Songs about truly pissed-off people

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: GUEST,Labyrinth
Date: 28 Dec 01 - 03:35 AM

Oh I wish that for just one time you could stand inside my shoes,
And just for that one moment I could be you.
Yes, I wish that for just one time you could stand inside my shoes,
Then you'd know what a drag it is to see you.
[POSITIVELY 4TH STREET]
& the sentiments in the rest of the song, like "you'd rather see me paralyzed" ~ Dylan could really do "bitter"

I was reading Abby's thread as Songs _about_ PO'd ppl
And almost all suggested have been the speaker/first person, rather than the subject of the song.

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: Coyote Breath
Date: 28 Dec 01 - 03:52 AM

Check out some of Barton and Para's stuff. JOHNNY WHISTLETRIGGER for one. The "black flaggers" (guerillas) of the Civil War (USA) had some angry songs. My favorite angry "song" is Ralph Chapin's poem [THE RED FEAST]. Which starts:

"Go fight you fools, tear up the earth with strife,
and spill each other's guts upon the field.
Serve unto death the men you served in life,
so that their wide dominions may not yield."

I heard it set to music once and it comes across as an angry antiwar song. Very powerful. And then there is the parody of The Little Red Song Book known as The Bosses Song Book. It has some angry stuff like:

"Slaves of Wall street here we sit
Covered with reaction's s--t
While our sweat is filling Morgan's filthy till
And the Fascists as they pass
Jam Taft-Hartly up our a--
Well, I guess we've had our G--d---d f-----g fill!"

(sorry about the self-censorship but I don't feel comfortable writing that out and I sing that song only with friends)

CB

I guess I'm not very angry myself...

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: Abby Sale
Date: 28 Dec 01 - 09:24 AM

 
I had meant trad folk song but I guess there is other song out there (if one doesn't waste too much time at it.)  One of my always-favorite songs is of a really pissed-off guy.  He's just found out the boss's wedding present to him served the primary purpose of giving the boss easy access to the bride's bed.  (It's the fiancee that sees the purpose and complains about it.)  He spends the rest of the show plotting, getting even as only the best Italian intrigue can be.  (The  story is actually written by a Frenchman who well-understood plotting from his marvelous personal life.)

"Se vuol ballare," Figaro's aria from Le Nozze di Figaro

Bravo, signor padrone!                Bravo, my lord and master!
Ora incomincio a capir il mistero,    Now I begin to understand the mystery,
e a veder schietto                    And to see plain
tutto il vostro progetto!             Your whole plan!
A Londra, è vero?                     We're going to London, right?
Voi ministro, io corriero,            You as minister, I as courier,
e la Susanna...segreta ambasciatrice! and Susanna...as a secret envoy!
Non sara, non sarà-- Figaro il dice!  It won't be so, it won't be so--Figaro says it!

Se vuol ballare, signor Contino,      If you want to dance, Sir Count,
Il chitarrino le suonerò.             I'll play the guitar for you.
Se vuol venire nella mia scuola,      If you want to come to my school,
La capriola le insegnerò.             I'll teach you the moves.
Sapro, ma piano, meglio ogni arcano   I'll find out, but quietly; or better, by pretending,
Dissimulando scoprir potrò.           I'll discover every mystery.
L'arte schermendo, l'arte adoprando,  The art of fencing, the art of adapting,
Di quà pungendo, di là scherzando,    Here fighting, there fooling,
Tutte le macchine rovescierò.         I'll overturn all the machinery.

Word-by-word translation by Jane Bishop, [e-mail]

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 28 Dec 01 - 11:24 AM

Don Firth,

I've been trying to remember the source of a song that John Dwyer used to sing, I think he learned it from an album but I don't remember which. It was a string of Irish curses, clearly sung by a totally pissed-off person. It had things like "May your cock never crow" and "May your hens never lay" but went on to very complex curses. Does this ring a bell? I think there was no story, just the steady string of curses.

Maggie

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: Raptor
Date: 28 Dec 01 - 11:43 AM

How bout MacClain and MacClain with the song F@#K Ya
Raptor

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: GUEST,Deda
Date: 28 Dec 01 - 11:45 AM

"Evil" (It probably has some other name but that's how I know it.) Sample verse:

[EVIL-HEARTED MAN]

My baby made me breakfast, Brought it to my bed
I took a sip of coffee, threw the cup at her head
Because I'm evil, Evil-hearted me
So low down and evil, evil as a man can be.

That guy sounds pissed off to me.

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: GUEST,MAG at work
Date: 28 Dec 01 - 12:27 PM

Nobody seems to have mentioned "Ghost of Anne Boleyn" -- ("WITH HER HEAD TUCKED UNDERNEATH HER ARM")

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: richardw
Date: 28 Dec 01 - 02:23 PM

"EVIL (IS GOING ON)" was a song of Howlin' Wolf"s. Ken Hamm now does a version and it is a powerful song from an angry man.

If it is sung right there is nothing to beat BUFFALO SKINNERS and the line: "We left his god-damned bones to bleach on the plains of the buffalo."

Richard Wright

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: leprechaun
Date: 29 Dec 01 - 06:15 AM

Maggie -

That's "NELL FLAHERTY'S DRAKE."

The Clancy Brothers sing it too.

It should be in the DB.

Kevin

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: Mr Red
Date: 29 Dec 01 - 10:52 AM

I always see NELL FLAHERTY'S DRAKE as the latter-day equivalent of what the Romans wrote on sheets of lead and cast into religious wells or hot baths like Bath.
archeologists call them curses - I think that sums up the Flaherty song.

My favourite song title may not exist (prove me wrong someone) but you just think it might well as it is C&W
"SHE GOT THE GOLD MINE (I GOT THE SHAFT)" -
pissed on and pissed off I think.

Subject: Lyr Add: ONE MORE MINUTE (Weird Al Yankovic)
From: gatyamgal
Date: 29 Dec 01 - 11:02 AM

This is one of my favorites by Weird Al. I would say he is a little pissed off in this song. Maybe bitter is a better word.

ARTIST: "Weird Al" Yankovic TITLE: One More Minute

Well, I heard that you're leavin'
Gonna leave me far behind
'Cause you found a brand new lover
You decided that I'm not your kind

So I pulled your name out of my Rolodex
And I tore all your pictures in two
And I burned down the malt shop where we used to go
Just because it reminds me of you

That's right, you ain't gonna see me cryin'
I'm glad that you found somebody new
'Cause I'd rather spend eternity eating shards of broken glass
Than spend one more minute with you

I guess I might seem kinda bitter
You got me feelin' down in the dumps
'Cause I'm stranded all alone in the Gas Station of Love
And I have to use the self-service pumps

Oh, so honey, let me help you with that suitcase
You ain't gonna break my heart in two
'Cause I'd rather get a hundred thousand paper cuts on my face
Than spend one more minute with you

I'd rather rip out my intestines with a fork
Than watch you going out with other men
I'd rather slam my fingers in a door
Again and again and again and again and again

Oh, can't you see what I'm tryin' to say, darlin'

I'd rather have my blood sucked out by leeches
Shove an ice pick under a toenail or two
I'd rather clean all the bathrooms in Grand Central Station With my tongue
Than spend one more minute with you

Yes, I'd rather jump naked on a huge pile of thumbtacks
Or stick my nostrils together with Krazy Glue
I'd rather dive into a swimming pool filled with double-edged razor blades
Than spend one more minute with you

I'd rather rip my heart right out of my rib cage With my bare hands And then throw it on the floor and stomp on it 'til I die
Than spend one more minute with you

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: GUEST
Date: 29 Dec 01 - 11:04 AM

Mcaffrey/MaCaffery/MaCassery....all 'valid' spellings of it....

Now he WAS pissed off!

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: catspaw49
Date: 29 Dec 01 - 11:22 AM

Pretty good coverage of songs about people who are pissed off.....Have we got any about people who are pissed on? Or perhaps songs about the ones who are pissed through? I mean you know it's better to be pissed off than pissed on and better to be pissed on than pissed through...because that'd make you a prick.

Just wonderin'

Spaw

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: Jon W.
Date: 29 Dec 01 - 11:23 AM

COME OUT YOU BLACK AND TANS, come out and fight me like a man/Tell your wife how you got your medals down in Flanders/Tell her how the IRA made you run like hell away/from the green and lovely lanes of Killyshandra.

From the Civil War, this line from "THE ALABAMA" - "Our home is on the mountain wave, our flag floats proudly free/No boasting despot tyrant knave shall crush fair liberty! (This line refers to Abraham Lincoln)

Subject: Lyr Add: WITH 'ER 'EAD TUCKED UNDERNEATH 'ER ARM
From: gatyamgal
Date: 29 Dec 01 - 01:25 PM

I just happened to run across the words to the Ghost of Anne Boleyn. I remember hearing this song on Dr. Demento years ago. It has a catchy tune to it. These words are the "campfire songs" version.

WITH 'ER 'EAD TUCKED UNDERNEATH 'ER ARM
(With Her Head Tucked Underneath Her Arm)

In the Tower of London, large as life,
The ghost of Anne Boleyn walks, they declare
For Anne Boleyn was once King Henry's wife
Until he made the headsman part her hair
Oh yes he did this wrong long years ago
And she comes back at night to tell him so.

CHORUS With her head tucked underneath her arm
She walks the Bloody Tower
With her head tucked underneath her arm
At the midnight hour

She comes to haunt King Henry
She means giving him "what for"
Gadzooks! She's gonna tell him off
She's feeling rather sore
And just in case the headsman
Wants to give her an encore
She keeps her head tucked underneath her arm CHORUS

She walks the drafty corridors,
For miles and miles she goes
She often catches cold, you know,
It's cold there when it blows
And it's awfully awkward for the Queen
When she has to blow her nose
With her head tucked underneath her arm CHORUS

One night old King Henry laid a spread
For all his pals and gals, a ghostly crew
The headsman was about to carve the bread
When in comes Anne Boleyn to queer the "do"
She holds her head up with a wild war whoop
And Henry cries "Don't drop it in the soup" ("You silly cow!") CHORUS

The sentries think that it's a football [and/or basketball]
That she carries in
And when they've had a few they shout
"Which team is gonna win?"
They think she looks like ___________ [add name of personality]
Instead of poor old Anne Boleyn
With her head tucked underneath her arm CHORUS

One night she caught King Henry
He was in the canteen bar
Says he "Are you Jane Seymour,
Anne Boleyn, or Catherine Parr?"
"For how the sweet 'san fairy anne'
Do I know who you are...
With your head tucked underneath your arm. CHORUS

She comes to haunt King Henry
She means giving him "what for"
Gadzooks! She's gonna tell him off
She's feeling rather sore
And just in case the headsman
Wants to give her an encore
She keeps her head tucked underneath her arm CHORUS

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: Don Firth
Date: 29 Dec 01 - 01:45 PM

Hi, Maggie. I remember John singing it, but I didn't know what it was. Looks like leprechaun nailed it. Reading through it in the database, I'm pretty sure it was NELL FLAHERTY'S DRAKE.

How about FLUSHED FROM THE BATHROOM OF YOUR HEART? Or is that just a song of unrequited love?

Don Firth

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: Amos
Date: 29 Dec 01 - 02:26 PM

Actually, Mag, there are two adaptations of "NELL FLAHERTY'S DRAKE" amidst the song challenge threads, one by the inimitable Derrymacash and one by humble self. Both of them invoke strings of really florid curses at the recipient.

One of them is in this thread, and the other can be found over here!

Now that is pissed-off with style!

A

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: WyoWoman
Date: 29 Dec 01 - 02:26 PM

Some of the best songs are motivated by being really pissed off, but the songs aren't overtly pissed, e.g. "ALL QUIET ALONG THE POTOMAC TO-NIGHT," which was spurred by a newspaper story that said (paraphrasing) "All quiet along the Potomac tonight, no officers shot -- only the occasional sentry ... " or "AIN'T I A WOMAN," based on Sojourner Truth's speech, or how about "WHAT HAVE THEY DONE TO THE RAIN" or ...
Come to think of it, a LOT of songs are motivated by pissed-offness, yes? And it's interesting to me that most of the overtly pissed off ones involve men. Women tend to get very sad rather than angry. Too bad. I've always maintained that homicide is SO much healthier than suicide.

ww

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: GUEST,MAG at work
Date: 29 Dec 01 - 02:36 PM

The deserted woman in BOLD WILLIAM TAYLOR would qualify, I think --- tho' the conclusion still to me says more about the British navy of the day than anything else.

Subject: Lyr Add: FLUSHED FROM THE BATHROOM OF YOUR HEART
From: gatyamgal
Date: 29 Dec 01 - 03:31 PM

I was also thinking about that song "Flushed from the bathroom of your heart" It is from the Johnny Cash Album, Live at Folsum Prison...(hmmmmm Folsum Prison Blues.... I'll bet there's rich folks eatin' in them fancy dinin' cars... they're probably drinking coffee and smokin' big cigars... possibly another pissed off guy) anyway, here are the words to:

FLUSHED FROM THE BATHROOM OF YOUR HEART

From the back door of your life, you swept me out, Dear.
In the bread line of your dreams, I lost my place.
At the table of your love, I got the brush-off.
At the Indianapolis of your heart, I lost the race.
I've been washed down the sink of your conscience.
In the theatre of your love, I lost my part.
And now you say you've got me out of your conscience.
I've been flushed from the bathroom of your heart.

In the garbage disposal of your dreams, I've been ground up, Dear.
On the river of your plans, I'm up the creek.
Up the elevator of your future, I've been shafted.
On your calendar of events, I'm last week.
I've been washed down the sink of your conscience.
In the theatre of your love, I lost my part.
And now you say you've got me out of your conscience.
I've been flushed from the bathroom of your heart.

Added note: the word "theatre" is pronounced Thee-Ater as opposed to THEE-u-ter... you get the idea.

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 29 Dec 01 - 08:24 PM

Leprechaun and Don,

Yes! I think you've got it! NELL FLAHERTY'S DRAKE it was! I know where the Clancy LP's are, I'll go dig them out and see if I have the song here. And I'll go check out Amos' versions. Thanks. As a kid hearing that song I always thought it was an enviable skill to have a really good curse handy just in case. (This from someone who always thinks of the correct comeback 5 minutes after the affront has occurred).

Maggie

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: leprechaun
Date: 29 Dec 01 - 08:26 PM

Now I remember. Dan Hicks and His Hot Licks! If you just listen to the tune, you'd never know it was about O'Reilly smashing somebody's face. I guess the poor guy didn't really even drink O'Reilly's beer either. O'Reilly was drunk and mistaken.

That reminds me of a story about my own drunken self. Luckily, I'm not nearly as pugnacious as the fictional fellow in the song. It was St. Patty's Day a few years ago. After listening to the band at the Knight's of Columbus, we made our way to the most Irish bar in town. (My German wife being the designated driver, and not inclined to celebrate St. Pat's Day all that vigorously, she waited in the minivan in the parking lot) The bar was crowded. As I walked through with my blackthorn walking stick,(the same old shillelegh me father brought from Ireland)I felt a brief, but friendly grab on my posterior. I turned around and couldn't tell which of the hundreds of people had done it, so I just hoped it was the pretty colleen, naturally assuming she liked my green top hat. For all I know it could have been some big hairy drunken oaf, you never know in my town, but I quickly put that thought out of my head.

Anyway I got a shot of Jameson's and plugged a dollar into the juke box to play some Irish tunes. At some point I noticed my pager was missing. That butt-grabbin' tart must have stolen my pager! I quickly informed my brother of the crime, so he could help me look for the perpetrator. I stomped around the bar a couple of times, but I'm sure I wouldn't have recognized her if I'd seen her. Maybe I was just looking for somebody with a guilty face. I was able to make my way to the pay phone, where I leaned my blackthorn walking stick (the same old shillelegh me father brought from Ireland) against the wall. I fished out a quarter and I must not have been as drunk as I should have been, because I managed to call my pager and put in the number of the pay phone. It was futile investigative method. My pager is always on vibrate, and I could never have heard it in that noisy bar. The owner felt so sorry for us he treated me and my brother to another shot of Jameson's. Of course he does that whether he feels sorry for us or not.

My brother and I walked out, cursing our luck. Of course the first thing I put my hand on when I got back in the minivan was my still vibrating pager.

We had quite a laugh about that on our way home, saying it's a good thing we never found that girl that grabbed my ass. All was well, until the next morning when I realized my blackthorn walking stick (the same old shillelegh me father brought from Ireland) hadn't made its way out of the tavern.

The next mornin' we made our way back to the bar. What with hundreds of people in there the night before, what are the chances my cane will still be there? But sure enough, somebody brought it to the owner and he knew right away who it belonged to.

Now I leave my pager at home on Saint Patrick's Day.

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: WyoWoman
Date: 30 Dec 01 - 11:56 AM

You have a very patient wife.

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: robomatic
Date: 30 Dec 01 - 10:37 PM

Check out as well several songs from Nick Cave & The Black Seeds "Murder Ballads". My favorite is 'THE CURSE OF MILLHAVEN'

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: TeriLu
Date: 31 Dec 01 - 02:01 AM

Simon & Garfunkel's "RICHARD CORY"
Lots of Phil Ochs songs - a good one - HERE'S TO THE STATE OF RICHARD NIXON"
several Malvina Reynolds songs - "IT ISN'T NICE", "THE DEVIL'S BAPTIZIN'", etc.
Tom Paxton's "THERE GOES THE MOUNTAIN"
Judy Fjiell-"SCARS ON THE LAND"
Holly Near - "WATCH OUT" and "FIGHT BACK" and others
Leonard Cohen-"STORY OF ISAAC"
the original Irish version of "JOHNNY I HARDLY KNEW YE"
Christine Lavin's "MUSICAL APOLOGY"
"BROTHER, CAN YOU SPARE A DIME?"
Woody's "DEPORTEES" (among others)
I could go on...

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: Crazy Eddie
Date: 31 Dec 01 - 07:28 AM

Well, it ain't a song, but the man from the creeks who shot Dangerous Dan McGrew was pretty pissed off. [THE SHOOTING OF DAN McGREW]

"Boys," said he, "you don't know me,
And none of you cares a damn,
But I want to state,
And my words are straight,
And I'll bet my poke they're true,
That one of you is a hound of hell,
And that one is Dan McGrew!

I guess that the man who made a jigsaw puzzle out of Leroy Brown could be described as pissed off too. [BAD LEROY BROWN]

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: GUEST,Bo
Date: 31 Dec 01 - 09:31 AM

A lot of the most successful songs of the truly pissed off come out in the inflection of the words.

I think JOHNNY I HARDLY KNEW YE, for example, builds to a tremendously pissed off song.

Bo

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: GUEST,jaze
Date: 31 Dec 01 - 09:52 PM

Dylan's "SEVEN CURSES"

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: Peter Kasin
Date: 01 Jan 02 - 01:47 AM

Not folk, but - (I'LL BE GLAD WHEN YOU'RE DEAD) YOU RASCAL YOU.

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: GUEST,jaze
Date: 01 Jan 02 - 08:10 AM

Woody Guthrie's "PHILADELPHIA LAWYER"

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: GUEST,frankie
Date: 01 Jan 02 - 09:24 AM

A lot of the what the Pogues did sounded like they were pissed off (including the sentimental ballads and lullabies). On the "If I Should Fall from Grace with God" CD Terry Woods (?) cries shit at the end of South Australia / Red Haired Mary.

Pete Seeger does an angry, powerful version of "WHICH SIDE ARE YOU ON?". Then there's Buddy Guy's "Two-Legged Rat" ["I SMELL A RAT"], the "one-legged fool" in Shel Silverstein's' song ["THREE-LEGGED MAN"]

f

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: GUEST,ejm
Date: 01 Jan 02 - 10:43 AM

so many pissed-off songs - how about SIXTEEN TONS and what do you get,

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From:
Date: 01 Jan 02 - 11:53 AM

What about this from Jeri:

THERE'S A BUG UP MY BUTT

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: Joe_F
Date: 01 Jan 02 - 07:19 PM

[IF I EVER CATCH OLD PERRY]

Well, if I ever, wo-, catch old Perry, I'll kick him in the ditch,
If I ever, wo-, catch old Perry, I'll kill that son of a bitch.
I'm going to chase him, said I'm going to chase him, yes I'll chase him,
Through my mind.

-- Eric von Schmidt

[BILL 'AWKINS]

"An' s'pose you met Bill 'Awkins,
Now what in the devil 'ud you do?"
"I'd open 'is cheek to 'is chin-strap buckle,
An' bung up his both eyes, too --
Gawd -- bless -- 'im!
An' bung up his both eyes, too!"

-- Rudyard Kipling

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: Dan Schatz
Date: 01 Jan 02 - 10:55 PM

"JONES, OH, JONES," by Blind Blake Alphonso Higgins (recorded by Gordon Bok on In the Kind Land):

"I'm going to powder up my pistol, going to buy me Gatling gun
I'm going to meet you, Jones, you know there ain't no use to run
I got the Army Sergeant with me, got the undertaker too
I got the student doctors offering me money for you
I'm going to keep you to myself, I'm going to kill you dead and bury you
Going to dig you up for fun
I'm going to stand and let the buzzards pick the meat off your bones
I'm going to take my wedding butcher knife and cut you through and through
I'm going to chop you into pieces just big enough for stew
And when I get through with you, everybody going to moan: "Jones, oh Jones."

Does that qualify?

Dan

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: Ferrara
Date: 01 Jan 02 - 11:08 PM

Mary Cliff played a full program of women's songs many years back. The most intense and emotion-filled song on the show was a field recording of a woman, a miner's widow I think, and a labor organizer, singing a song she wrote called "I Hates This Capitalist System." [see I HATE THE COMPANY BOSSES] She was fierce.

Subject: Lyr Add: STUPID'S SONG (I HAVE LED A GOOD LIFE)
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 02 Jan 02 - 11:19 AM

A great song from Utah Philips:

STUPID'S SONG (I HAVE LED A GOOD LIFE)

I have led a good life full of peace and quiet
Now I shall have an old age full of rum and riot
Yes, I have been a good lad, careful and artistic
Now I shall have an old age, coarse and anarchistic!

Once I paid my taxes and followed every rule
Banker, boss, and bureaucrat thought me a willing tool
I voted Democratic and paid the church its due
Now all those swine will have to find some other chump to screw.

Of interest, banks and credit, insurance, tax, and rent
Of lawyers, agents, generals, and clerics I repent
With THIS* for corporations and scorn for those elected
I shall be an old bum, loved but unrespected!

* (Mono-digital expletive)

from The Telling Takes Me Home Utah Philips DRO

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: Bennet Zurofsky
Date: 03 Jan 02 - 12:11 PM

"I Hate the Capitalist System" was written by Aunt Molly Jackson, who had good reason to be angry over the coal bosses in her part of Appalachia. Aunt Molly rarely gets the attention or credit she deserves. If she were still alive I am sure she would be royally pissed if someone named Mary Cliff claimed to be the composer.

Aunt Molly is one of the finest political singer-songwriters that I have ever heard, as well as a fine singer of traditional ballads. She is an extremely powerful and moving singer. She made a few trips to New York City to gather support for the National Mineworkers Union (NMU) and the CIO and I believe she performed at Madison Square Garden on one of these trips, but in general her work received little notice, especially outside of left-wing circles.

Upon re-reading Ferrara's posting, perhaps I misunderstood and Mary Cliff simply played Aunt Molly's recording for the gathering. If so, Ms. Cliff should be praised rather than damned. It probably was not a field recording, however. I believe Aunt Molly recorded "I Hate the Capitalist System" at the Library of Congress, probably for Alan Lomax.

Rounder published an excellent L.P. of Aunt Molly Jackson, which included "I Hate the Capitalist System." I don't know if they have published it as a cd. If not, they certainly should, and probably will, as part of their ongoing Alan Lomax project.

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: GUEST,Nerd
Date: 03 Jan 02 - 02:32 PM

Yeah, to clarify, Mary Cliff's a DJ, not a performer. So when Ferrara says Mary played the song, she means Mary played a record of Aunt Molly singing the song--probably the very LP Bennet recommends.

Mary's a good egg, and usually deserves praise!

Subject: now dont mess with a son of a bitch
From: GUEST
Date: 17 Apr 06 - 01:16 PM

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: GUEST,Jack Campin
Date: 17 Apr 06 - 03:36 PM

It isn't a song but might make a good recitation. The Great Cursing here:

http://www.rootsweb.com/~sctbew/history/library.htm

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: SINSULL
Date: 17 Apr 06 - 05:56 PM

"One Two Three
I SHOT MR. LEE"

A traditional pastime if not song.

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: SINSULL
Date: 17 Apr 06 - 06:01 PM

This is driving me crazy. There was a thread about a revenge song. Two outlaws steal a horse (and kill it?) taking its braided mane and tale. They are scalped in retaliation. Anyone know what I am thinking of?
SINS

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: Cool Beans
Date: 17 Apr 06 - 06:02 PM

"I HAD A HAT (WHEN I CAME IN)"

Chorus:
I had a hat when I came in
And I hung it on the rack.
And I'll have a hat when I go out
Or I'll break somebody's back.
I'm a decent man, I'm a peaceful man
And I'm not one to shout.
But I had a hat when I came in
And I'll have a hat when I go out.

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: MaineDog
Date: 17 Apr 06 - 06:08 PM

I can relate to this one!

[THE BALLAD OF JAKE AND 10-TON MOLLY]

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: Joybell
Date: 17 Apr 06 - 07:04 PM

Just when I thought it was out of my head! "Somebody Stole my Horse and Cart" is back. I'm too much of a lady to repeat it. There are a few lines on some German websites for some reason. It's just a string of swear words but it sure sings well. I'll bet lots of us know it. Cheers, Joy

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: Midchuck
Date: 17 Apr 06 - 07:22 PM

Not a folk song - not even a song - but the part of Kipling's "Rhyme of the Three Captains," where the British merchant captain is complaining about the privateering activities of John Paul Jones, should qualify:

"He spoke of the Law as he crimped my crew—he swore it was only a loan;
"But when I would ask for my own again, he swore it was none of my own.
"He has taken my little parrakeets that nest beneath the Line,
"He has stripped my rails of the shaddock-frails and the green unripened pine;
"He has taken my bale of dammer and spice I won beyond the seas,
"He has taken my grinning heathen gods—and what should he want o' these?
"My foremast would not mend his boom, my deckhouse patch his boats;
"He has whittled the two, this Yank Yahoo, to peddle for shoe-peg oats.
"I could not fight for the failing light and a rough beam-sea beside,
"But I hulled him once for a clumsy crimp and twice because he lied.
"Had I had guns (as I had goods) to work my Christian harm,
"I had run him up from his quarter-deck to trade with his own yard-arm;
"I had nailed his ears to my capstan-head, and ripped them off with a saw,
"And soused them in the bilgewater, and served them to him raw;
"I had flung him blind in a rudderless boat to rot in the rocking dark,
"I had towed him aft of his own craft, a bait for his brother shark;
"I had lapped him round with cocoa husk, and drenched him with the oil,
"And lashed him fast to his own mast to blaze above my spoil;
"I had stripped his hide for my hammock-side, and tasselled his beard i' the mesh,
"And spitted his crew on the live bamboo that grows through the gangrened flesh;
"I had hove him down by the mangroves brown, where the mud-reef sucks and draws,
"Moored by the heel to his own keel to wait for the land-crab's claws!
"He is lazar within and lime without, ye can nose him far enow,
"For he carries the taint of a musky ship—the reek of the slaver's dhow!"

Peter.

PS - Sinsull, the 'revenge song' you asked about sounds a lot like Tom Russell's "The Sky Above, The Mud Below" - from which I quoted near the top of this thread, about 5 years ago (!). Although nobody gets scalped in that, just hung.

P.

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: Songster Bob
Date: 18 Apr 06 - 11:57 PM

Some from my songbag:

I am a good old rebel, now that's just what I am.
For this 'fair land of freedom,' I do not give a damn.
I'm glad I fit against it, I only wish we'd won.
I don't want no pardon for anything I done.

I hates the Freedman's Bureau, and everything they do!
I hates the Constitution, the "Great Republic," too;
I hates that nasty eagle, with all its brags and fuss,
Them lyin', thievin' yankees, I hates 'em wuss and wuss.

I hates the Yankee nation, and everything they do!
I hates the Declaration of Independence, too.
Etc.
(From "Unreconstructed Rebel" [O I'M A GOOD OLD REBEL] trad. from a poem published after the Civil War)

And:

It's time to turn the boat around, that's what the people say.
The course our leader's setting is exactly the wrong way.
The compass reads disaster, he's run us hard aground;
It's time to fire the skipper, and then turn the boat around.

(from "TURN THE BOAT AROUND" by Bob Clayton)


I'm having trouble remembering lyrics, but you get the idea.

SongBob

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: GUEST,thurg
Date: 19 Apr 06 - 01:42 AM

Someone mentioned the Civil War - there's:

With the devil I do say, Curse Americay!
For I'm sure I've had enough of their hard fighting.

That's after Paddy and his recruited comrades have been told, Every murdered soul of you will get a pension, and after, In the war I lost me leg, All I've now is a wooden peg ... - BY THE HUSH, ME BOYS (as sung by O.J. Abbott in the Edith Fowke collection)


There's a Gaelic song from Cape Breton in which the bard wishes some poor woman who joked about his red hair will prove barren, but if she is not barren, that she will live to see all her children die before her. I believe that one's in the Helen Creighton collection.

And let's not forget that MacLean & MacLean jewel "F--- Ya" - some less gentrified soul can write those lyrics out.

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: kendall
Date: 19 Apr 06 - 11:44 AM

SINSULL here. Don't they get hung by a rope braided from their own hair, Midchuck? Guess that's why I thought they were scalped.