[Newspoetry] Protest music is alive and well (fwd)

[gillespie william k]

This is the same columnist who reviewed the Newspoetry / Unknown reading
at the Harold Washington library and said I had a "self-mockingly
authoritative tenor," but Dirk got "an oaky baritone... like an old-time
radio announcer."

William

w w w .
w o r d
w o r k
. o r g

On Thu, 18 Jan 2001, Paul Kotheimer wrote:

> Thanks to Sara Schmidt, I have gotten the e-mail address of the columnist
> I had wanted to alert to the existence of protest music.  I wrote her the
> following letter.
> 
> 
> ***********************************
> 
> Dear Ms. Keller:
> 
> Here's just a quick note thanking you for your article "Does Protest Music
> Have a Fighting Chance," and especially for going to the some of the right
> sources (Dr. Charles "Bucky" Halker, Michael Cameron, and Ellen Rosner) up
> there in Chicago for a pulse-check on protest music at the turn of the
> millenium.
> 
> I'd like to assure you, as I'm sure others will, that protest music and
> what Pete Seeger and others call the "Folk Music Process," is alive and
> well, and dwelling, among other places, in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois.
> 
> Here is the text of some recent adaptations I have made in conjunction
> with the Anarchist Chorus of Urbana in our weekly singalongs:
> 
> "OR-ELSE" What?  (to the tune of "Three Blind Mice")
> 
> (This simple round represents what the Democratic Party says back when
> working folks, people of color, women, environmentalists, etc., give the
> Dems the ultimatum that they legislate on behalf of their constituencies,
> OR ELSE...)
> 
> "OR-ELSE" what?
> "OR-ELSE" what?
> Whatcha gonna do?
> Whatcha gonna do?
> It's us "OR ELSE" it's the Republi-kins.
> Stay home from the polls, the Republican wins.
> The two of us act just like Siamese twins,
> so "OR-ELSE" what?
> 
> "OR-ELSE" what?
> "OR-ELSE" what?
> Where ya gonna turn?
> When ya gonna learn
> That cor'prate corruption has skewered us through,
> And third parties fail, and whatever you do,
> The deck of democracy's stacked against YOU,
> so "OR-ELSE" what? 
> 
> 
> ***or how about this one, to the tune of the traditional Episcopal hymn
> entitled "THE DOXOLOGY." A number of protest tunes have been written to
> this tune, including "The Wobbly Doxology" by the Australian IWW in the
> '20's and the "Lumberjack's Prayer" by loggers in the Northwest in the
> 20's or 30's, i think.  The idea that the Doxology is supposed to be about
> the MEAL part of a Christian service hooked me up with the idea to write
> the...
> 
> FRANKENFOOD TOXOLOGY
> 
> Gosh, all our foods have been deep-fried,
> and gen-et-ic-'lly modified,
> and everything we ever ate
> had monosodium glutemate  *in-side.
> 
> Our beef cows eat their own fe-CES (yuck!)
> and give us all mad cow disease.
> The milk we feed our kids, our own,
> is laced with Bovine Growth Hormone.  *Oh, no.
> 
> The corn and wheat we sorely need
> cannot be grown from natural seed
> because the land on which we toil
> is blighted by depleted soil.  *What next?
> 
> Those corp'rate jerks who profit so
> from poisoning us have got to go!
> Our big priority should be
> to feed us all sustainably  *right now!
> 
> So that is why we sing to thee
> this FrankenFood Toxology.
> Let's organize and not retreat,
> but first let's have a bite to eat  *Bon Appetit.
> 
> 
> ****and then there's the question of where to look for protest song.
> you've probably already heard the criticism that the Major Labels are NOT
> the right place to look.  here's a song about that, called...
> 
> House of the Rising CD Sales
> (to the tune of "House of the Rising Sun")
> 
> I cannot play a single note,
> and I suck at playing chords.
> That's why I'm here in Hollywood
> at the MTV music awards.
> 
> My parents were both millionaires,
> and they worked for R. C. A.
> They took their boss for sushi and drinks,
> and that's how I got here today.
> 
> When you sign your name on the dotted line,
> you'll know just where it went.
> It goes straight to the corporate mogul men.
> They get ninety-three per cent.
> 
> And they spend that money on the fashion shows
> and limousines and crowd control,
> And when they need a bail-out, they
> go straight on the public dole.
> 
> But if you could get such a hand-out, kid,
> coming straight from Uncle Sam,
> then you might say something dangerous,
> and then I wouldn't be where I am.
> 
> So if you think you're some kind of musician, kid,
> and you've paid me any mind,
> then I am simply asking you,
> why the hell do you wanna get signed?
> 
> ***see, in the folk process, sometimes the words that feel like they've
> existed forever (a feeling you mention in your article)--get worn out and
> tired.  it's what i call the "Bare Bodkin Phenomenon," since even an
> amazing text like the Hamlet "To Be or Not To Be" soliloquy can seem like
> a boring cliche NOW that it's been quoted to death.  
> 
> that's why i try and change them however I can.  here are two more
> examples.  the first one is a medly of two tunes you mention specifically
> in your article.  It's a twist on a couple of "revered folksong classics" 
> which ends up being a twist of the knife against the Baby Boomers who
> made them so popular:
> 
> If I had a pencil,
> I'd pencil in my mornings,
> I'd pencil in my evenings,
> 'Way into next week.
> I'd pencil in cocktails!
> I'd pencil in a dinner date!
> I'd pencil in lunch with Jane,
> she's my personal assistant,
> for Thursday, or maybe some time next week.
> 
> And if I had a sport ute,
> I'd drive it in the morning,
> I'd drive it in the evening,
> commuting all over this land.
> 'Cause they're made in America!
> They build 'em safe and comf'rtable,
> And they've got a resale value
> which is really much better than
> any other car you can buy in this land.
> 
> And if I had a phone card,
> I'd ring you in the morning,
> I'd ring you in the evening,
> anywhere in this land.
> I could ring you in Jersey!
> I could ring you in Tampa Bay,
> because my long distance rates 
> would be really quite affordable
> to a-a-nywhere in this land...
> 
> This land is my land
> This land is ...MY land,
> from the brand new Starbucks,
> to my house on Long Island,
> from 'way up in Seattle,
> to the beach in Miami,
> This land was purchased,
> And your rent was tripled,
> And you were evicted...
> By me.
> 
> ***okay.  last one.  back in the 30's Woody Guthrie wrote a batch of words
> to a traditional American fiddle tune called "Red Wing."  The tune is
> probably most famous now by the name he gave it, "Union Maid."  well, it
> occurred to me that there have been plenty of developments in front-line
> activism by women since the 30's, and i wanted to let Guthrie fans know
> that the Union Maid's granddaughter was in Seattle and DC and Philly in
> 1999-2000, and on the direct action/civil disobedience circuit, she's
> known as the Radical Cheerleader:
> 
> There once was a rocker-grrl
> with a freak flag to unfurl
> and a puppet show on the WTO
> with a message that intended to change the world.
> She'd go to the center of town,
> where her comrades were locked down,
> and she never was afraid when the pepper spray sprayed.
> She always stood her ground.  Singin'...
> 
> (CHORUS)
> 
> You can't catch me, I'm runnin' with the black bloc!
> Stuff your crotch with a tube sock, copper,
> I'm a-runnin' with the black bloc!
> You can't catch me, I'm runnin' with the black bloc!
> And I'll be runnin' with the black bloc
> 'Til the revolution is nigh, or 'til the day I die.
> 
> Now this rebel girl gets crass,
> once she's caught a whiff of the old tear gas,
> with a radical cheer against the riot gear
> that goes "Acka-Backa Soda-Cracka Kiss-My-Ass,"
> and tough as it may seem,
> she will go to the extreme,
> 'til an end to oppression, with no concession,
> is more than just a dream.  She'll sing...
> 
> (repeat CHORUS, twice if necessary...)
> 
> all these new song lyrics were written in the past two years, mostly by
> me, with help and inspiration from the I.W.W. songbook, from my friends
> and fellow activists, from my experiences as a Seattle N30, 1999,
> participant, and from the music i get to experience here in Urbana.  i may
> never have a pop hit, even though i sometimes try to write one.  i may
> never be signed, even by a small record label.  but my contribution to the
> Folk Process will, hopefully, still be having an impact against social and
> interpersonal violence, unjust power, corporate greed, political
> corruption, etc., long after any memory of the words or melody of "Oops I
> Did it Again" (for example) have been completely obliterated.
> 
> That's the folk music process, and i'm stickin' to it 'til the day I die,
> and for a while afterwards.
> 
> Check out <www.newspoetry.com> and <www.handmaderecords.com> for more
> about me and my work.  I hope you will change your mind about the fighting
> chance that people have through folksong and protest song.
> 
> sing-cerely yours,
> 
> paul kotheimer:)
> +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
> THE HAND-MADE RECORD LABEL
> www.handmaderecords.com
> 
> c/o the School for Designing a Society
> 409 North Race Street
> Urbana, IL 61801
> 217 384 0299 phone (no fax)
> 
> 
> 
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