Folk Songs for Conservatives

Subject: RE: Folk Songs for Conservatives
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 15 Apr 00 - 04:55 PM

"that song was "The Soldier" by my pretty conservative buddy Harvey Andrews. He got RAKED for that one."

Whether Harvey has whatever count as conservative views or not, I can't see The Soldier as being in any real sense conservative. I'd see it as one of a long line of songs which point out the pointless waste of war, and the humanity of individuals who get caught up in it.

I think applying words like conservative in the context of international conflicts doesn't make much sense. A while different set of value judgements come into it when you are deciding whether to support or oppose "your own" side.

Subject: RE: Folk Songs for Conservatives
From: kendall
Date: 15 Apr 00 - 06:56 PM

I would still like to see some specifics Jon W. Back in the 60's when I was a Goldwater republican, I raved about the govt. taking my money for social security without my permission. Well, guess what? I'm now in my 60's, and I'm damn glad they did!! Again, what exactly are they taking from you to the detriment of your family?

Subject: RE: Folk Songs for Conservatives
From: Margo
Date: 15 Apr 00 - 07:54 PM

Old Mole: Thanks for the reply. Yeah, I know that most patriotic boasts are "conservative" material. Yankee doodle has lyrics for both the north and south, as it was sung by both.

Kendall: I would gladly give up all my rights to any funds social security "owed" me if the deduction was stopped from our (my husband's)paycheck. I think we can do better financially if we could invest the funds ourselves. We're not counting on it being there anyway.

By the way, Kendall, I am currently working on writing two songs for the sea shantey writing contest put on by Victory music. One is a nonsensical capstan shantey, the other is a ballad of the Flying Cloud (McKay's ship, not the slaver of fable). I still want to write about Navigating with potatoes. Cracks me up every time I think of it....

Margo

Subject: RE: Folk Songs for Conservatives
From: kendall
Date: 15 Apr 00 - 09:33 PM

Go for it.

Subject: RE: Folk Songs for Conservatives
From: Ditchdweller
Date: 16 Apr 00 - 12:36 PM

Regarding "The Soldier", the bomb was thrown into the waiting room of Springfield Road RUC station in Belfast by the IRA. The room contained several civilians, including children and Sgt. Michael Willets of 1st Para. ironically a devout Catholic, dropped onto it. The song was very popular in the forces during the late '70s, but was (and I believe still may be) banned by the BBC. If you look on the Daily Telegraph website at http://www.telegraph.co.uk/et?ac=002334389224333&rtmo=VMk686sK&atmo=99999999&pg=/et/00/3/15/nelec41.html you will findd some details of the incident. Sapper

Subject: RE: Folk Songs for Conservatives
From: JedMarum
Date: 17 Apr 00 - 12:02 AM

Sapper 82 - where'd ya get you name?

Subject: RE: Folk Songs for Conservatives
From: Ditchdweller
Date: 17 Apr 00 - 03:33 PM

A private soldier in Her Magesty's Royal Engineers is referred to as a "sapper", refering back to the days of siege warfare where "saps" or trenches were dug towards the wall of a besieged town. I served HM for 11½years. Sapper

Subject: RE: Folk Songs for Conservatives
From: DougR
Date: 17 Apr 00 - 05:09 PM

Well, Bluejay, I don't suppose my comments will have any relevance to what this thread is all about, but if the majority of the folks living in Colorado don't want the ten commandmanets posted in the schools they can do something about it. Vote out the folks who put the 10 Commandments in the schools and vote in folks who don't want them posted (though I wouldn't consider breaking my pick on this one myself).

What is so objectionable about posting the 10 Commandments anyway? Is there a religion that wouldn't agree that keeping them is a pretty good idea? They are pretty reasonable rules, I think. :>)

Subject: RE: Folk Songs for Conservatives
From: DougR
Date: 17 Apr 00 - 05:19 PM

And Jed Marum, glad you said that. Didn't realize until these Threads were started; this one and the one by Rick, that so many Liberals who profess to be liberal have such narrow minds. I know that some folk music was written with a political point of view in mind, and not everyone may agree with that point of view, but if it's a good song I don't see why folks of any political persuasion couldn't enjoy listening to it or singing or playing it. Not all folk music espouses a particular point of political view. That is, unless someone has come up with a new definition of folk music I'm not aware of.

DougR

Subject: RE: Folk Songs for Conservatives
From: toadfrog
Date: 17 Apr 01 - 12:39 AM

When I was in college, we had a fine book of conservative folksongs. One began:

We are the jolly Pinkertons, we go from town to town,
We drink our beer and have no fear, and club the workers down!
How we hate their organizers! All this trouble is their fault.
Let us take their pious preaching with at least one grain of salt.

And another:

I don't want your Union, mister,
I don't want your David Becks.
All I want's your million dollars,
Then I'll wring your scrawny necks!

Who says conservatives have no soul? Not me!

Subject: Lyr Add: This Is Not Our Land
From: Mark Clark
Date: 17 Apr 01 - 01:16 AM

Jed, Many years ago, we used to sing a song called "This Is NOT Our Land" sung to the same tune. It wasn't a conservative song however. I offer it here in the spirit of academic research.

      - Mark

THIS IS NOT OUR LAND

As I was walking that endless bread line,
My landlord gave me a one week deadline,
And labor action made a bitter headline,
This land is not for you and me.

Refrain:
This land is their land, it is not our land,
From the Wall Street offices, to the Cadillac car land,
From plush apartments to the Hollywood star land,
This land is not for you and me.

So take your slogan and kindly stow it,
If this is our land we sure don't know it,
Let's get together and overthrow it,
This land is not for you and me.

(refrain)

Subject: Lyr Add: The Union Mason
From: Mark Clark
Date: 17 Apr 01 - 01:31 AM

Also long ago—and on the other side of the aisle—we use to sing the following.

      - Mark

THE UNION MASON

My name's _____ _____, and I lay bricks,
I used to work out in the sticks,
I came to town with out a plan,
Got tangled up with a union man.

He got me a job, I went to work,
I did my best, tried not to shirk,
I laid four thousand bricks a day,
I thought I'd get a raise in pay.

The man I worked for said to me,
Four thousand bricks, too much you see,
The union is does not allow,
Four hundred bricks, let alone four thou.

I am a union steward now,
My men don't work, they don't know how,
All they can do is loaf all day,
And go on strike for a raise in pay.

Subject: RE: Folk Songs for Conservatives
From: GUEST,Claymore
Date: 17 Apr 01 - 03:21 PM

Actually I've long thought the most beautiful conservative love song was "Diamonds and Rust" by Joan Baez. While I'm sorry to hear about her sister, I can still remember the poster she and her sisters put out, "These Girls Say "Yes" To Boys Who Say "No". Our joke in the Corps was that one had VD, one had TB and the other was LezE, with the response, "So screw the one who coughs"

Another beautiful song is "Famous Blue Raincoat" by Leonard Cohen, and finally there was a song by John Sebastian of the Lovin' Spoonful about what he would tell his son about his own behavior as the son was growing up, (I cannot remember the title at the moment).

All of them speak to the consequences of earlier actions that most people would consider Liberal, and as Mark Twain would say, "how much their fathers had learned while they were growing up".

Subject: RE: Folk Songs for Conservatives
From: Bert
Date: 17 Apr 01 - 10:19 PM

I don't know of any songs for conservatives. I know plenty of Bolshie songs though.

That aside - there's plenty of room in MY world for BBC an Doug R.

Bert.

Subject: RE: Folk Songs for Conservatives
From: ddw
Date: 18 Apr 01 - 12:34 AM

If anti-union puts it in the conservative camp, there's Billy Edd Wheeler's Coal Tattoo:

I stood for the union, I marched in their line
Fought against the company
I stood for the U M W of A,
Now who's gonna stand by me?

david

Subject: RE: Folk Songs for Conservatives
From: Troll
Date: 18 Apr 01 - 12:55 AM

Seems to me there used to be a book called " The Bosses Songbook" which contained such gems as "Pity The Downtrodden Landlord" and "The Man Who Waters The Workers Beer".
Sigh!

troll

Subject: RE: Folk Songs for Conservatives
From: LR Mole
Date: 18 Apr 01 - 04:55 PM

The Sebastian song is called "Younger Generation": comes off the Cmaj7. Trade you the words and chords for "I'll Paint Rainbows All Over Your Blues". "Dawn of Correction" was recorded by The Spokesmen. And I have nothing against the Ten Commandments; I just think the author finds it richly ironic that they're put to such odd uses. "If I had closed my mouth and opened my eyes..." hums Mr. Taylor...

Subject: RE: Folk Songs for Conservatives
From: Ebbie
Date: 18 Apr 01 - 06:33 PM

It was Al Gore who said," Those who dont agee with us must be silenced."

weststar, WHAT?? And WHEN?? Sounds slanderous to me, not to mention libelous, if you can't cite the information.

Ebbie

Subject: RE: Folk Songs for Conservatives
From: GUEST,2 feathers
Date: 18 Apr 01 - 09:51 PM

Look up a album by Lew Hollander - it's kind of old, I guess, if an album more than 20 years old is old. One could always count on Lew to sing a conservative song at sings. One of the songs I remember is "If you want the fruit you've gotta shake the tree."

Subject: RE: Folk Songs for Conservatives
From: Gorgeous Gary
Date: 18 Apr 01 - 10:43 PM

And then there's the "power ballad" for conservatives that L.A. satirists The Foremen cooked up - "Every Man For Himself".

My favorite line: "That government of the people, by the people, and in spite of the people shall not perish/But that certain people shall!".

I suppose depending on who's singing it/listening to it, it's either quite tongue-in-cheek or quite serious...

Oh...and as for the 10 Commandments...sure, if you post 'em in Hebrew. I mean, if you're going to do it at all, do it right and use the original version! (*grin*)

-- Gary

Subject: RE: Folk Songs for Conservatives
From: Ebbie
Date: 19 Apr 01 - 01:41 PM

refresh

Subject: RE: Folk Songs for Conservatives
From: GUEST,Hal Frank
Date: 20 Apr 01 - 10:02 AM

FYI The government side in the Spanish civil war was the side fighting against the Falangist right wing. Later, of course, the government was basically taken over by the Soviets. That was because they were the only nation furnishing arms to the Republic. The Republic experienced it's own nasty inetrnal war - Communists against other forces in the left and center. See George Orwell's "Homage To Catalonia".

About right wing folk songs: Fleming Brown (a good ol' left wing type) used to sing a song by a downstate Illinois miner - lyrics started out "Come and lsiten to my song/Story 'bout a nation wronged/lawless man in a roving band/strike the tools from a miner's hand. Flag of blue, white and red - man's got a right to earn his bread." Very definitely anti-UMW.

Subject: RE: Folk Songs for Conservatives
From: GUEST,Hal Frank
Date: 20 Apr 01 - 10:06 AM

FYI The government side in the Spanish civil war was the side fighting against the Falangist right wing. Later, of course, the government was basically taken over by the Soviets. That was because they were the only nation furnishing arms to the Republic. The Republic experienced it's own nasty inetrnal war - Communists against other forces in the left and center. See George Orwell's "Homage To Catalonia".

About right wing folk songs: Fleming Brown (a good ol' left wing type) used to sing a song by a downstate Illinois miner - lyrics started out "Come and lsiten to my song/Story 'bout a nation wronged/lawless man in a roving band/strike the tools from a miner's hand. Flag of blue, white and red - man's got a right to earn his bread." Very definitely anti-UMW.

Subject: RE: Folk Songs for Conservatives
From: toadfrog
Date: 20 Apr 01 - 11:35 PM

"Waters the worker's beer" is not in the bosses' songbook. I used to have the book it is in, but can no longer find it. Several songs on this thread, including the 2 I posted, are from the "Bosses' Songbook." And those songs aren't really all that conservative. One Bosses' Song begins:

Slaves of Wall Street, here we sit
Covered with reaction's shit,
And our sweat is filling Morgan's filthy till,
And the Fascists as they pass,
Jam Taft Hartley up our ass,
And we've almost had our _______ fucking fill!

When the Fascist Forrestall
Gives his Fascist battle call
To take arms against the day of liberty,
We will all go underground,
Till we hear the welcome sound
Of the Soviet forces of democracy!

That, I believe, is a parody of an old fraternity song known as "Stroke, stroke, stroke you master Betas."

Subject: RE: Folk Songs for Conservatives
From: Haruo
Date: 20 Apr 01 - 11:44 PM

Tom Lehrer's

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 great songs!

As for the Ten Commandments, what is it with all these Christians trying to force Judaism down our throats?

Liland
Somewhat Iconoclastic Baptist

Subject: RE: Folk Songs for Conservatives
From: mousethief
Date: 21 Apr 01 - 01:05 AM

Well, I have the original version of the decalogue (Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, don't you know), but unfortunately don't have the font. Would you accept a transliteration?

alex

Subject: RE: Folk Songs for Conservatives
From: ray bucknell
Date: 21 Apr 01 - 09:37 PM

Somewhere along this thread it was mentioned that three songs done by the (Chad) Mitchell Trio fit this "folk songs for conservatives" mold: "The John Birch Society," "Barry's Boys" (later "Ronnie's Boys") and, if I'm not mistaken, "Your Friendly, Liberal, Neighborhood Ku Klux Klan." Well, my friend, nothing could be further from the truth. You're right in that the Trio did sing and record these songs, but it appears as though you haven't listened to them. The songs are all political satires lampooning everything pertaining to their title characters/organizations. The Trio's philosophy was that they could get more people's attention by poking fun at these kinds of things than they could by just singing "straight" protest songs. Consider this line from the Birch song: We only hail the hero from whom we got our name, We're not sure what he did, but he's our hero just the same! Do you really think that's supposed to be taken seriously? As for me, I'm really much more conservative than the music I listen to would lead people to believe. Ray

Subject: RE: Folk Songs for Conservatives
From: Bill D
Date: 19 Feb 04 - 02:11 PM

well, this has to refreshed today for this wonderful cartoon by Stephen Pastis

from this site

Subject: RE: Folk Songs for Conservatives
From: Walking Eagle
Date: 19 Feb 04 - 09:25 PM

There were a whole lot of songs in the teens,twenties,and thirties from the south encouraging folks to join the Klan. One radio station here is running a week long series about violent racism then. I'll see if I can get some titles.

Subject: RE: Folk Songs for Conservatives
From: oldhippie
Date: 21 May 16 - 06:16 PM

I have a copy of the album in question. It is on the Toad Recordings label. The track listing is:
Side 1:
Won't You Come Home, Bill Buckley
Rock's Big Candy Mountain
Orally
We Shall Not Be Moved
Sweet Selma Levine
Side 2:
I Dreamed I Saw Roy Cohn Last Night
Hang Earl Warren
D'ye Ken John Birch
Hang Down Your Head Tom Dewey
"Red" River Valley

Words copyright 1963; Noel E Parmentel, Jr, Marshall J Dodge 3rd. Back cover states: written, produced, and directed by (Parental and Dodge), the greatest political satirists since Cohn and Schine. Sung by Noel X and his unbleached muslims of Western long temple #1. The guitarist is Mike Childs.