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Water Under the Door
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Social/political commentary on tax resistance. The album is about the Colrain action which attempted to prevent the takeover of Randy and Betsy Kehler's home for tax refusal by the IRS.
acoustic folk social commentary political satire western massachusetts oil coal climate change fracking incineration music for social change nuclear energy
Artist picture
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 #625
Peak in subgenre #51
Author
Tom Neilson
Rights
1995
Uploaded
October 20, 2004
Track Files
MP3
MP3 2.7 MB 128 kbps 0:00
Story behind the song
Five communities in Western Massachusetts were destroyed and flooded to create the Quabbin Reservoir, so people could have water in Boston. The area was the site of the Shay's Rebellion. "Water Under the Door" is an urgent call to action to confront the corporate terror that leads to the violence of poverty, hunger, homelessness, torture and murder.
Lyrics
What do you do when you have no home to go home to? What do you do when it's taken away from you? When your town is under water and your road is washed away, The Shay's Rebellion lingers here today. What do you do when you fight for a revolution And in the end see nothing at all has changed Because the wealthy are still wealthy & keep takin' away from the poor. What do you do when there's water under the door? What do you do when a jail cell takes your neighbors, Cause they won't let their taxes go to war? Do you rise up in protest? Do you stand there with them too? What do you do when the water covers the floor? O march with us to the Quabbin, to Conkey's for a meal. We'll have dessert at Betsy & Randy's in Colrain. If they take your neighbor's home away, Then next they'll come for you. Oh the water's seepin' in thru the window pane. Why do you pay for death squads at 4 in the morning to torture, rape, and kill a community? If your taxes pay for murder, then why do you pay for more? What do you do when the blood runs under the door? From Colrain to the Quabbin is a message that runs from Boston to El Salvador. That we fight for the rights of our friends and of our neighbors Or else the blood and the water will be runnin' under your door....
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