Over the past few weeks reading diaries advocating Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton, with the often reference to Revolution, has reminded me of my own youth and the enthusiasm for the Revolution and change that we liberals felt at that time.
In that spirit, I offer some of songs we listened to and derived inspiration from during the dark years of Reaganism.
In no order of preference:
1) The Internationale.
Stand up all victims of oppression
For the tyrants fear your might
Don't cling so hard to your possessions
For you have nothing if you have no rights
Let racist ignorance be ended
For respect makes the empires fall
Freedom is merely privilege extended
Unless enjoyed by one and all
[Chorus]
So come brothers and sisters
For the struggle carries on
The internationale
Unites the world in song
So comrades come rally
For this is the time and place
The international ideal
Unites the human race
Let no one build walls to divide us
Walls of hatred nor walls of stone
Come greet the dawn and stand beside us
We'll live together or we'll die alone
In our world poisoned by exploitation
Those who have taken now they must give
And end the vanity of nations
We've but one earth on which to live
And so begins the final drama
In the streets and in the fields
We stand unbowed before their armor
We defy their guns and shields
When we fight provoked by their aggression
Let us be inspired by like and love
For though they offer us concessions
Change will not come from above
Rise Up. Parachute Club
(Rise up rise up)
Oh rise and show your power
(Rise up rise up)
Were dancing into the sun
(Rise up rise up)
It s time for celebration
(Rise up rise up)
Spirits time has come
We want lovin we want laughter again
We want heartbeat
We want madness to end
We want dancin
We wanna run in the streets
We want freedom to live in this peace
We want power
We want to make it ok
Want to be singin at the end of the day
Children to breathe a new life
We want freedom to love who we please
*Chorus
(Rise up rise up)
Oh rise and show your power
(Rise up rise up)
Everybody dance into the sun
(Rise up rise up)
It s time for celebration
(Rise up rise up)
The spirits time has come
Talkin bout the right time to be workin for peace
Wantin all the tension in the world to ease
This tightrope s gotta learn how to bend
We re makin new plans
Gonna start it again
(Repeat chorus)
Rise up now
It s time, it s time, it s time
(Rise up rise up)
Oh rise and show your power
(Rise up rise up)
But dance into the sun
(Rise up rise up)
It s time for a celebration
(Rise up rise up)
Everbody s time has come
Spirits time has come
Spirits time has come
(Rise up rise up)
Oh rise and show your power
(Rise up rise up)
All dance into the sun
(Rise up rise up)
It s time for a celebration
(Rise up rise up)
Everbody s time has come
Spirits time has come
Spirits time has come
(Rise up rise up)
Oh rise and show your power…
Hey, Baby I just got back from town
Where the bribes are paid
Honey, they turned my offer down
They say the deal's already made
So now I gotta stand and watch
While it all comes down
And the buzzards and the hawks
And the judges and the mob
Circle round
Now if I were the queen of all the world
I would go in chains just to see you free
Of the ropes that bind you
And the role you play
And the pride that hooks you
While the big ones get away
Love junkies wanna change the world:
It quickly stays the same
Money junkies hire all the smart ones
Power junkies run the game
One step at a time
Polarity Hill
If the bad guys don't get you, baby
Then the good guys will
With angels on the take
And the gangsters in the yard
Hey don't the wars come easy
Hey don't the peace come hard
Now if I had a way to reach the sky
I'd grab that crescent moon
Wield it like a knife
Save you from the lies
From the ropes that bind you
And the role you play
And the game that hooks you
While the big ones get away
Lyrics are explicit so I won’t post but they are here:
www.azlyrics.com/…
hope you got the letter, and...
I pray you can make it better down here.
I don't mean a big reduction in the price of beer
but all the people that you made in your image, see
them starving on their feet 'cause they don't get
enough to eat from God, I can't believe in you
Dear God, sorry to disturb you, but... I feel that I should be heard
loud and clear. We all need a big reduction in amount of tears
and all the people that you made in your image, see them fighting
in the street 'cause they can't make opinions meet about God,
I can't believe in you
Did you make disease, and the diamond blue? Did you make
mankind after we made you? And the devil too!
, don't know if you noticed, but... your name is on
a lot of quotes in this book, and us crazy humans wrote it, you
should take a look, and all the people that you made in your
image still believing that junk is true. Well I know it ain't, and
so do you, dear God, I can't believe in I don't believe in
I won't believe in heaven and hell. No saints, no sinners, no
devil as well. No pearly gates, no thorny crown. You're always
letting us humans down. The wars you bring, the babes you
drown. Those lost at sea and never found, and it's the same the
whole world 'round. The hurt I see helps to compound that
Father, Son and Holy Ghost is just somebody's unholy hoax,
and if you're up there you'd perceive that my heart's here upon
my sleeve. If there's one thing I don't believe in
it's you....
These top were my favorites.
Others included:
6) Born in the USA — Bruce Springsteen
7) 99 Luftballons — Nena
8) Land of Confusion — Genesis
9) Sunday Bloody Sunday — U2
10) Imagine — John Lennon
Take the time and listen to them all. They sustain me and my comrades through many a dark night.
Workers of the world unite, you have nothing to lose but your chains and a world to win.
UPDATE: Forgot one:
Circles of the human chain
Turning for the wheels of gain
A system with a power of its own
To draw blood from a stone
Every hour like the last
Tomorrow like the day just passed
Bearing down upon the flesh and bone
To draw blood from a stone
Cold machines that never stop
Even if a man should drop
Mercy never lets her face be shown
They draw blood from a stone