a creek
Derailment and defilement, is that what we seek?

When you see us demonstratin’
Maybe you should
Not wait until it blows then it’s too late, it’s no good
Frackin’ in the bakken
Our anger musn’t slacken
Woo, woo! Whoosh there goes the neighborhood

There’s gonna be a little party at the station
We’ll be makin’ our case
This train is such a disgrace (we’re getting’ in your face)
We’re gonna cry
And tell the CSX folks that they can’t roam
Over our reservoir, we’re gonna send them on home

[Folsom Prison Blues:]
I hear that train a comin’
Across the reservoir
Our water source is pure and clean
Cause the oil ain’t spilled – so far
I’m stuck with frackin’ oil trains
That oil can really blaze (i mean for days)
But that train keeps a-rolling
Right through our waterways

When I was just a baby
My mama told me, “Dude
Always keep a clean train
Don’t load it up with crude”
But this oil train’s a casino
They’re gambling with our lives
(feels like hives or rusty knives)
When I hear that whistle blowin’
I raise my fist and cry

I bet there’s rich folks cheatin’ us
with volatile bomb trains
Blowin’ up communities
For ill-gotten gains
Well as long as they keep comin’
I know I can’t be free – anybody agree?
But those bomb trains keep a-movin’
And that’s what tortures me

Well when the people have arisen
Will the railroad hear our yell
Will they snap out of it, break that
hydrocarbon spell
Convert to safer sources
Outgrow this crude oil scene (OBscene)
For the planet and the people
You know it’s time to go green

[Freight Train, rewrite by Paula Rogovin:]
Oil trains, oil trains passing by
We’re endangered, can’t stand by
The Gov. won’t tell when Bakken’s flowin’
He won’t tell the comin’s and goin’s

In Quebec an oil train rode
That Bakken oil train did explode
Forty-seven good people lost their lives
Listen, you’ll still hear their loved ones cry

In Lynchburg, Virginia an oil train rode
It fell off the tracks, and it did explode
Toxins got on the ground and in the water supply
Listen, you’ll still hear the wildlife cry

Don’t want those Bakken oil trains here
We think people’s lives are way too dear
It’s time that we start thinking green
And keep our air, soil, and water clean

We have worked to keep communities
And families living well
We are proud to do our part
And now we’ve come out here to tell
That if you don’t want workers
Who are threatening to rebel
Then pay them what they’re worth

Chorus:
Glory glory to a living wage
Glory glory place it on the page
You may ask what does that mean
At a minimum, 15
So we go marching on

Nobody 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
Chorus

We 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

Oh when I cashed my check last week
I saw that I was up a creek
Oh, I don’t want to be in that number,
That’s why I will not be meek

When 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 stamps

Yes we are here like Paul Revere
To let you know what we have seen
Every worker’s gonna get a number,
And that number is 15

When 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 share

When 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