April 15, 2003
Protest Singers Struggle Against "Consciousness-Raising Gap"
The sudden collapse of the Hussein regime in Iraq has caught many people off-balance, but few more so than protest singers. According to Peet Guthrie of the Angry Folk Singers of America:
We expected to have a few weeks of quagmire in which to write angry songs about being ground under the American boot. The quick fall of Baghdad has left a lot of our members scrambling.
Some have responded to the sudden need for anti-American songs by eschewing the standard practice of writing new words and music, and instead writing new lyrics to existing songs. One singer, Woody Cigar, is excited about his new version of James Taylor's "Fire and Rain": "The beauty of it is that it works well with very few changes. In my version, the singer is an elite Republican guardsman."
Just yesterday morning
They let me know you were gone
Saddam, the plan that failed put an end to you
I gave up this morning and I wrote down this song
There's nobody left who I can send it to
Chorus:
I've seen fire and I've seen rain
I've seen sunny days that I thought would never end
I've seen lonely times when I could not find a friend
But I always thought that I'd see you again
Won't you look down upon me, Allah
You've got to help me make a stand
You've just got to see me through another day
My body's aching and my time is at hand
And I won't make it any other way
Chorus
Been crossing the lines for an easy time, my white flag's up in the sky
Lord knows when the fuel-air blows you don't wanna be around
Now there's hours to chat in American camps and play soccer with the guys
Sweet dreams of flying machines in pieces on the ground
Chorus
Thought I'd see you one more time again...
"Then I thought, too much poignant, not enough strident... so I adapted this old Paul Revere chestnut":
They took the whole Iraqi nation
And put us on this reservation
Took away our native tongue
And taught their English to our young
Iraqi people! Iraqi tribe!
So proud to live! So proud to die!
When it was pointed out that young Iraqis were not being forced to learn English, Cigar nodded and smiled.
"You see? The song's already working."
Cigar hopes that the adaptations will keep the protest song pipeline from drying up before more original material is available, but in the meantime, he's already thought up more titles and lyrics to work from:
So bye bye, Uday and Qusay
Dropped a bunker buster on ya and it looks like ya died
Where Has All the Anthax Gone?
Long term, Cigar hopes to write a song that incorporates the phrase "Good God, y'all", but cautions that he won't try to force it into a place where it doesn't fit, "much like the American military in Iraq."
Posted by Steve at April 15, 2003 12:22 PM
"ATTENTION: 'ANGRY FOLK SINGERS OF AMERICA' YOU ARE BEING RECALLED FROM YOUR(COUGH) SUCCESSFUL MISSION. PLEASE RETURN TO THE MOTHER SHIP."
Bwahaha! My favourite line is "Lord knows, when the fuel-air blows you don't wanna be around". It even scans properly! A triumph, sir.
How appropriate that "A Mighty Wind" premieres tomorrow.
A couple of weeks ago I heard a pro-war parody version of "Subterranean Homesick Blues". The only line I remember is "Look out Iraq/Coz we're comin' back" in place of "Look out kid/They keep it all hid."
The B-52s have a new one out . . . they've been performing it on their Persian Gulf tour:
If you see a faded sign by the side of the road that says
15 miles to . . . Bagh-dad!
I'm headin' up the Karbala highway,
Lookin' for Saddam's hideaway
Heading there to blow him away.
I got an M-1, it's as big as a whale, and we're headin' on down
To old Baghdad
It was made by Chrysler, it mounts a 120
So hurry up and bring your army buddies
'Cause Baghdad is a little old place where we can take out Saddam
Baghdad baby, Baghdad bay-bee.
Baghdad, that's where it's at,
Baghdad, that's where it's at
Everybody's movin', everybody's groovin' baby!
Tanks linin' up outside just to get down
Everybody's movin', everybody's groovin' baby
Warthogs attack! Warthogs attack!
Hop in my Abrams, it's as big as a whale
And it's about to set sail!
I got an M-1, it mounts a 120
So come on and bring your army buddies.
'Cause Baghdad is a little old place where we can take out Saddam
Baghdad baby, Baghdad bay-bee.
Bang bang bang on the door baby! Knock a little louder baby!
Bang bang bang on the door baby! I can't hear you
Bang bang on the door baby!
Bang bang on the door baby!
Who's there?... Jayy-DAMN!
Baghdad, baby Baghdad!
Baghdad, that's where it's at!
A word of warning here ... I create song parodies for a living, and the legal definition of a parody vs. a copyright infringement is pretty clear. The parody may not use any substantial amount of the original song's lyrics; even 20% is way too much. Posting songs like the ones above can be fun, but if they are ever recorded and sold, or even performed live at a venue where the audience pays, they'd be legally liable.
And then all of the happy fun got sucked out of the room. When , oh joy, my two favorite words appear, "legally liable".
The Mamas and the Papas had one too:
Creeque Alley, Baghdad, April 9, 2003
Uday and Qusay always hated Mondays
Longed to leave their old man behind
Cheney and Rummy said hey don't be glummy
Listenin' on the telephone line
The information minister still stood pat
And after every number he would pass the hat
The bombs and the fires just are getting higher
In Baghdad you know where that's at
And no one's getting fat except Saddam's cat
When Saddam was a young man, then he went to Baghdad
But he changed his mind one day
Standing on the turnpike, thumb out to hitchhike
Take me to Kuwait right away.
Father Bush gave Saddam lumps
But he didn't kick him out, he left it to the Shrub
The bombs and the fires couldn't get no higher
But that's what they were aimin' at
And no one's getting fat except Saddam's cat.
Mugwumps, hi-jumps, low slumps, big bumps,
Ted Koppel works as hard as he plays
Drink-up, break-up, everything is shake-up
Guess it had to be that way
The First Marines are kicking ass
The Third Infantry is breaking lots of glass
Uday and Qusay just became a flambe
In Baghdad you know where that's at
And everybody's getting fat except Saddam's cat
A moron no more, hey now get your war on
Osama wants to go to the sea
Sorry we can't make it, boy you'll have to fake it
We'll blow you up eventually
Died in living color on the TV
War paid for by Visa, it's everywhere you wanna be
Freedom's good vibrations, and our imaginations,
Will bring you whisky and democracy
On the day Iraqi Freedom was becoming a reality.
Let Us Not Forget Our Master Tom Lehrer
http://wiw.org/~drz/tom.lehrer/the_year.html#army
The Folk Song Army
One type of song that has come into increasing prominence in recent months is the folk-song of protest. You have to admire people who sing these songs. It takes a certain amount of courage to get up in a coffee-house or a college auditorium and come out in favor of the things that everybody else in the audience is against like peace and justice and brotherhood and so on. The nicest thing about a protest song is that it makes you feel so good. I have a song here which I realise should be accompanied on a folk instrument in which category the piano does not alas qualify so imagine if you will that I am playing an 88 string guitar.
We are the Folk Song Army.
Everyone of us cares.
We all hate poverty, war, and injustice,
Unlike the rest of you squares.
There are innocuous folk songs.
Yeah, but we regard 'em with scorn.
The folks who sing 'em have no social conscience.
Why they don't even care if Jimmy Crack Corn.
If you feel dissatisfaction,
Strum your frustrations away.
Some people may prefer action,
But give me a folk song any old day.
The tune don't have to be clever,
And it don't matter if you put a coupla extra syllables into a line.
It sounds more ethnic if it ain't good English,
And it don't even gotta rhyme--excuse me--rhyne.
Remember the war against Franco?
That's the kind where each of us belongs.
Though he may have won all the battles,
We had all the good songs.
So join in the Folk Song Army,
Guitars are the weapons we bring
To the fight against poverty, war, and injustice.
Ready! Aim! Sing!
