Song picture
These Colors Don't Run The World
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social commentary
acoustic folk social commentary political satire western massachusetts oil coal climate change fracking incineration music for social change nuclear energy
Folk singer, social commentary, satire, people's stories, children's music
Hi Folks, The Bard Insurgent here. My comrade D.O. (the Poet Roofer) and I got that handle (The Bard Insurgents) from traveling town to town performing songs and poetry about people's lives. I've been performing since I was 3 years old, cutting my vocal chords on liturgical and classical music. I was a concert soloist as a child, when I wasn't herding cows, throwing hay and shoveling manure. During the Civil Rights movement and the Vietnam war, I began writing songs about social change. I left the country in 1970 and my dozen years in other countries, mostly in Africa & South America, have provided a global perspective to my music. My travels helped me realize that people all around the world are essentially the same in their basic life needs and their desires to live peacefully in their communities. These experiences have informed my commitment to working for international understanding as I organize at home. A powerful way to educate and inspire is with music. I tell people's stories, do social commentary with a touch of satire that I hope you enjoy and share with your friends, as well as sing together in the streets and in your living rooms. I also have children's music written for the children in my life with Jacob and Kayla as primary muses. Looking forward to seeing you on the road, Tom
Song Info
Charts
Peak #42
Peak in subgenre #5
Author
Tom Neilson
Rights
Tom Neilson
Uploaded
December 31, 2010
Track Files
MP3
MP3 3.5 MB 128 kbps 3:49
Story behind the song
A take off on the saying "These Colors Don't Run." social commentary re US political/economic hegemony around the world.
Lyrics
There’s a drone in the air in Pakistan; Paramilitaries on Colombia Plan Sam Sarawewa is hanging from a crane; Shell & Chevron in Ogoni domain Rahm Emmanuel can bully junior senators To vote for war in Afghanistan And Gates and Clinton can rattle the sabers For making combat with Iran You can feel how you will every time you see Old glory unfurled, But these colors don’t run the world Obama says we’ve lost South America, But I can still find it on a map. He keeps 50,000 mercenaries So we can occupy Iraq You can blockade the people of Cuba; You can blockade information flow We can bomb Vietnam to the stone age& torture in Guantanamo You can feel how you will every time you see Old glory unfurled, But these colors don’t run the world You can build a wall on the border with Mexico; Build another in Palestine Build a wall in the minds of our people, While the truth you undermine. You can love your country or leave it; You can wave the red, white, and blue. You can get child labor with Walmart & when you wear those Nike shoes You can feel how you will every time you see Old glory unfurled, But these colors don’t run the world Contras kill civilian populations; Destroy their clinics and their schools Their cropland and water systems Till we decide which Somoza rules You can say they hate our freedoms, But look at the damage that we’ve done To bring every precious metal and fossil fuel & their labor under our thumb. You can feel how you will every time you see Old glory unfurled, But these colors don’t run the world
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