Song picture
You Cannot Have War & Tell the Truth
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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
Genre
Podcasts Politics
Charts
Peak #21
Peak in subgenre #1
Author
Tom Neilson
Rights
Tom Neilson
Uploaded
December 22, 2012
Track Files
MP3
MP3 2.9 MB 128 kbps 3:07
Lyrics
My son Jacob asked me when he was 5, “Daddy, why do you say the radio lies?” I said, “A nation at war needs lies, you see, To feed the desire to kill enemy. To light patriot fires of unquestioning rage And incapacitate reason on the front page; Glorify every CIA sleuth – You can not have war & tell the truth. X2 Pearl Harbor wasn’t a sneak attack. We know that from the FOI Act. We had long ago broken the Japanese code, But we needed the horror of bombs to explode With 1000s of sailors in a watery grave Panic runs high, easy to persuade; Easy for Congress to set the stage And the road to war, lies will pave. Take Japanese homes & farms away So white businesses can seize the day. You can not have war & tell the truth. X2 And the twin towers were not a sneak attack, But for Turkmenistan gas & oil in Iraq We need a Pearl Harbor to get us off track. Why did the Air Force stand down in DC? Then send those pilots away out to sea? & why don’t they mention that Euro money? & at the Pentagon why was there no airplane debris? You can not have war & tell the truth. X2 We knew in July 1945 that Japan had no military supply. They wanted peace, to negotiate, But we wanted to bomb them before it’s too late. & send a message with a flash of light, Nuclear weapons we’ll use to fight. Immoral, barbaric, not very couth. You can not have war & tell the truth. X2 Now depleted uranium is nuclear war Just like Hiroshima/Nagasaki before; Destroy the village to save it once more. The reason to bomb Iraq/Afghanistan Is to get every petro dollar, the plan & radiate every child, woman, & man Recruiters are lying to DU our youth. You can not have war & tell the truth. X2
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