Whither political song?

06 Jul 16 - 05:33 PM (#3799291)
Subject: Lyr Add: FATHOM THE BREXIT
From: GUEST,In good company

I thought this was supposed to be a folk music forum? In light of all that has been happening in UK I am surprised no one has done this before! No plain old arguments please. Do it in song :-)

From France we once got brandy, from Germany schnapps
Oranges from Spain or from Portugal perhaps
But the font of all stupidity is in England's control
Give us a referendum and we'll flush it down the bowl

Flush it down the bowl
We'll flush it down the bowl
Give us a referendum
And we'll flush it down the bowl

Nigel's dead in the water as from the media he flees
Boris has been back stabbed as Gove's wife o'ersees
They are true English idiots, they have completed their goals
I would like to punch them and the devil take their souls

Devil take their souls
May the devil take their souls
I would like to punch them
And the devil take their souls

Now May she does deceive me as I lay at my ease
She does as she likes and she says as she please
Her heart is like a stone and it's as black as the coal
Send her back where she came from before we're all on the dole

All on the dole
Before we're all on the dole
Send her back where she came from
Before we're all on the dole

Come all you old xenophobes, give an ear to 'The Sun'
They will sing of the immigrants taking all of our rum
There's a clear load of cobblers from Murdoch shall roll.
Give him a punch; put the Sun down the bowl

Sun down the bowl
Put the Sun down the bowl
Give him a punch
Put the Sun down the bowl

:D

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Verses merged as requested! ---mudelf

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06 Jul 16 - 05:48 PM (#3799294)
Subject: RE: Whither political song?
From: Pete from seven stars link

How about that old disco number....let's go round again !

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07 Jul 16 - 02:56 AM (#3799341)
Subject: RE: Whither political song?
From: GUEST,In good company

I don't know it, sorry :-( Can you write a political parody of it in the spirit of the thread?

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07 Jul 16 - 03:14 AM (#3799343)
Subject: RE: Whither political song?
From: GUEST,In good company

Nearly forgot the first verse!

Come all you old xenophobes, give an ear to 'The Sun'
They will sing of the immigrants taking all of our rum
There's a clear load of cobblers from Murdoch shall roll.
Give him a punch; put the Sun down the bowl

Sun down the bowl
Put the Sun down the bowl
Give him a punch
Put the Sun down the bowl

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07 Jul 16 - 04:27 AM (#3799350)
Subject: RE: Whither political song?
From: Sandra in Sydney

guest in good company - how about putting the entire song into one post, you can change the subject line to LYR ADD - (title of song)

Here in the land of Oz we've just gone thru the loooongest campaign in history (slight exaggeration, but only slight) & now the dust has almost settled, I'll check among my songwriting friends & see if any songs have surfaced.

Over the past year or so we've had a few interesting political developments & the odd song & poem

sandra

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07 Jul 16 - 04:59 AM (#3799351)
Subject: RE: Whither political song?
From: GUEST,In good company

Thanks for the suggestion, Sandra.

Mods - can you do that rather than me having 2 threads going on the same song?

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Switches and moves made as requested! ---mudelf

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07 Jul 16 - 05:53 AM (#3799354)
Subject: Lyr Add: THE THUG FROM NORTHERN BEACHES (Henchel)
From: Sandra in Sydney

THE THUG FROM NORTHERN BEACHES by Graeme Henchel, Aug 2015
written when the Liberal party (conservatives) kicked out their Prime Minister, parody of an iconic 19th Century poem Clancy of the Overflow

There was movement in the party, for the word had passed around,
The Thug from Northern Beaches could not stay.
He had told so many lies that the punters had surmised,
They could not believe a thing he had to say.

So the politicians plotted, from locations near and far,
As the centre fought against the rabid right.
They all agreed the thug was becoming more bizarre,
But they knew he'd not go down without a fight.

Turnbull'd made his score, from banking and the law,
But he'd lost out to the thug some years ago.
His plan was just to wait, for the thug to meet his fate;
He did not quite have the numbers yet to show.

And Bishop from the west, played at sitting on the fence,
Though she thought to throw her own hat in the ring.
She was quick to take offence as the thug became more tense,
And like Malcolm she could stay on a good thing.

Some others liked their chance so they jockeyed to advance:
Scott Morrison and perfidious poodle Pyne.
They gave the Thug some space but in case he'd run his race,
They positioned to survive in Turnbull's line.

Others from the right, thought the Thug must win the fight:
Andrews, Corman, Brandis, Hockey and Robb.
By far their biggest fear was for their own career,
As Turnbull might relieve them of their job.

As the leaks came in a flood, you could smell the scent of blood;
Even Murdoch's mob were calling for the end.
The Thug was sticking fast but his fate it seemed was cast;
It was not a case of if, but only when.

The party had a spill but they couldn't make the kill,
Though the Thug was nearly beaten by a chair.
With hand upon his heart, "Good Government would start,"
But still the smell of failure filled the air.

As the time flew past, the thug kept up the farce,
With help from Smokin Joe and his big mouth.
With a blunder every wee,k they went further up shit creek,
And the polls just kept on trending further south.

When Bronwyn got caught out, the public had no doubt,
The Thug and all his crew were on the take.
They tried drag in Bourke but it really didn't work,
And another Captain's Call was a mistake.

Now we're six months on, the Thug looks to be gone,
As lies and bad decisions take their toll.
The public have concluded, the Thug is quite deluded;
They know it's the Thug's head that's going to roll.

Has the party got the guts, to remove someone who's nuts,
Or will the Thug just take them to the grave?
Disunity is death, but then in the same breath,
To keep the Thug is surely crazy brave.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

a few characters-
Thug - Tony Abbott, former theology student so often called the Mad Monk, Prime Minister until Sept 15, when replaced by
Turnbull - billionaire merchant banker, still Prime Minister (depending on final vote count) excellent subject for cartoons
Smoking Joe - politician once caught smoking a big fat cigar (which led to many cartoons )
Bronwyn - politician with a huge sense of entitlement, who took a 1 hour helicopter ride to a nearby function, which also led to lots of cartoons & memes

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07 Jul 16 - 05:57 AM (#3799355)
Subject: RE: Whither political song?
From: Sandra in Sydney

no need to start a new thread, just make a new post with the complete song changing the subject as I did for my last post, & I will do for my next post.

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07 Jul 16 - 06:13 AM (#3799356)
Subject: Lyr Add: LIES LIKE ILLEGALS (Jenny Fitzgibbon)
From: Sandra in Sydney

MP3 of LIES LIKE ILLEGALS
extract from Jenny Fitzgibbon's website: "I wrote this song when I got sick of glaring at the radio every time I heard politicians use that lie, 'illegal' or 'illegals' when talking about people fleeing persecution. It is not illegal to seek asylum." (read on)

Adapted from the tune of "When the Boat Comes in". Trad ? Northumberland

Asylum they come seeking
In a boat that's leaking
Gets the pollies freaking
When the boat comes in

No peace for Baba, No peace for Maman
No peace for koodak, surely it's a sin

Zero information
Goes out to the nation
An abomination
When the boat comes in

To 'secure' our borders
We give Navy orders
Racists would applaud us
When the boat comes in

No peace for Baba, No peace for Maman
No peace for koodak, surely it's a sin

Why say a prayer
Teach our kids to care
Then refuse to share
When the boat comes in

Private corporations
Profit from our nation's
Freedom deprivations
When the boat comes in

No peace for Baba, No peace for Maman
No peace for koodak, surely it's a sin

Forked tongues a-lashing
In a right-wing fashion
Why not show compassion
When the boat comes in

Even though there's no 'queue'
Take the pain you've been thru
To Manus or Nauru
When the boat comes in

No peace for Baba, No peace for Maman
No peace for koodak, surely it's a sin

Children in detention
Human rights suspension
We must pay attention
When the boat comes in

If I'd a son or daughter
Fleeing famine or slaughter
I'd cross any water
When the boat comes in

No Peace?

A label like "illegals"
Lies like "illegal"
Should be illegal
When the boat comes in

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07 Jul 16 - 06:22 AM (#3799357)
Subject: Lyr Add: FATHOM THE BREXIT
From: GUEST,In good company

Thanks again Sandra and love 'The Thug' :-)

Come all you old xenophobes, give an ear to 'The Sun'
They will sing of the immigrants taking all of our rum
There's a clear load of cobblers from Murdoch shall roll.
Give him a punch; put the Sun down the bowl

Sun down the bowl
Put the Sun down the bowl
Give him a punch
Put the Sun down the bowl

From France we once got brandy, from Germany schnapps
Oranges from Spain or from Portugal perhaps
But the font of all stupidity is in England's control
Give us a referendum and we'll flush it down the bowl

Flush it down the bowl
We'll flush it down the bowl
Give us a referendum
And we'll flush it down the bowl

Nigel's dead in the water as from the media he flees
Boris has been back stabbed as Gove's wife o'ersees
They are true English idiots, they have completed their goals
I would like to punch them and the devil take their souls

Devil take their souls
May the devil take their souls
I would like to punch them
And the devil take their souls

Now May she does deceive me as I lay at my ease
She does as she likes and she says as she please
Her heart is like a stone and it's as black as the coal
Send her back where she came from before we're all on the dole

All on the dole
Before we're all on the dole
Send her back where she came from
Before we're all on the dole

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07 Jul 16 - 06:41 AM (#3799358)
Subject: RE: Whither political song?
From: Sandra in Sydney

interesting how Murdock gets mentioned in other countries!

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07 Jul 16 - 10:21 AM (#3799380)
Subject: RE: Whither political song?
From: GUEST,Rahere

The Belgians having just turned the Yetties' old muckspreader song into reality, perhaps there's space for how to fight a modern political campaign

Westminster MPs are right up to date,
Farm mechanization's the byword of late.
For every task, there's a gadget to match,
But their new muck-spreader's the best of the batch.

Fling it here, Fling it there,
If you're standing by then you'll all get your share.

Now young Nigel Farage, he brought back a load
Of liquid manure from the farm up the road.
He hummed to himself as he drove up the street,
And the Directives all hummmmmmmmmmmed in the afternoon heat.

The muck-spreader had a mechanical fault,
And a bump in the road turned in on with a jolt.
An odorous spray of manure it let fly
Without fear or favour on all who passed by.

The cats and the dogs stank to high kingdom come,
And the kiddies, browned off, ran home screaming to Mum.
The trail of sheer havoc were terrible grim,
A political party were filled up to the brim.

The vicarage windows were all open wide,
When a generous helping descended inside.
Tony Blair, at table, intoned "Let us pray"
When manure from heaven came flying his way.

In't garden, Treez May was quite scandalized.
"Good gracious!" she cried, "I've been fertilized."
While the Methodist minister's teetotal wife
Were plastered for the very first time in her life.

And all of this time Nigel trundled along,
He was quite unaware there was anything wrong,
Till a vision of woe flagged him down - what a sight!
A policeman all covered in . . . you've got it right.

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07 Jul 16 - 04:29 PM (#3799423)
Subject: RE: Whither political song?
From: GUEST,Amanda MacLean

Here's my new version of the Ode to Joy - on youtube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtvb4cwXwfw

Farage, Gove and lying Boris - You who want your country back
So do we, you devious bastards - How do we give you the sack?
Wher is our three-fifty million? What on earth is wrong with you?
Never trust an old Etonian with your health, or the EU.

Boris, you have dropped us in it – there's no paddle in the boat that
Cameron's no longer steering - Will the UK stay afloat?
Sturgeon says she canny take it; Sinn Fein's feeling much the same;
Merkel soon will get hacked off with your procrastination game.

When we leave, Conservatives will still screw up the welfare state.
Jeremy's right on the money: it's no crime to immigrate.
We're fed up with little Hitlers playing to the racist louts.
Let's stay in the EU family. Nigel Farage - UKIP out.

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07 Jul 16 - 10:46 PM (#3799437)
Subject: RE: Whither political song?
From: Stilly River Sage

Joe may decide to combine or link threads if the material would work well together. *Watch this space!*

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08 Jul 16 - 06:18 AM (#3799443)
Subject: RE: Whither political song?
From: GUEST,Alan Whittle

All of the above illustrates the schism between working class people and the modern folk song movement.

The middle class are REMAINERS and whine about the result.

The working class en masse voted to LEAVE.

The elderly largely middle class folkies voted but were outnumbered. The young by and large didn't bother to vote.

I've no desire to enter into arguments about the referendum and who told lies and who is right and who was wrong - but the lack of empathy between the classes and the bitterness of the class divide is surely the real subject we need to address.

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08 Jul 16 - 07:17 AM (#3799448)
Subject: RE: Whither political song?
From: Felipa

I don't think that your summary of how classes voted is correct, Alan. Also the polls that I saw didnt have large enough samples and I didnt see what the geographical range is. There does seem to have been a trend for more Remain among younger voters and more Leave among older, but we all know plenty of exception. I do agree with you about the whining.

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08 Jul 16 - 07:28 AM (#3799450)
Subject: EU related song
From: Felipa

Last two comments from Alan and I are more appropriate to the ongoing discussions on this subject which are ongoing in the non-song bs section.
I meant to give this link to earlier thread
other E.U. related songs

There are loads of Brexit songs and parodies posted on youtube now, from both leave and remain supporters. We folkies miss a lot of present day political song because it is often more done in the pop and rock style.

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08 Jul 16 - 08:39 AM (#3799458)
Subject: RE: Whither political song?
From: Stilly River Sage

Alas, another occasion for political discourse through song: Dallas in the news for a shooting. The Lyrics here at Mudcat have some cowboy songs, and one or two to do with Deep Ellum, and of course Kennedy/Oswald, but now, police officers. Will there be more song entries? During a peaceful protest last night shots rang out, five police officers dead, others wounded, one civilian wounded.

The nature of the assault, targeting police, was enacted by four individuals triangulating on the crowed from tall buildings. Will these new songs be about civilians, police, or will they be about guns? Keep in mind, there's already a song called The World Turned Upside Down.

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08 Jul 16 - 10:18 AM (#3799476)
Subject: RE: Whither political song?
From: GUEST,In good company

I am sure I posted this earlier :-( Maybe another Mudcat hiccup. Apologies if it appears twice again.

Songs rather than political discourse please. You are a songwriter Al, and should be able to manage that! Maybe something on 'The Lincolnshire Poacher'?

As I was bound apprentice, boys, in famous Lincolnshire
Full well I server my master for more then seven years
Till the Polacks came and took our jobs as you shall quickly hear
I take delight in talking shite any old time of year...

:D

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08 Jul 16 - 09:20 PM (#3799477)
Subject: RE: Whither political song?
From: Stilly River Sage

Like songs and political discourse can be separated? The best songs are from times when the politics were abysmal (a broad historic generalization).

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09 Jul 16 - 04:42 AM (#3799487)
Subject: RE: Whither political song?
From: GUEST,Alan Whittle

I think maybe song is a very lightweight artform to discuss something as terrible as the gun debate over in the States - maybe a symphony or a great novel.

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09 Jul 16 - 11:32 AM (#3799532)
Subject: RE: Whither political song?
From: GUEST

Ooooh, I dunno. There are plenty of songs about war and disasters with a very high body count. I think you are wrong, Al. C'mon, you can do a political song, I know! :-)

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09 Jul 16 - 12:16 PM (#3799537)
Subject: RE: Whither political song?
From: GUEST,In good company

Me above!

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11 Jul 16 - 05:34 PM (#3799849)
Subject: RE: Whither political song?
From: GUEST,In good company

I guess we don't need to parody this...

All in this pleasant evening, together come are we,
For the summer springs so fresh, green, and gay.
We'll tell you of a blossom and buds on every tree,
Drawing near to the merry month of May.

Rise up, the master of this house. Put on your chain of gold,
For the summer springs so fresh, green, and gay.
We hope you're not offended, with your house we make so bold,
Drawing near to the merry month of May.

Rise up, the mistress of this house, with gold along your breast,
For the summer springs so fresh, green, and gay.
And if your body be asleep, we hope your soul's at rest,
Drawing near to the merry month of May.

Rise up, the children of this house, all in your rich attire,
For the summer springs so fresh, green, and gay.
For every hair upon your head shines like the silver wire,
Drawing near to the merry month of May.

God bless this house and arbor, your riches and your store,
For the summer springs so fresh, green, and gay.
We hope the Lord will prosper you, both now and evermore,
Drawing near to the merry month of May.

Until we get to -

So now, we're going to leave you, in peace and plenty here,
For the summer springs so fresh, green, and gay.
We shall not sing you May again until another year,
For to draw you these cold winters away.

In peace and plenty here??? Surely not :-)

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12 Jul 16 - 07:02 AM (#3799926)
Subject: RE: Whither political song?
From: Donuel

Alan just stay silent like Jews who left too late.

Let the ruling class or big money decide your fate.

Maybe you could dye your hair blonde.

Everything's fine when you're gone

Best you go out and buy a gun

GO subscribe and read the SUN.

What you do now is important.

No ones expecting deportment.

Who thought it would be bad.

Too late now, don't be sad.

Don't talk class.

You'll be an ass.

Just go slow

Don't say no.

They know best

Take a rest.

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13 Jul 16 - 06:20 AM (#3800047)
Subject: RE: Whither political song?
From: GUEST,In good company

Nice one Donuel :-) Any tune for it? Maybe along the lines of subterranean homesick blues?

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30 Aug 16 - 11:55 AM (#3807585)
Subject: RE: Whither political song?
From: GUEST,Felipa

another addition to Brexit song list http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=160472

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30 Aug 16 - 04:37 PM (#3807641)
Subject: RE: Whither political song?
From: Donuel

You're in good company with good company.

I will trace this.

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08 Nov 16 - 01:22 PM (#3819024)
Subject: RE: Whither political song?
From: Felipa

article in Observer newspaper re political activity and popular music and asking where are the Woody Guthries and Phil Ochs today: http://observer.com/2016/11/how-rock-n-roll-failed-us-again-this-presidential-election/

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