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1. |
Anarchist Jurisdiction
02:30
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Anarchist Jurisdiction
If this were an anarchist jurisdiction, as the president likes to say
Then Kendra James and Quanice Hayes would be alive today
They would not have been gunned down by a racist police force
Because we would have defunded it long ago, of course
Taken all that money to spend on things that people need
Not violent gangs of thugs in blue making people bleed
If this were an anarchist jurisdiction as the Attorney General tells
Then we would already have emptied all those prison cells
Housing the mentally ill and so many, many more
Who are only locked up for being sick or for being poor
Or for having been set up, or for crimes of poverty
There'd be none of that nonsense under our authority
If this were an anarchist jurisdiction, it would be a beautiful scene
With so much less asphalt, so much more green
And there would be no tear gas, no eviction raids
You'd see what solutions look like when they're not just band-aids
If the people ran this city, not just millionaires
We'd take the stolen profits, that which they call theirs
If this were an anarchist jurisdiction as the brownshirts oft repeat
You would not see these tents and couches lining every street
Without control by corporate interests that dominate our lives
Making sure that they have everything, while we're lucky to survive
It's profit over people, no matter how much blood they shed
If we were calling the shots then you'd turn that on its head
If this were an anarchist jurisdiction
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2. |
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I Think I Saw Somebody Die
I think I saw somebody die
I think I saw him breath his last
Lying on the sidewalk
With the cars driving past
An ambulance pulled over
They picked him up and threw him in
No question where he's going
Who knows where he's been
Just another vagrant
Here in this city called the Hague
Did he die of exposure
Or was he a victim of the plague
Here by the Court of Justice
In the city of the queen
In the richest country
The Earth has ever seen
They talk of moral obligations
And international law
But I'm not sure how that figures
In the things that I just saw
I know it's complicated
All the ways that life can go
All the different opportunities
That this guy could never know
How many chances did he have
How many dead ends did he meet
That led him to this sidewalk
Where he lay beside the street
Two blocks from the Parliament
Where they sing the praise
Of our country, of our market
Of our enterprising ways
But what good did all that do
To this man that I now see?
He couldn't eat their balanced budget
Or sleep in their GDP
I think I saw somebody die
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3. |
The FOP On Fire
02:42
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The FOP On Fire
I was at home with the kids when I woke up at 5 am
Looked at the news in time to hear pundits condemn
The actions of the arsonists who expressed so many desires
When they made a barricade and set the FOP on fire
It happened in North Portland on the 51st consecutive night
Of demonstrations in this city, in this epic fight
Between those who defend the inequities of the empire
And those with a vision for the future that starts with the FOP on fire
Between those who like to fumigate Portland's lovely streets
Who prefer to use chemical weapons when they're not wearing those white sheets
Or the ones who do Nazi cosplay, like some of the cops they hired
Just up until the night they set the FOP on fire
The cops drive from the suburbs, each day they come down
To defend the interests of the rich, such as the mayor of this town
And Mayor Ted loves his tear gas, though he might say that I'm a liar
But not the folks who last night set the FOP on fire
Let's remember Aaron Campbell, let's remember Kendra James
Let's remember Alonso Tucker, say their names
And lets remember the many killers, in this progressive shire
As the smoke rose up behind them with the FOP on fire
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4. |
The Flames of History
02:45
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The Flames of History
Play another game of Scrabble, put the kids to bed
Marvel with them at the way the sky is turning red
Keep close tabs on the news, where the fires have arrived
Bags packed and ready, if we need to run for our lives
See the world darken in the middle of the day
Hear the stories of the people whose towns were burned away
The tens of thousands driving, obeying the mandate
To move faster than the fire and evacuate
To a parking lot in Clackamas, camping in the smoke
Wondering what remains unburnt, unbroke
If things had been unpredictable, they just got even more
As fire burns the world from the mountains to the shore
Will this place exist tomorrow, it's just a mystery
As we're living through the flames of history
Play another game of Scrabble, rallies have to wait
Even the most dedicated aren't out to demonstrate
Maybe packing their belongings or helping others do the same
Almost missing all the tear gas, before the fires came
They call this the city of bridges, but if we get the cue
To evacuate due north, there are only two
Chorus
Play another game of Scrabble, follow every tweet
Of anyone who might be vaguely related to the beat
Say sorry to the kids for always looking at my phone
Their alerts app doesn't work, no message and no tone
If you don't have a way to fly, there's nowhere much to go
Just look out at the horizon, hope not to see it glow
Chorus
Play another game of Scrabble, put the kids to bed
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5. |
Say Their Names
02:25
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Say Their Names
Jacob Blake was walking to his SUV
Alton Sterling was selling DVDs
Eric Garner had just broken up a fight
Breonna Taylor was asleep in the middle of the night
Tamir Rice was playing in the park
Elijah McClain was out walking after dark
Dominique Clayton was sleeping in her bed
Where she was shot by a cop in the back of her head
Say their names, say their names
Walter Scott was driving to a store
Bettie Jones was answering her door
Philando Castille was driving home with his girlfriend
Anthony Hill was naked on the grass when he met his end
Ezell Ford was walking in his neighborhood
Michael Brown was blown away just standing where he stood
Kendra James was shot to death at a traffic stop
By yet another unaccountable killer cop
Say their names, say their names
Atiana Jefferson was playing a video game
With her little nephew, gunned down just the same
Oscar Grant was celebrating the New Year
Handcuffed when the shots rang out that everyone could hear
Eric Reason pulled into a parking spot
Not long after that was when he was shot
George Floyd was just shopping in a store
Micah Xavier Johnson thought that he was still at war
Say their names, say their names
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6. |
Elijah Played the Violin
03:11
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Elijah Played the Violin
His family moved from Denver to Aurora
Mama thought they'd be safer out there
Away from all the hubbub of the city
Closer to the mountains and fresh air
Some kids are into fancy cars and football
Or getting lots of tattoos on their shin
But Elijah played the violin
Some kids are into hamburgers and hot dogs
Other kids just do things their own way
Elijah was a vegetarian
And on his lunch breaks he would go and play
Music for the animals at the shelter
The staff would welcome their young comrade with a grin
Elijah played the violin
As a young man Elijah moved in with his cousin
He became a massage therapist
He had a kind and open hand
While others only knew the fist
Such as the men in blue who were called one night
To assault their unknown kin
Elijah played the violin
They slammed him into the wall, they threw him to the ground
Although he made no effort to fight back
They choked him til he vomited, and then they did it more
No body cams recorded the attack
Elijah said he couldn't breathe, he was begging for his life
So they shot him full of ketamine
Elijah played the violin
He went into cardiac arrest – soon after, he was dead
And he had not committed one offense
Aside from being Black in these dis-United States
And trying to exist in the preset tense
Nothing happened to the cops, they were just following procedures
Killing people for the color of their skin
Elijah played the violin
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7. |
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Ballad of Lachlan Macquarie
Lachlan Macquarie was a Scotsman who
Signed up to serve the British crown
He traveled round the world to America
Not long after that he headed down
To his post in New South Wales to be the governor
To expand colonial rule
Half of Sydney was named after him
Everybody learns his name in school
Just don't put Macquarie's words beneath his statue
If you do, his defenders might arrest you
Lachlan Macquarie was a governor
Who opened schools and hospitals
His aim was to civilize a nation
In the interests of himself and capital
He was a raging alcoholic and a bad businessman
But you could say he did his best
To broaden the global dominion of
A project they call the Christian west
Chorus
Lachlan Macquarie stole children from
Their parents, and never gave them back
And when Gundagarra and Dharrawal people resisted
He ordered his soldiers to attack
He said make the Aborigines your prisoners
Shoot them and hang them from the trees
So as to strike fear in the surviving Natives
In order to bring them to their knees
Chorus
Repeat first verse
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8. |
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Resign (Ballad of Tear Gas Ted)
Protests have been going for nigh a hundred nights
Shrouded in tear gas and other horrifying sights
Riot cops smashing people's heads into the concrete
For standing on the sidewalk or for walking in the street
During which you'll often hear a unifying line
Resign, resign, resign
In many places in the world chemical weapons are banned
Including in some cities in this very land
But here in Portlandia it's anything goes
Pull their masks off and spray, in the city of the rose
If this is civilization, it's one that's in decline
Resign, resign, resign
It's a sanctuary city – a sanctuary for whom?
Those who don't mind smoke bombs in their living room
Those who don't mind being beaten if they're out at the wrong time
Thanks to the DA who dropped the charges for the crime
But how about a mayor who's not entirely supine?
Resign, resign, resign
If we defunded the police, things could be so great
Then Oregon wouldn't look so much like a failed state
It could be a lovely city, here on the river shore
If the cops did not attack us like in some dirty war
Then the Nazis come to town and don't even get a fine
Resign, resign, resign
The president dislikes him – we have common enemies
Be that as it may, we don't like friends like these
Attacking children and reporters, for whichever press
Gassing the whole city and making mass arrests
You're not flipping houses here, lives are on the line
Resign, resign, resign
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9. |
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Born on the Fourth of July
As I walk down the streets of this city
See the desperate looks everywhere
The thin faces across this society
The lost and the long-distance stares
As I call the Employment Department
And the line is once more occupied
In this nation that was born on the fourth of July
As I hear of the nooses and lynchings
As I listen to the president speak
Upholding foundations of enslavement and slaughter
Beneath a destroyed mountain peak
As he talks of restoring America
While ignoring all those who have died
In this nation that was born on the fourth of July
When I see the masked faces around me
Across from the policemen lined up in a row
Watching them once more astound me
As they fire their weapons wherever we go
Shooting reporters and legal observers
As the curfew is once more defied
In this nation that was born on the fourth of July
As I hear all the voices so loudly
Shouting empty the prisons, defund the police
Reasoning so very soundly
Occupied by this army, how could we ever have peace
As I hear of the dead from LA to New York
A disaster no one can deny
In this nation that was born on the fourth of July
As I survey the wreckage around me
All the boarded-up windows of the stores that have closed
As I take in the scene that surrounds me
All the inequities starkly exposed
That tug at the roots of this country
Which began with a war that was based on a lie
When this nation was born on the fourth of July
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10. |
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Song for Michael Reinoehl
For years the right's been growing
Fabric tearing at the seams
Stark divides showing
Made worse by shattered dreams
For years gangs of armed men
Come with rifles and bear mace
To terrorize towns again
Pointing guns all over the place
An enemy must be found
Oh how history repeats
With the bodies on the ground
Blame their families and their allies marching in the streets
I've lost track of how many protesters now
Have been run over or shot
So there's nothing very surprising how
We've got to where we've got
For years now they've been coming here
And by August 29
Across the spectrum it was clear
What was coming down the line
On this particular night
The man who'd take the fall
Was a member of the far right
Who had answered his president's call
For years it was predicted someday
Someone would retaliate
With all those weapons on display
With that much fear and hate
Michael Reinoehl he was sought
For murder, the alleged crime
But he was never caught
Or given a chance for prison time
The cops came to the property
From local deputies to feds
They came to kill their enemy
They wanted this anarchist's head
For so long it's been true
Justice has multiple tracks
One for those who back the blue
Another for the Brown and Black
Or for people like Michael Reinoehl
Who just can't stay safe and hide
Who see the rising fatal toll
And have to take a side
If his executioners had bodycams
None of them were on
They fired forty rounds for Uncle Sam
One more antifascist gone
For years the right's been growing
Fabric tearing at the seams
Stark divides showing
Amid the shattered American dreams
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11. |
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Ballad of the Oregon Employment Department
Sit down for a minute, I'll tell you a story
About lots of different people, including yours truly
When the pandemic hit, I had to cancel all my shows
In the fight against the virus, I guess that's how it goes
They said to call this number if you need help with food and rent
It's the PUA division of the Department of Employment
So I get up every morning since the beginning of the spring
But if the department is open, the phone never rings
(It's always) beep beep beep, the line is busy
Beep beep beep, you'll have to wait
Beep beep beep, the only answer
The tone of a failed state
There just aren't enough programmers who are still alive
Who learned how to program back in 1985
When the last update was made to this broken mess
Like a testament to the definition of societal stress
Chorus
My application was rejected, with notes that made no sense
It's been three months since I applied, since I've been staring at this fence
Survival sourced completely from the crowd
Hearing stories of the hunger as I listen to the sound
Chorus
The department head got fired, as the tragedies mount
But we're still waiting for relief – still zero, at last count
If you think the keg is burning – that there's tumult on this shore
If those checks don't come in soon, who knows what's in store
Chorus
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12. |
The Books of Howard Zinn
02:20
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The Books of Howard Zinn
The president stood at his lectern at a conference of the press
The state of education was the subject of his address
There should be more patriotism in the schools, more saluting of the flag
More about the invention of the telephone and the plastic bag
The kids don't need to know about all the bloodied soil
About all of the rebellions or all the wars for oil
It's all far left propaganda, it should be banned or burned
We're just great and getting greater, that's all they need to learn
The president said it must stop or the anarchists will win
The indoctrination of the youth by the books of Howard Zinn
They don't need to know about the workers or the general strikes
They need no lessons on the scalpings of adults and kids alike
No chapters on the riots that brought us where we are
The visions of the damned who followed the North Star
Just tell the kids how brilliant were the Founding Fathers all
Just see what bullshit sticks when you throw it at the wall
Reality doesn't matter, neither does the past
So ditch your Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz and shred your Howard Fast
Chorus
The students don't need to know how many souls were lost
Beneath the rain of gunships, they don't need to know the cost
To the nations that lay shattered, the homeless veterans right here
Dying on the sidewalk beside empty cans of beer
The kids don't need to think, they just need to serve
And be grateful for the billionaire and his steely nerve
He'll free us from the confines of knowing up from down
Just don't read Jeremy Brecher, Angela Davis or Dee Brown
Chorus
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13. |
East of the 205
02:29
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East of the 205
If you live in this city you can explore it for years
See all there is to see, hear all there is to hear
A decade might pass by before you'd ever deign
If you're driving down the highway, to take an exit lane
That doesn't bring you to the airport, or Multnomah Falls
But to the neighborhoods along the way, with the rotting walls
Go on, park your car, and take a walk when you arrive
East of the 205
If you live in this city you might have sampled all the wine
You've been to Salt & Straw and Pok Pok, waited patiently in line
Gone to every strip club you ever heard about
Tried all the espresso, all the porter, all the stout
Without ever having reason to cross that road
Beyond which so many are crushed beneath the load
Where you can meet a lot of folks just trying to survive
East of the 205
If you live in this city and you think it's so high-tech
You think it's full of hipsters with tattoos on their necks
IT experts and house-flippers, cold brew connoisseurs
Shopping malls, poke bowls and segue tours
Far beyond the bridges as the tent villages grow
As the trees decline in number, and as the stats all show
So many die so young as they try to stay alive
East of the 205
If you live in this city and you're looking for pickup trucks
American flags and trailers full of folk down on their luck
Cheap motels with residents breathing fumes all day
From all the cars speeding down the highway
You don't need to go to Texas or the Chesapeake Bay
If, before you reach the suburbs, you stop along the way
You'll find a secret city if you go and take a dive
East of the 205
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David Rovics Portland, Oregon
Singer/songwriter, writer, podcaster (on Spotify, Substack & Patreon), anarchist, dad, lover of life.
David Rovics recommends:
A Hand Full Of Songs
by Jim Page
Seattle's Jim Page is one of the very best songwriters in the English language (and just as oriented towards what we might call the world around him as I am).
go to album
Ryan Harvey of Baltimore is another of my favorite songwriters, writers and organizers on the planet.
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Heart First Aid Kit
by Grace Petrie & the PC Brigade
Moving across the pond, here's one more of my favorite rabble-rousing songwriters -- Grace Petrie.
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supported by 6 fans who also own “Say Their Names”
This album speaks to all, conveys important messages, and is entertaining when we need some timely music most. Looking forward to more music and live shows when possible. Thank you Dan
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Well Soon
by Walter Mitty and his Makeshift Orchestra
Summer sounds from San Luis Obispo just waiting for a backyard BBQ, mason jar cocktails, and fairy lights.
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