Etan has been with OWS since the beginning, Bobert. He wrote on Mudcat a good while back and then a month ago seeking help with lyrics to the melody of Which Side Are You On. Mark Ross and I contributed 4 and 3 stanzas respectively, and Etan added two others in a flurry of internet activity, he being in NYC, Mark out in Oregon and me in Quebec. The stanzas were put in the following sequence on that afternoon of October 3, 2011. He then printed the lyrics and distributed them to some singers in the occupied zone, some buskers in Manhattan, and I heard a few days back that Pete and Tao sang some of the stanzas when they paid a visit to OWS. He's a good man, a statement Mark Ross would be willing to back up.


Which Side Are You On: 2011

Lyrics by E Ben-Ami, M Ross and B Murdoch


Come all you brave occupiers,
There's a truth that I must tell,
If we don't fight for our country,
We'll see it go to hell.

Oh, people can you stand it,            
Tell me if you can
Will we fight here out on the street
Or beg with cap in hand?

We came here for liberty                  
To change a damned disgrace
Walked across the Brooklyn Bridge
Got netted and got maced.

There's a place in New York City         
Where the money goes round & round
But for 99ers in the street
None of that will trickle down

What Wall Street does is evil
But they keep it out of sight
Money goes from their left hand
Directly to their right

The politicos and the bankers            
Are having too much fun
We're out here on the street today
To put them on the run

Tell them up in Washington               
Let them hear it 'cross the land
We've been too long divided
United we'll make our stand

You say you love this country,               
I hope to God that's true,
But do you think those politicians,
Give a damn for you.

We send our deepest thanks to you                  
We know you will not fall
The cops could take us one by one
But they sure can't take us all

Who wrote which specific stanza was never important to any of us. Besides, we edited each other's stuff and that's what we got. It took 1 1/2 hours start to finish because Etan needed the song to sing next day to the people at the OWS encampment. He definitely does have credentials. fyi

BM

PS There was another thread a month back on which some of the stanzas appeared. I can never find anything once it's not on the screen, so where it went is anybody's guess.