Lyr Add: Buy Nothing Day carols

Subject: The Christmas (Shopper) Song
From: Genie
Date: 01 Dec 08 - 09:18 PM

The Christmas (Shopper) Song

Tune: The Christmas Song
Parody lyrics by Genie (Jeanene Pratt


Shoppers rushing like a house on fire,
Jack-knifed shopping carts in rows,
Jewels, died apparel - they buy junk by the quire,
These blokes stressed out like angry foes.

Everbody knows some turkey who must spend his dough
Buying everything in sight.
His tiny tots who are wise, in the know,
Will make it hard for him to fight.

They know Dad Santa's ripe to play --
He's loaded! and there's lots of ways to get their way,
And all these mama's boys are gonna cry
And show such pain, dear, if their parents don't buy.

And so the stores are offering this simple phrase
To shoppers ten to ninety-two:
Come, swipe those cards many times, many ways!
Mercenary Christmas to you!

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Buy Nothing Day carols
From: Genie
Date: 01 Dec 08 - 08:41 PM

semi-submersible, thanks so much for finding and posting my "alternative carols" from way back when.   I tried to find them, using the Search function, but had no luck.
Glad you did.

Genie

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Buy Nothing Day carols
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 01 Dec 08 - 04:07 AM

Oh I really wish I had a recording of 'Feliz Navidad', Limpit and I love it!

(Have been known to dance around shops when they play it... I really must up my medication at Christmas....)

LTS

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Buy Nothing Day carols
From: Genie
Date: 01 Dec 08 - 01:38 AM

At our Unitarian church in Portland, OR, a few years ago, we did some "alternative Christmas carols." I thought I had posted some here at Mudcat, but I can't find them.

Here are a few:

FLEEECE MOM AND DAD

(Tune: Feliz Navidad!)

Fleece mom and dad! Fleece mom and dad!
Fleece mom and dad,
Don't spare their budget, make de kids feel bad!

(I'll see if I can find the rest of the lyrics. They're on another computer.)

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Buy Nothing Day carols
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 30 Nov 08 - 06:11 PM

You might enjoy Reverend Billy and the Church of Stop Shopping.

He has a feature-length video:

What Would Jesus Buy?, (which is available from Netflix).

And a couple of albums:

There's the eponymous one: Reverend Billy & The Church of Stop Shopping and then The Shopocalypse.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Buy Nothing Day carols
From: semi-submersible
Date: 28 Nov 08 - 12:41 PM

Happy Buy Nothing Day 2008. Genie posted these carols a few years ago in a Christmas parody thread:

Fleece Mom and Dad
words by Jeanene Pratt ©1999 (3rd verse ©2001)
(Can be sung to "¡Feliz Navidad!" by Jose Feliciano)


Chorus
    Fleece Mom and Dad! Fleece Mom and Dad!
    Fleece Mom and Dad! Don't spare their budget, make the kids feel glad! (Repeat)


We'll make the kids want a brand new Nintendo
Some Pokemons and a Tickle me Elmo!
And Ken and Barbie--so Wal-Mart can sell mo'
And fill up those shopping carts!

Chorus

For many months how the kids have implored 'em
For Beanie Babies--just watch people hoard 'em--,
Video games to relieve kiddies' boredom,
And the latest trading cards!

Chorus

Letters to Santa can be so heart-rending
With 20-page "gimme" lists that they're sending!
It's patriotic this year to be spendin',
So our bottom line stands hard!

Chorus


Don't Rest, Ye Harried Shoppers

Don't rest, ye harried shoppers, then, let nothing you deter.
Avail yourselves of savings now, with interest deferred,
To save from 10 percent and up, come in and join the herd.

         (Refrain) Oh, try buying your comfort and joy, comfort and joy!
                   Oh, try buying your comfort and joy!

From Saks, Wal-Mart and Bloomingdale's the blessed ad men came
And unto us, their customers, brought lures to play their game,
How that if we don't spend and spend, it sure would be a shame!

         (Refrain) Oh, try buying your comfort and joy, comfort and joy!
                   Oh, try buying your comfort and joy!

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Buy Nothing Day carols
From: DeeAnn
Date: 26 Nov 99 - 09:34 PM

What would happen on "Black Friday" if everyone stayed home? The stores would sell nothing and we'd all be a lot richer! Happy birthday and Buy Nothing Day!

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Buy Nothing Day carols
From: emily rain
Date: 26 Nov 99 - 09:18 PM

happy birthday marion, and i'm sorry i didn't know it was buy nothing day. i bought a latte and a package of oreos. damn! and i call myself a radical.

emily

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Buy Nothing Day carols
From: AllisonA(Animaterra)
Date: 26 Nov 99 - 03:42 PM

Happy birthday, Marion- and thanks for the songs! My group is going to be the opening act for the city tree-lighting ceremony in just a few hours, and I wish I had the chutzpah to include these little dittys. It might be fun to write some more here, perhaps to Christmas tunes, to be revived next year (assuming they want us back!)
But I confess I bought gas for my car and Chinese food for lunch. I don't shop on this day if I can help it!
Allison

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Buy Nothing Day carols
From: stupidbodhranplayewhodoesn'tknowanybetter
Date: 26 Nov 99 - 01:27 PM

Nothing to add, But Happy Birthday. And I promise not to buy you anything

Rich

Subject: Buy Nothing Day carols
From: Marion
Date: 26 Nov 99 - 01:11 PM

Hello all. Today's my birthday (27 years), so I can do whatever I want, so I'm taking the liberty of posting lyrics to a couple of songs that I cowrote with Bob Dylan. I wrote these in honour of Buy Nothing Day, an environmentalist holiday that comes every year the day after American Thanksgiving. In college my environment club used to go do guerilla choir (we called ourselves the Raging Grandchildren) in malls to make a quixotic stance against overconsumption.

Anyway... here are the words, you know the tunes.

BLOWING IN THE WIND

How many credit cards must a man own
Before we call him a man?
How many seas must the great trawlers sail
Before the last fish is canned?
How many dumps must the styrofoam fill
Before it's forever banned?

(chorus the same as in Bob's version)

How many ads must one man see
Before he starts to grow wise?
How many fruits must a poor land export
Before they're allowed to grow rice?
How many barrels of oil can we waste
Before we have to pay its true price?

How many dollars do we try to earn
Pretending we need them to thrive?
How many more animals must we kill
Before we can see they're alive?
How many weapons will be bought and sold
Before we decide to survive?

How many rugs can a young girl weave
Before she's no longer a child?
How many trees can a nation chop down
Before there's no trees in the wild?
How many lies can a man listen to
Before he's no longer beguiled?


THE TIMES THEY ARE A-CHANGING

Come gather round, people, and pause on your way
We're asking you now to buy nothing today
The cost may be more than the price that you pay
If the earth to you is worth saving
Then you'd better consider the words that we say
For the times they are a changing

Come ye Christmas shoppers and look at yourselves
Can joy and contentment be bought off the shelves?
Can anything last that's made by the elves?
Just what is it you're craving?
Life's just fine without all the whistles and bells
For the times...

Come mothers and fathers with children in tow
No war toys or Barbies will help them to grow
You can't buy their love, as you already know
That battery's rapidly fading
There's no better toys than the sand, grass, and snow
For the times...

Come managers, owners, and don't get us wrong
We're all in the same boat, we all hear the song
This overconsumption, it just can't go on
We all have a part to be playing
Let buyers and sellers together be strong
For the times...

Buy nothing today, come out of that store
That glitter ain't gold, so caveat emptor
Woe to the rich, and blessed are the poor
You know it's true what we're saying
That more is less and less is more
For the times...

Wow... looking back now with the advantage of a few years these songs seem so self-righteous and self-indulgent... but hey, what are birthdays for?

Thanks for reading,

Marion