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LOVE ME, I'M A LIBERAL
(Phil Ochs)

E               A          E    A
I cried when they shot Medgar Evers
E                   C#m
Tears ran down my spine
   E             A          E
I cried when they shot Mr. Kennedy
               F#7             B7
As though I'd lost a father of mine
    E       A             E
But Malcolm X got what was coming
   G#m                        A
He got what he asked for this time
   E       C#m      A       B7    E
So love me, love me, love me, I'm a liberal

I go to civil rights rallies
And I put down the old D.A.R.
I love Harry and Sidney and Sammy
I hope every colored boy becomes a star
But don't talk about revolution
That's going a little bit too far
So love me, love me, love me, I'm a liberal

I cheered when Humphrey was chosen
My faith in the system restored
I'm glad the commies were thrown out
Of the A.F.L. C.I.O. board
I love Puerto Ricans and Negros
As long as they don't move next door
So love me, love me, love me, I'm a liberal

The people of old Mississippi
Should all hang their heads in shame
I can't understand how their minds work
What's the matter don't they watch Les Crane?
But if you ask me to bus my children
I hope the cops take down your name
So love me, love me, love me, I'm a liberal

I read New Republic and Nation
I've learned to take every view
You know, I've memorized Lerner and Golden
I feel like I'm almost a Jew
But when it comes to times like korea
There's no one more red, white and blue
So love me, love me, love me, I'm a liberal

I vote for the democtratic party
They want the U.N. to be strong
I go to all the Pete Seeger concerts
He sure gets me singing those songs
I'll send all the money you ask for
But don't ask me to come on along
So love me, love me, love me, I'm a liberal

Once I was young and impulsive
I wore every conceivable pin
Even went to the socialist meetings
Learned all the old union hymns
But I've grown older and wiser
And that's why I'm turning you in
So love me, love me, love me, I'm a liberal


Notes:

Sonny Ochs says: "Lerner & Golden were both columnists with left-leaning
tendencies. Harry Golden, a humorist,
wrote some marvelous books and short stories. One I recall is his plan for
integration in schools in the south
(this was back when). Since the Southerners didn't mind blacks standing next to
whites when making purchases
in stores, he proposed that they take out all the chairs in the schools and let
the students stand to learn.
He called this "vertical integration."

Jason V. says: "Les Crane had a talk show based in NYC. Crane was quite liberal,
and had many folksingers
on his show. (Here's the transcript of his interview with Bob Dylan and Odetta."

Jello Biafra and Mojo Nixon did a cover of this song with some updated lyrics
(on their album "Prairie Home Invasion." Mojo Nixon sang this updated version
solo on Comedy Central
during their 1996 State of the Union show.

Jan Hauenstein says ``Phil Ochs didn´t write the melody which comes from an old
Irish folk song, "Rosin the Bow".
That melody also found a new home in several American folk songs before Phil put
it to good use. The melody for
the "chorus-line" (Love me, love me, love me, I´m a liberal) is probably
original Ochs, though.''

@political
filename[ LOVLIBRL
XX
Feb07

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