This one’s fi all di politician dem
Accurate, Immaculate
Inna yuh face dem a smile up
Behind you back a money dem a pile up
Try fi start yuh business and dem quick fi spoil up
Hey
Well done, well done, Mr. Politician Man
You done a wonderful job a tear down we country, demolition man
Well done, Well done, Mr. Politician Man (I hope you happy)
You done a such a great job selling out we country with you business plan
Well you fi get a round of applause, fi all the work you doing
Decisions weh you mek weh lef di country inna ruins yow
Strictly personal gain yuh pursuing
So di tax rates higher dan di planes weh yuh flew in
(Dem gone) fi go mek you deal with the IMF
Now we nuh have no bauxite nor no sugar cane left
Di hotels and the beaches, di Spanish dem go screechie
Me nuh know how all you dweet
But all me haffi say is
Well done, well done, Mr. Politician Man
(I must congratulate you)
You done a wonderful job a tear down we country, demolition man
Well done, Well done, Mr. Politician Man
You done a such a great job selling out we country with you business plan
A wah kind a plan
Which is to keep poverty and unemployment on the rise
Corruption and not to mention the lies
Elections a wen the tension arise
So you buy we Kentucky not to mention the fries
Anything fi secure your votes
And then you rob the people fi secure your boat
Fi go a Goat island weh the Chinese own
The whole Jamaica is a Chinese loan
Me tell you
Well done, Well done, Mr. politician man
You’ve done a wonderful job a tear down we country demolition man
Well done, Well done, Miss politician lady
You’ve done a such a great job selling out we country
And you still nuh pay we
But still if inflation was a test you woulda get A+
So when me mek the US the exchange rate buck
For the dollar getting weaker
And the solar light bill it woulda cheaper
But a JPS you prefer keep yah
Ebenezer, so you Scrooge pon the ghetto people
Weh you starve and every year you buy a better vehicle
Di things you do a beat we bad
But still you manage fi keep your job
So me ah tell you
Well done, Well done
Mr politician man (Tek we money and you gone)
You’ve done a wonderful job and tear down we country, demolition man
Well done, Well done
Miss politician lady (Why you a gwaan so)
You’ve done a such a great job selling out we country
Comeen like Humpty Dumpty now
Congratulate dem enuh
Yeah man give thanks fi di effort enuh
Yah man a nuff tings unno a gwaan wid enuh
But the youths dem see it still
So we give thanks
Yah man
Gongzilla
Kabaka P
Accurate
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Getting carried away (again) so will overstay todays welcome with this heartfelt protest against poverty and iniquity
Uptown Babies Dont Cry
From Max Romeo’s classic War Ina Babylon album produced by Lee Scratch Perry at the Black Ark
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Hi @sean86
I recommend, no strongly urge, you to watch Ken Burns latest epic documentary The US And The Holocaust
An old classic…
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Well on the protest front two cracking jazz offerings:
John Coltrane Alabama - an elegy to the killing of four young girls in a KKK bombing of a Baptist Church in Birmingham AL. No words necessary as the excoriating and mournful sax lines express righteous anger.
Charles Mingus Fables of Faubus about an Arkansas governor who brought in the National Guard to enforce segregated bussing and schooling. Nobody like that could be elected now … Oh! The explicit and personal lyrics were banned on the original release but do appear on subsequent albums and live recordings.
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Come A Long Way
So we come a long way from the chains and the cane fields
A long way from the back o’ the bus
Shoulda brought along a little map for the travelling
Seems we’ve come a long way from us
Squander our money waiting on reparation
Never make plans for retirement day
Who’s to be blamed for our lack of preparation now we done spent every dime of our pay
On big pimping, flossing every dollar
We’ve got on the much less fortunate
Small thinking got us bound tighter
Than the chains that we try to forget
Refrain:
Tell me now malcom, do we hurt you pride?
Can you hear me now rosa
Was it worth the ride?
Can you see me now marcus
We’re still not unified, no we’re not
So tell me now martin, is this why you died?
So we’ve come a long way from picking cotton, many never thought they’d live to see the day when bush pick rice But if all you’ve become is another house nigga baby tell me was it worth all the sacrifice
Get outa my way while i climb to the top now but be sure to catch me if i fall from grace
Cause heaven forbid
If what i chase should reject me
You know i’m gonna need a warm black embrace
We used to stack guns, prepare for revolution
Was the only way of getting wrong put right
Now we think all our problems
Can be solved with shooting
And we’ve forgot why we started to fight
Refrain:
Tell me now malcom, do we hurt you pride?
Can you hear me now rosa
Was it worth the ride?
Can you see me now marcus
We’re still not unified, no we’re not
So tell me now martin, is this why you died?
So we belittle we bredda so we can seem bigger
Now we so damn proud fi call we self nigga
And being a bad man is good thing
Now being a good man is a bad thing
So it’s rich or poor, black or white
Sit and be trampled or get up and fight
After so many years it’s still hard to adjust
Even when the front is empty we still move to the back of the bus
Refrain:
Tell me now malcom, do we hurt you pride?
Can you hear me now rosa
Was it worth the ride?
Can you see me now marcus
We’re still not unified, no we’re not
So tell me now martin, is this why you died?
Warn Dem
Things bad now but trust me them could get worse
Unless of course we come together and do something first
And all mothers just gwaan pray cause it a go tek a lot more than a politician to
Save the day
So, when the youths dem need a buss give them opportunity first
Cause if them siddung and a lust it nah go safe fi none of us
And all the guns weh used to rust a go rise up from the dust
Police and soldiers haffi duck when them hear the guns a buss
War a gwaan in Iraq, meh nu have nuh time fi penny that
Me a watch the youths dem pon the block a rise the SK and the Glock
It nuh safe gi go a shop, even pickney dem a drop
Now tell me what we gonna do about that?
A long time me did a warn dem
Say the youths dem need fi eat some
Food a that can calm dem
Dem never listen when dem hear a shot a drizzle, well here comes the storm then
When the thunder start roll and get out of control we can’t disarm them
When opportunity mean fi wait outside another brother gate
And when nuh food nuh inna yuh plate, you know your life yuh a go hate
Your value nah appreciate no matter how you hold the fate
You end up crooked and a look it, it nuh pay fi live so straight
Seven years after college
All now job no come
So you overqualified
Still haffi live inna the slum
Father dead you haffi take care of your mother and your son
And your grip it all a done, you load the clip inna your gun
It hard fi smile with everybody weh yuh meet everyday
All when yuh do good
You still a get beat everyday
No have noten fi lose, yuh still deh pon the street everyday
If you go prison at least, yuh get fi eat everyday
A long time
Say the youths dem need fi eat some
Food a that can calm dem
Dem never listen when dem hear a shot a drizzle, well here comes the storm then
When the thunder start roll and get out of control we can’t disarm them
When we actions nuh mirror what a come from we lips
Simply means we must be a nation of hypocrites
Politicians come from among us, as far I can see
If somen wrong with them then some must be wrong with we
A we meek them, a we elect them, and all the crap them a dish a we a take them
So it’s a little insane, when we start complaining, when the bullets start raining
When a we the creator fi the harm them
The youths dem need fi eat some
Food a that can calm dem
Dem never listen when dem hear a shot a drizzle, well here comes the storm then
When the thunder start roll and get out of control we can’t disarm them
You know what? Me can’t promise you
Say the youths dem a go drop the baretta
Hell, me me can’t even promise, you say me a go act better
But one thing’s for sure, we can mek a effort
And that at least we can do before we lef earth
Every boy every girl every woman every man together we can
Every saint every sinner every politician together we can
Every teacher every lawyer every doctor and every don
Together we can, Together we can
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I agree that The Final Cut is the best anti war album (that I have encountered).
I love roots reggae and would suggest
- Burning Spear - No More War
- Prince Far I - Armageddon
There are others such as Max Romeo - War Rock and Dillinger - Don’t take another man’s life, but many of these 70’s roots reggae songs are more about gang rivalry rather than war per se.
Apologies if these have been suggested (I noticed Phil Ochs and Tom Paxton in the thread - wholeheartedly agree by the way). - Kenny Rogers -Ruby don’t take your love to town
- Country Joe and the Fish - I Feel like I’m fixing to Die
- Tom Paxton - Talking Vietnam Pot Luck Blues (excellent message with humour thrown in - highly recommended if you haven’t heard it!)
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I have been rediscovering Sinead O’Connor’s album. I do not want what I haven’t got. I never previously paid much attention to the track Black boys on mopeds as it’s sandwiched between the vocal tour de force of Three Babies and Nothing Compares to u. I’ve included information on its background.
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Seems no one’s brave enough to add Roff Harris’ Two Little Boys, the song had a great anti war message it’s a pity it was sung by such a prick.
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Dylan’s “A Rain’s A-Gonna Fall.”
Phil Ochs’ “I Ain’t a Marching Anymore “; “Draft Dodger Rag.”
Not sure I would characterize it as a protest song, but would probably include Randy Newman’s “Political Science.”
Some great songs posted here but I have to go back to the great Bob Dylan and his song John Brown, which for me paints such a vivid picture of the human suffering and futility of war.
If you get the chance listen to the unplugged version. I can’t get to the end of the song without a tear in my eye.
Song : John Brown
Artist: Bob Dylan
When John Brown went off to war to fight on a foreign shore
His mama sure was proud of him
He stood straight and tall in his uniform and all
His mama’s face broke out all in a grin
“Oh son, you look so fine, I’m glad you’re a son of mine
You make me proud to know you hold a gun
Do what the captain says, lots of medals you will get
And we’ll put them on the wall when you come home”
And that old train pulled out, John’s ma began to shout
Tellin’ everyone in the neighborhood
“That’s my son that’s about to go, he’s a soldier now, you know”
She made well sure her neighbors understood
She got a letter once in a while and her face broke into a smile
As she showed them to the people from next door
And she bragged about her son with his uniform and gun
And these things you called a good old-fashioned war
Oh, good old-fashioned war
Then the letters ceased to come, for a long time they did not come
They ceased to come for about ten months or more
Then a letter finally came saying, “Go down and meet the train
Your son’s a-coming home from the war”
She smiled and went right down, she looked everywhere around
But she did not see her soldier son in sight
But as all the people passed, she saw her son at last
When she did she could hardly believe her eyes
Oh, his face was all shot up and his hand was all blown off
And he wore a metal brace around his waist
He whispered kind of slow, in a voice she did not know
While she couldn’t even recognize his face
Oh Lord, recognize his face
“Oh tell me, my darling son, pray tell me what they done
How is it that you come to be this way?”
He tried his best to talk as his mouth could hardly move
And the mother had to turn her face away
“Don’t you remember, Ma, when I went off to war
You thought it was the best thing I could do?
I was on the battleground, you were home acting proud
You wasn’t there standing in my shoes”
“Lord, I thought when I was there, God, what am I doing here?
I’m a-tryin’ to kill somebody or die tryin’
But the thing that scared me most was when my enemy came close
And I saw that his face looked just like mine”
Oh Lord, just like mine
“And I couldn’t help but think, through the thunder sound and stink
That I was just a puppet in a play
And through the roar and smoke, this string is finally broke
And a cannonball blew my eyes away”
As he turned away to walk, his Ma was still in shock
Seein’ the metal brace that helped him stand
But as he turned to go, he called his mother close
And he dropped his medals down into her hand
Songwriters: Bob Dylan.