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Watch Out for the Cops

from Meanwhile In Afghanistan (double album) by David Rovics

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    This CD features Tom Morello (of Rage Against the Machine) playing lead guitar on "London Is Burning," and a stellar cast of other musicians including Nick Angelo and Asher Fulero. Other tracks include "If Only It Were True," "Watch Out for the Cops," and "Israeli Geography 101." (Note that the CD is not a double album -- the acoustic version of the CD which makes the album a double album only comes with the digital version, and on the thumb drive.)

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about

For the police department of Portland, Oregon, who kill more black men per capita than any other police department in the United States, last I checked.

lyrics

Portland is a town that's in the news much of the time
There are a lot of vegans and there's very little crime
It's a nice safe place to live, folks ride bicycles a lot
The winters aren't so cold and the summers aren't so hot
They build houses out of cob, they hang out in the park
Where you needn't worry about walking after dark
There are lots of homeless people but they don't hurt no one
Just be careful of the boys in blue playing with their guns

Watch out for the cops (4x)

You can hang out with the punks with the piercings and tattoos
You can eat out at a food truck, any neighborhood you choose
You can dance to Balkan music while you drink a microbrew
Chilling in a gay bar with the mayor and his crew
But be careful what you do, be prepared to get some flack
Especially for those who may be male, young and Black
The fact is you'd do better in sweet home Alabam
You're safer there on the old streets of Birmingham

Watch out for the cops (4x)

Portland's full of roses, there are flowers everywhere
But for others they've got prisons with some nice electric chairs
You can go downtown, ride the buses there for free
But you never know when you'll get a DWB
A town full of progressives but such a rotten bunch of cops
Who knows who'll get shot at the next routine traffic stop?
When you live in a place like Portland where they tend to act this way
You can just join the police force instead of the KKK!

Watch out for the cops (4x)

credits

from Meanwhile In Afghanistan (double album), released January 5, 2015

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David Rovics Portland, Oregon

Singer/songwriter, writer, podcaster (on Spotify, Substack & Patreon), anarchist, dad, lover of life.

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