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Atif and Sebastian
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It's a somewhat complicated case which I tried to sum up in a poem (which I originally thought might be a song). Atif Rafay and Sebastian Burns are innocent men who have been in prison for many years already, for a crime they didn't commit.
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"If the great Phil Ochs were to rise from the dead today, he would probably be hailed as the new David Rovics." Andy Kershaw, BBC
Song Info
Genre
Acoustic • Acoustic Folk
Charts
Peak #70
Peak in subgenre #10
Author
David Rovics
Rights
bmi all rights reserved 2009
Uploaded
September 18, 2009
Track Files
MP3
MP3 5.9 MB • 320 kbps • 2:34
Story behind the song
It's a somewhat complicated case which I tried to sum up in a poem (which I originally thought might be a song). Atif Rafay and Sebastian Burns are innocent men who have been in prison for many years already, for a crime they didn't commit.
Lyrics
Atif and Sebastian lived in Vancouver That's where they were from Atif's family moved to the USA And Sebastian thought he'd come They both went off to college Atif to Cornell What would happen at the end of his freshman year Who on Earth could foretell Atif and Sebastian went to a movie And to get some food to eat Then they drove back home To that suburban Bellevue street Inside what they saw Was far too much to understand That such acts could be carried out By a human hand Atif's parents had been bludgeoned Blood and brains were everywhere And beneath the shawl Upon his mother's matted hair They asked the skies above How could such a thing be done Then the two boys picked up the phone And they called 9-1-1 Atif's father he had enemies Who wanted him dead it seems But from the time the cops arrived Upon this gruesome scene The only suspects they considered Were Sebastian and Atif They questioned them for days Amidst their shock and disbelief Without a bit of evidence They blamed them for this crime Though there were witnesses to prove They were elsewhere at the time They had gone across the bridge To Seattle's downtown core And someone else's DNA Was found amidst the blood upon the floor Whose DNA was that? The Bellevue cops just didn't care Though Atif's father's friend would soon Have his awful fate to share Just like Atif's dad He had a contract on his head And a few scant years later He also turned up dead The cops didn't have the evidence So they wiretapped a session With undercover thugs To scare up a confession The stories didn't match up The kids were terrified, they lied So the cops just changed their story To make it match the way the family died The judge and prosecution Just like the cops, they had no shame And entrapment and coercion Was the name of this railroad game The trial was a sham And the jury took the bait And now Atif and Sebastian Are living out their fate Serving up their lives In maximum security While the real killers Are somewhere running free Some might call this justice I don't know about you I call it putting innocent men in prison For a crime they didn't do
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