I’m trying to make political tunes that are also just fun to sing. Here
are all of them with quick links:
1. Improving

http://www.onlisareinsradar.com/archives/002681.php
2. James Brown Died On Christmas

http://www.onlisareinsradar.com/archives/002679.php
3. Democracy

http://www.lisarein.com/democracy.html
4. In the Spirit

5. James and Marybeth (about copyright law and how the public is losing their
end of the bargain)
written to James H. Billington (Librarian of Congress) and Marybeth Peters
(Register of Copyrights)

http://www.lisarein.com/jamesandmarybeth.html
6. Here’s myself and Audrey Howard in Golden Gate Park doing a cover of a
song Green Day’s Billy Armstrong covering the song by
Aaron Elliot and PHGP called “Life During Wartime”:

http://www.onlisareinsradar.com/archives/001298.php

Glad to finally get this up. (I was waiting to finish the video for it…but I don’t want to hold things up any more.)
Fuel Funeral

Direct link to MP3

This song is about war profiteers who knowingly exchange the blood of Iraqis and US Troops for profit, in that they fund the destruction of the country so they can profit on its reconstruction.

It’s also about how we all line up behind these scumbags and keep driving our SUV’s — and are effectively trading in the future of our children for convenience in the short term.

This song was inspired by the Bill Moyer’s NOW program from November 14, 2003, Cash and Carry, which detailed the direct connections between the Shrub Administration and the main two or three companies that are profiting directly from the Iraqi reconstruction.

Vocals by Lisa Rein – Music by Gregory Howe
Lyrics by Lisa Rein and Gregory Howe.

Lyrics

We go anywhere we wanna go
Suburban assault vehicles
The calling day we all seem to know
Comes speeding at us now head on
Come on down to the fuel funeral
The pyre’s high and it’s burning down
We’re staring at the fuel funeral
Say a prayer and then throw in your cup
They tell you all that you wanna know
The roads are paved with a heart of gold
They turn you out on the inside
Kill your world as they come alive
Come on down to the Fuel Funeral
Cause you ain’t got too much more to lose
There’s only trouble and obstacles
They’re all waiting for you for you

This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons License.

This song is about the crazy idea that any kind of “democracy” the U.S. brought to Iraq could be worth the death of a single Iraqi person.
It’s like someone saying:
“Ok here’s the plan. First, we bomb all your public water and power systems, then we don’t actually rebuild them, so a lot of you are going to die off from that.
Next, your brother and aunt die when us or the insurgents bomb them by mistake.
Next, you get democracy!
See!? It’s a bargain!.”
MP3 (2 MB) — WAV source (14 MB)
“Improving”
Words and Music By Lisa Rein
Cut off the power lines my friend
Shut off the water too
The benefits will never end
When we’re done bringing this to you
We’re just improving
improving
improving
improving
Kill off your family one by one
but we’ll give you some rights when we’re all done
yeah
It’s such a drag
but it’s not us!
If you can tough it out
You’ll make it.
improving
improving
improving
improving
repeat
(As recorded into my laptop using Audio Recorder, as always…) This track is available under a
Creative Commons Attribution License

This is a little ditty that manifested itself over the holidays.
The MP3 and source wav file are available under a
Creative Commons Attribution License.
Music and Lyrics by Lisa Rein
James Brown died on christmas
James Brown died on christmas
They found him in the morning
It came without a warning
It seems like only last december
I was looking up his police record
To settle a trivial family battle
And I don’t mean no disrespect
And I’m not saying anything at all
Cause nothing’s ever written on the wall
But I hope that he’s in a better place
In a better place
It was the first thing I heard on christmas morning
I saw it on the tele
It was a holiday of tragedy and tyranny
When only a few days later
We were hanging a dictator
As a symbol of democracy
And I’m not saying anything
Cause no one’s even listening anymore
And there’s not much I really know for sure
But I know that he’s in a better place
In a better place