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Everything is Fine In Jena

Everything was fine in Jena
Before they came around
From Michigan and Harlem and all them brown towns
A rising tide lifts all boats
David Duke got all our votes
Everything is fine in Jena

There ain’t a single thing a white can do
That a black can’t do in Jena too.
Except live in a nice house on a nice street
Accumulated wealth over generations
You can’t call that a racist nation
Everything is fine in Jena.

We don’t have a race problem here.
It’s not about color, it’s about crime and fear
Black kids wanta sit by a white tree
Sounds to me like a crime spree
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again
I can end your life with the stroke of a pen.
Everything is fine in Jena

Don’t tell me you don’t do the same
Cause your New York Bell had a different name
Mychal’s in jail, Sean’s six feet under
So it goes, that’s the situation, you can’t call that a racist nation
Everything is fine in America

Used to have an underground railroad,
Now they’re railroaded here at home
Just because it’s a prettified plantation
You can’t call that a racist nation
Everything is fine
You can’t call that a racist nation
Everything is fine in Jena

Pity The Nation-First They Came-I Don’t Fight For Conquerors

Pity the nation whose people are sheep,
whose shepherds mislead them off the deep end of history
Pity the nation whose leaders are liars, whose sages are silenced,
whose bigots haunt the airwaves urging more violence

Pity the nation that raises not its voice
except to praise conquerors
and bullies and say there’s no choice
and aims to rule the world by force and torture.
Pity the nation that knows no language but its own
no culture but its own
Pity the nation whose breath is money
and sleeps the sleep of the too well fed
Pity the nation — oh, pity the people who allow their rights to erode
their freedoms washed away
My country, tears of thee, sweet land of liberty

First they came for the Communists, and I said nothing
Because I could never be a part of that party
Then they came for the unions, but I said not a thing
Cause I wasn’t in a union and what charges could they bring?
Then they came for the Jews and I did not speak up
Because I was not a Jew, and besides, what could one man do?

And then they came for me, I said no! This cannot be
Well I spoke up, but no one was left to speak for me
Well I spoke up but no one was left to speak for me

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

Songs from Shrub & Lippman Live in Manhattan (Kansas):

Megs and All

In 1951 I’d just begun
In 1951 I’d just begun
Korean War was underway
We had a brand new Chevrolet
We were livin’ the American Way in 51

In 1955 came civil rights
In 1955, civil rights
There was much to overcome
Ku Klux terror and the slum
Who knew what was to come in 55

In 1963 in Washington
We marched to show that freedom could be won
There were freedom songs to sing
And there was Martin Luther King
In 1963 in Washington

In 1968 we came undone
Revolutions were put down with club and gun
There was blood and there was bombs
Not a nation could be calmed
In 1968 we came undone

In 1969 we walked the moon
On earth a man still called his neighbor coon
Some were happy, some did say
It was mankind’s greatest day
In 1969 we walked the moon

And then the freedom leaders all were gone
Government officials said be calm
With the killers still at large
And Nixon still in charge
So many freedom leaders…gone

The eighties were the fifties upside down
Plutocrats and colonels gaining ground
When we hit 1984
It was like the book, maybe more
Yes, the eighties were dark days all around

Then they invented a new machine, mouse and all
They invented a new machine, megs and all
It’s a global clarion call
Gathers data on us all
It’s a high tech shopping mall, mouse and all

One superpower now bestrides the world
Banners of resistance are unfurled
For these people and this earth
A new millenium’s in birth
And we will not live in a world of greed,
We will not stoop except to plant another seed

Iraq Opportunity Theme Song

You and I must make a pact, we must bring Iraq back
Where there is oil, I’ll be thereYou and I travel to the beat of a big oil drum
Oh can’t you see by my car that runs 15 gallons to the mile

The lord above made man to rob his neighbor
No matter where with neighbors he is cursed
The lord above made man to rob his neighbor, but
With a little bit of luck, with a little bit of luck
With a little luck I’ll get there first

With a little bit, with a little bit
With a little bit of bloomin’ luck

The gentle sheiks were made for us to curry
To drill our oil and keep it flowing without cease
The gentle sheiks were made for us to curry, but
With a little bit of luck, with a little bit of luck
We can have it all and call it peace

I ain’t no wimp I ain’t no gimp
Don’t need no symphony
I played this one alone
With Tony Blair on tympani
I ain’t no fall guy, I’m a tall guy
And I’m gonna do
What Cheney tells me to

Songs from I HATE WAL-MART:

I Hate Wal-Mart

I’ve always hated Blockbuster
Starbucks, not quite so much
If I’m not boycotting at least 3 oil companies
I start to feel out of touch
I wouldn’t be seen near Nordstrom’s or any such
And I hate Wal-Mart

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

Now you may wonder, why all this fuss
If you don’t like the plane, take the bus
Well I’ve found religion, and just between us
I hate Wal-Mart

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

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

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

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

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

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
And I don’t like Garrison Keillor cause
He’s so white

Turn on my radio dial
Like to hear something new once in a while
But it’s the same old crap in a brand new style
It’s audio rape
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 one little rhythm and blues
And that’s why God made tape

Used to be we wore beads and bells
Sewed our own clothes in our own way
Now we all wear uniforms that say
Hard Rock Cafe
We’re in a state of sartorial decay
That’s why I hate Wal-Mart

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
Hope you like this song, thanks a bunch
I could go on, but I gotta go eat lunch
If you didn’t like it, I’ve got a hunch
You work in sales

So grow your own, make your own
Be careful what you own
Develop non-shopping to an art
And whatever you do
Don’t shop at Wal-Mart

My Favorite Songs

Come gather round people wherever you advertise
And admit that the sixties sells Chryslers and fries
And accept it that money don’t talk, it just lies
If your bottom line is worth savin
Then you better start skimmin all the anthems we’ve known
For the stocks, they are exchangin

There’s somethin happenin here
What it is, is an ad for a beer

I guess you’d say
What can make me feel this way
My beer, talkin bout my beer

Songs that sell soap and sell cars and sell lifestyles
Anthems of freedom now corporate sieg heils
Songs that bring back all those sweet memories
Thanks, Mitsubishi, and who needs trees?
When I’m downsized, lost my health care
When I’m feelin sad
I simply remember my favorite songs
And then I don’t feel so

Bad about ads and my culture they’re taking
Bad about products that didn’t need making
Bad that they’re buying the soul of my youth
To sell me their shit, well it’s slightly uncouth
When I’m lonesome, or nostalgic
Feel I’m gonna cry
I simply remember my favorite songs
And then I break down and buy!

I’m goin up the country, where a man can be free
I’m goin up the country, where a man can be free
I’m goin to some place where there’s no god damn Pepsi!