Help save the youth of America
Help save them from themselves
Help save the sun-tanned surfer boys
And the Californian girls
When the lights go out in the rest of the World
What do our cousins say
They’re playing in the sun and having fun, fun, fun
Till Daddy takes the gun away
From the Big Church to the Big River
And out to the Shining Sea
This is the Land of Opportunity
And there’s a Monkey Trial on TV
A nation with their freezers full
Are dancing in their seats
While outside another nation
Is sleeping in the streets
Don’t tell me the old, old story
Tell me the truth this time
Is the Man in the Mask or the Indian
An enemy or a friend of mine
Help save the youth of America
Help save the youth of the world
Help save the boys in uniform
Their mothers and their faithful girls
Listen to the voice of the soldier
Down in the killing zone
Talking about the cost of living
And the price of bringing him home
They’re already shipping the body bags
Down by the Rio Grande
But you can fight for democracy at home
And not in some foreign land
And the fate of the great United States
Is entwined in the fate of us all
And the incident at Tschernobyl proves
The world we live in is very small
And the cities of Europe have burned before
And they may yet burn again
And if they do I hope you understand
That Washington will burn with them
Omaha will burn with them
Los Alamos will burn with them
Help save them from themselves
Help save the sun-tanned surfer boys
And the Californian girls
When the lights go out in the rest of the World
What do our cousins say
They’re playing in the sun and having fun, fun, fun
Till Daddy takes the gun away
From the Big Church to the Big River
And out to the Shining Sea
This is the Land of Opportunity
And there’s a Monkey Trial on TV
A nation with their freezers full
Are dancing in their seats
While outside another nation
Is sleeping in the streets
Don’t tell me the old, old story
Tell me the truth this time
Is the Man in the Mask or the Indian
An enemy or a friend of mine
Help save the youth of America
Help save the youth of the world
Help save the boys in uniform
Their mothers and their faithful girls
Listen to the voice of the soldier
Down in the killing zone
Talking about the cost of living
And the price of bringing him home
They’re already shipping the body bags
Down by the Rio Grande
But you can fight for democracy at home
And not in some foreign land
And the fate of the great United States
Is entwined in the fate of us all
And the incident at Tschernobyl proves
The world we live in is very small
And the cities of Europe have burned before
And they may yet burn again
And if they do I hope you understand
That Washington will burn with them
Omaha will burn with them
Los Alamos will burn with them
Category:
Musical Interludes
i have a vision.. a vision of a chicken.. standing alone by the waters edge.. with a rod and reel in hand… casting his bait and hook into the nether river of the internet hoping to snare a god fearing, apple pie eating, proud to be an american puke fish.. but the puke fish is much too smart for silly bait.. and passes.
You go, wonderchicken! It’s good to know someone else out here appreciates Billy Bragg.
The revolution is just a T-shirt away. . . .
Got to love the Billy Bragg.
Saw him years ago and he did Groove Is In The Heart as an encore.
pure love filled magic.
By the way, comments like that puke fish thing are the best! Makes me want to put comments on my own site.
Green with envy, I am.
OK, maybe it was a *teeny* troll, but a well-intentioned one! 🙂
I don’t wanna change the world. I’m not looking for a new US. I’m just looking for another girl. (Is it wrong to wish on space hardware?)
My own Billy Bragg concert story involved a cross-border trip down to Seattle, the backseat of an old jalopy of a Datsun beater, a bottle of Dr McGillicuddy’s Peppermint Schnapps, and Billy himself on stage, quizzically repeating my full-throated (and inexplicable, this long after the night in question) exhortation to ‘be nice’ : “‘Be nice’ – well, what does that mean, ‘be nice’…?”
I think it means, “Don’t bury an axe in anyone’s head.” But that’s a personal interpretation.
Although I have found that the occasional light tap, just with the flat of the axe-blade right on the crown of the ol’ noodle does wonders for some peoples’ dispositions….
Or your own.