Today at 7AM the Occupy Wall Street Outreach Team plans to Shut Down Wall Street. Later a march from City Hall to the Brooklyn Bridge begins at 5 pm:
Tens of thousands of people will celebrate at Foley square, listen to stories, a gospel choir, a marching band, and take a march to our bridges where we will demand that we get back to work rebuilding our country’s infrastructure! Let’s make it as musical a march as possible – bring your songs, your voice, your spirit!
Richard Onley has that covered with the release of his #OCCUPY SongBook. He’s the author of the Chronic Carols the Shire Choir has recently been performing and the subject of an early episode of Fr33 Agents TV. He begins with the quotes below:
The #OCCUPY SongBook
No revolutionary movement is complete without its poetical expression. If such a movement has caught hold of the imagination of the masses, they will seek a vent in song for the aspirations, the fears and hopes, the loves and hatreds engendered by the struggle. Until the movement is marked by the joyous, defiant, singing of revolutionary songs, it lacks one of the most distinct marks of a popular revolutionary movement; it is a dogma of a few, and not the faith of the multitude.
— James Connolly
…the freedom songs are the soul of the movement. They are more than just incantations of clever phrases designed to invigorate a campaign . . . We sing the freedom songs today for the same reason the slaves sang them, because we too are in bondage and the songs add hope to our determination that ‘We shall overcome. . . We shall overcome someday.’ These songs bound us together, gave us courage together, helped us march together. We could walk toward any Gestapo force. . . . With this music . . . we can articulate our deepest groans and passionate yearnings, and end always on a note of hope . . . to dip down into wells of deeply pessimistic situations and danger-fraught circumstances and to bring forth a marvelous, sparkling, fluid optimism.
— Martin Luther King
Newer and Bluer Meanies have been sighted within the vicinity . . . There’s only one way to go . . . Singing!
— John Lennon
Feel free to copy, distribute, and sing, sing, sing! anything that you find herein. All I ask is that if you luck into a million-seller or something, that you have the courtesy to send a percentage of the proceeds my way. Thanx! – SAR / RO
______________________________________________________________________________
THE WHOLE WORLD IS WATCHING
CF^F^F^A^A^ / AA#A#A#FF / GAAAGG / AFAGGAG // CF^F^F^A^A^ / AA#A#A#FF / GACAFGA#AGGA#AGF
The whole world is watching.
The whole world is watching.
The whole world is watching
And they see just what you are.
The whole world is watching.
The whole world is watching.
The whole world is watching.
Lay down your arms and hitch a ride on Freedom’s morning star.
ALTERNATE ZIPPER LINES:
They’re watching on YouTube
They’re watching on TV
They’re watching on newsfeeds
They’re watching on talk shows
They’re watching in Heaven
OCCU-PIE IN THE FACE
verses: CDEEEEFEDCACC / CDEEEEFEDCD / CDEEEEFEDCACD / CAGGBCDDCBC / chorus: CDEEEEFEDCACD / DCDEEEEFEDBC
The economy’s been ruined by financial folk
Who are impervious to shame for their disgrace.
Reasoned discourse hasn’t worked to free us from their yoke,
So it’s time to occu-pie them in the face.CHORUS:
Though they
Knock you,
Block you,
Taser-shock you,
Occupy
This crock to pie
The octopi
Who run the place.They keep taxing, fining, feeing folks to benefit
All the rats who’d like to make us run their race.
Time to show them with our NO we’re taking no more shit,
And we’ll occu-pie the robbers in the face.CHORUS
The surge of blue-serge cowards serve just them, not us
With their tin-badge-blessed clubs and guns and Mace.
Seal the deal–Oh, how they’ll squeal!–to feel E Pluribus
Occu-pie the porky piggies in the face.CHORUS
THE 1 OR THE 99 (“One After 909″–The Beatles)
You’ve got to make a choice between the 1 or the 99.
Lots of politicians cloud the issue till it’s hard to define….
It was politics then, politics now–
You think that’ll solve the problem somehow?
Be sure you know which is the 1 and the 99!You’ve got to make a choice between the 1 or the 99.
Credit’s overdrawn, so it’s over, we’ve drawn the line.
It was politics then, politics now–
You think that’ll solve the problem somehow?
Be sure you know which is the 1 and the 99!The State makes laws
To form a corporation,
Then takes bribes
For crafting legislation.
It’s got to stop!
Who ya gonna call–
The same government
That began it all?!
Riiiiight!Got to make a choice between the 1 or the 99,
Or stay forever stuck within the government’s grand design.
It was politics then, politics now–
You think that’ll solve the problem somehow?
Be sure you know which is the 1 and the 99![Music]
Let’s rebel!
Start an Occupation!
We learned how
In public education:
They taught us
That democracy
Lets you become
The authority!
All riiiiight!Got to make a choice between the 1 or the 99,
“If the world did what we say, things would proceed just fine!”
It was politics then, politics now–
You think that’ll solve the problem somehow?
Be sure you know which is the 1 and the 90–
Be sure you know which is the 1 and the 90–
Be sure you know which is the 1 and the 99!
[O-oh say, can you see, by the dawn's early light...]
WHICH SIDE ARE YOU ON? (21st CENTURY VERSION)
CHORUS:
Which side are you on?
Which side are you on?
Which side are you on?–Think twice!
Which side are you on?The State gets factions fighting
Until both sides are loath
To work together. Then it
Presents itself to both.CHORUS
If you promote discord among
Rich, middle-class, and poor,
Then total government control
Is all you’re fighting for.CHORUS
Advocates of human rights
Should check their attitudes
Before they risk their health and wealth
On empty platitudes.CHORUS
No choice but choose, and choose but one:
Which side are you on–
Under or behind the gun?
Which side are you on?CHORUS
The dark, descending spiral
Of choosing evils’ lesser
Has stuck you with another choice:
Victim or aggressor.CHORUS
Acknowledge or deny it,
The truth remains the same:
You’re part of all the evil
Committed in your name.CHORUS
When I act with no harm to you,
And you with none to me,
The choice our actions show we’ve made
Was settled righteously.CHORUS
WALL STREET, OCCUPY (“Summertime”–The Jamies)
Let’s Occupy, Occupy, Wall Street, Occupy,
Occupy, Occupy, Wall Street, Occupy,
Occupy, Occupy, Wall Street, Occupy,
Occupy, Occupy, Wall Street, Occupy,
Occupy!Send e-mails, phone, make a Facebook page–
We’ve reached the limit of our rage!
Usher in a bold new age
And Occupy!No more, you bureaucrats and banksters!
No more, governmental gangsters!
Meet your match in merry pranksters
Who’re going to Occupy!CHORUS:
It’s time to let them know you’re there.
It’s time to give their goons a scare.
We’re ninety-nine against just one–
This revolution stuff is fun!Let’s get started at Zuccotti–
Organizing might get knotty.
‘Net, food, water, Port-A-Potty?
Let’s Occupy!Pick a spot and pitch your tents.
It’s your life, not the government’s!
Love will trump their violence
When we Occupy!CHORUS
Working, living, loving, caring,
Playing, learning, teaching, sharing–
Goals well worth the risk of daring
To Occupy!Persist and even they will see
They can’t deny our liberty.
“Naught nobler is than to be free,”
And so we Occupy!CHORUS
Let’s Occupy!
Let’s Occupy, Occupy, Wall Street, Occupy,
Occupy, Occupy, Wall Street, Occupy,
Occupy, Occupy, Wall Street, Occupy,
Occupy, Occupy, Wall Street, Occupy,
Occupy!
THE 99 (“Route 66″ – Nat King Cole and about a zillion others)
Watch the Occupy movement expand
From Wall Street’s
To all streets
Through the land.
Draw the line!
We’re The 99.It’s begun,
And it won’t stop till it’s done,
Out of the many standing up against the 1.
Draw the line!
We’re The 99.From New York to Alaska,
Texas and Nebraska,
San Francisco, LA,
Santa Barbara, Cruz, and Fe,
Ohio, Oklahoma,
Seattle and Tacoma,
North and South Dakota,
Utah, Minnesota,
Denver, Dover–
Statism is over!So get smart–
Open up your eyes and heart.
Occupy for a new U.S. to start.
Draw the line!
We’re The 99.So get wise–
Open up your heart and eyes.
Join the crowd that loudly Occupies!
Draw the line!
We’re The 99.
Draw the line!
We’re The 99.
Draw the line!
We’re The 99.
<HR>
ALL ABOARD, OCCUPIERS! (“Get On Board”—Traditional spiritual, with many folk updates)
CHORUS:
All aboard, Occupiers,
All aboard, Occupiers,
All aboard, Occupiers,
We Occupy to be free!The Freedom Train is boarding.
(Toot, toot!) Reserve your berth!
Spread words and deeds of liberty
Throughout a trodden Earth.CHORUS
The music of the whistle
And the drumbeat of the wheels
Sing “Celebrate the freedom
Every rider fully feels.”CHORUS
Trouble on the way may lead
To jail—but truth to tell:
Life lived under tyranny
Just means a larger cellCHORUS
We’ll realize, when the engine puffs
Into the final station:
The trip’s travails and tragedies
Were worth this destination.CHORUS
THAT’S WHAT WE DO (“Certainly, Lord”) (call-and-response)
[Do you disobey bad laws?]
That’s what we do!
[Do you disobey bad laws?]
That’s what we do!
[Do you disobey bad laws?]
That’s what we do!
That’s what we,
That’s what we,
That’s what we do!Do you peaceably resist? Do you non-cooperate?
Do you say “No” to the plea? Do you boldly make your case?
Do you state you’ll pay no fine? Do you serve the time in jail?
Would you do it all again? And do you think you will?
Will it really make a difference? Will you work until we’re free?
Do you come to others’ trials?[Do you make up your own lines? -- Well, try it!]
JAIL (“Birmingham Jail” (“Down in the Valley”)) (Fill in name of jail as needed.)
When they arrest us
What do they do?
Trump up some charges.
Steal cameras, too.CHORUS:
[ ] Jailhouse.
[ ] jail.
Fighting for freedom!
All tyrants fail!The bail commissioner
Comes for his portion.
The state constitution
Shows it’s extortion.
CHORUSLaws are on your side—
To no avail.
Still you’ll end up in
[ ] jail.
CHORUS“Get all the cameras
Out of that car!
They might prove to people
What thugs that we are.”
CHORUSArrested for nothing,
Jailed for a while.
Cops get believed when
They lie at the trial.
CHORUSObey their orders,
Or you’ll get popped.
Once you’ve been punished,
Charges get dropped.
CHORUSFear and obey them,
Dance to their tune.
If they’re in error,
They’re still immune.
CHORUSDon’t expose cop crimes,
Don’t publicize.
They might not let you
Escape with your eyes.
CHORUSOfficial story
Of your beating’s depicted:
“Multiple fractures
Were self-inflicted.” [Keep adding additional verses as needed.]
REASON (I WANT TO LIVE AND LOVE AND LAUGH AS I LIKE)
(or: I want to learn and earn and burn what I like.)
G GG GG GAB— / BB BB BB BB AGG / G GG GG GG G / GG GG GG GG EDD / DD DD DD EG /
GG GB BB BB AGG / GG GB BA AB BGG
The reason that I sing this song:
I want to live and love and laugh as I like.
The reason that I sing this song:
I want to live and love and laugh as I like.
The reason that I sing this song:
I want to live and love and laugh as I like.
I want to live
and love
and laugh
as I like.The reason that I carry this sign: The reason that I march through town:
The reason for this candle crowd: The reason for this gun on my hip:
The reason I home-school my kids: The reason I record the cops:
The reason that I smoke this joint: The reason that I live this life:
The reason that I won’t obey: The reason that I come to court:
The reason I won’t take the plea: The reason I don’t rise at all:
The reason that I twit the cops: The reason that I go to jail:
The reason I don’t show ID: The reason that the State won’t last:
[etc....]
BUT YOU SAY THEY’RE LAZY BUMS (“If I Only Had a Brain” from The Wizard of Oz)
People eager to help pitch in
At meeting, march, and kitchen;
The Facebook network hums.
There’s no work (or spirit) shortage–
Notwithstanding the reportage–
But you say they’re lazy bums.Preparation is intense as
They’re shoring up defenses
In case the PD comes.
They go all out protecting
Rights the law should be respecting,
But you say they’re lazy bums.The State
Has learned too late
There’s a limit to its powers.
The ballyhoo of bands and banners sours,
And now we’re taking back what’s ours.Though we earned the funds, you got ‘em
For sitting on your bottom
And twiddling your thumbs.
If you’d peer into a mirror
It would be a little clearer
Who are really lazy bums.
<HR>
ONE TIME MORE
EA^A^A^A^A^BC#BA / EAAABC# / EAAAAABC#B / EAAABA (chorus 4/4, verses 2/4)
CHORUS:
You can’t ignore the urgent ringing sound
Of freedom at the door.
However many times you knock us down,
We’ll get up one time more!You’d reduce us to your level—
And lower still besides!
Just try! We’ll only revel
In the challenge that provides.CHORUS
You fine and beat and cage us
To get us to obey.
You’ll find we’re too courageous
To knuckle down that way.
CHORUSWe know for a fact our action
Can’t be besmirched to fail,
Though we spend a month in traction,
Or a couple of years in jail.CHORUS
Propaganda—that and fear—
Kept the population fooled.
Now your depredation’s been made clear—
We’ll no longer be meekly ruled.CHORUS
Tyrants murdered Jesus Christ—
They kill what they can’t ignore.
Though they thought such extremes sufficed—
He got up one time more.CHORUS
Martin Luther King was shot and died
Promoting the oppressed and poor.
But with his legacy of peace and pride
He got up one time more.
CHORUSFurry little creatures stole the eggs
Of the fearsome dinosaur.
Trampled underneath those scaly legs,
Man got up one time more.CHORUS
We’re the inoffensive Weeble toys
Wobbling around the floor.
Kicked over by destructive bully boys,
We’ll get up one time more.CHORUS
A multitude of trees are leveled, flush
With the surface of the forest floor.
Thanks to seeds among the underbrush,
They get up one time more.CHORUS
I WON’T LET ANYBODY TURN ME ‘ROUND (21st CENTURY VERSION)
[Call-and-response with the fourth word of the first and third lines to be replaced by any three- to four-syllable word or term]
I won’t let anybody turn me ’round,
Turn me ’round, turn me ’round!
I won’t let anybody turn me ’round.
I’m gonna keep on walking,
Keep on talking—
Heading for the day we’re free!I won’t let injustice turn me ’round,
I won’t let tin badges turn me ’round,
I won’t let corruption turn me ’round,
I won’t let your power turn me ’round,
I won’t let your bullets turn me ’round,etc., etc., etc., ad libertam…
SOMEDAY, SOMEDAY SOON
DdddDEEEED / BCDdddDEE[EE]D / BCDDEF#GGAAF# / EF#GGGGF#F#(E-D) / DDDEEDD(C-B) / CDDGCBBAAG
[Call-and-response song—any seven-syllable phrase will serve.]
Freedom, someday, someday soon!
Freedom, someday, someday [someday] soon!
And we’ll work for all we’re worth for liberty.
As we know tomorrow’s sun will rise,
We see, with hearts, as well as eyes,
That someday, someday soon, we will be free.And we’ll work for all we’re worth for liberty.
As we know tomorrow’s sun will rise,
We see, with hearts, as well as eyes,
That someday, someday soon, we will be free.
Some suggested calls:
We are not afraid of you | Jail will only strengthen us | We will break the chains you forge | You can never jail our souls | We are not your property | We can see right through your lies | Yes, we will live free or die | Your corruption is exposed | Does your conscience bother you? | In your power, you are weak | We do not belong to you Did you get your stories straight? | Truth is light that frightens you | You can’t legislate at will | Cam’ras show the truth you hide | We forgive you for your crimes | Your corruption cannot last All your laws are paper threats | Cage us, still our souls will soar | We will never bow to you | Drop your guns and join with us | You can change your evil ways [Now, you improvise a few!] [It is not that hard at all!]
