Friday 15 February 2008

Thank you, Phil Ochs

I recently had occasion to listen to Phil Ochs' bitingly satire of Establishment liberals Love Me I'm a Liberal, and couldn't help but write the following updated version:

Love Me, I'm a Liberal ('08 Edition)


I joined the anti-war movement
in '05, but not in '03,
'cause watching Saddam's statue falling
was way too emotional for me.
Our bombs are the bombs of freedom,
and justice and democracy...


REFRAIN:
So love me, love me, love me,
I'm a liberal.


I don't understand these Iraqis;
Why can't they just all make nice?
Even if they're not fans of our country,
can't they respect our sacrifice?
Instead they shoot us when we bomb them,
a "thank you" would surely suffice!


[REFRAIN]


We all know Saddam was a Hitler,
Killed, tortured, and even gassed Kurds
He was a psychotic dictator,
quite evil, or hadn't you heard?
But Abu Ghraib and Fallujah were diff'rent,
Your comparison's simply absurd


[REFRAIN]


The Bush administration's wrongheaded.
Their policies just go too far.
Their foreign policy's a disaster;
it's caused our good name to be marred!
But let's stop this talk of impeachment;
that's going a little bit too far!


[REFRAIN]


At least since '04 (or around there...)
I've looked forward to Campaign '08.
I say - having watched his commercials -
Obama is my candidate!
I'm impressed that he's so well-spoken!
He's feel-good, he doesn't berate.


[REFRAIN]


I really don't like Cindy Sheehan,
Noam Chomsky and Robert Fisk, too.
And Finkelstein - I just don't get him,
I think he's a self-hating Jew.
They just aren't all that constructive,
They hate on the Red White & Blue.


[REFRAIN]


I'm a big fan of globalisation,
I own every Tom Friedman tome,
It's done wonders for my portfolio,
Hell, last year I just bought a new home.
But what was the deal in Seattle?
Why were those kids' mouths full of foam?


[REFRAIN]


I know I said I like Obama,
But actually Clinton's as good.
Like him, she thinks that this country
Is going the way that it should;
Withdrawal from Iraq or good health care
would ruin us like nothing else could


[REFRAIN]


I, too, once protested...Grenada
And cried when they bombed Tripoli,
And once, in a heated discussion,
I remember defending Chomsky.
But the world changed on 9/11,
And that's why I won't send you money.


[REFRAIN]


2 comments:

Unknown said...

Excellent,excellent,excellent!!

alborada said...

Thank you, thank you, thank you!!

This, like just about every other poem or song lyric I've ever written, was the product of a spontaneous impulse (assuming that's not redundant). I was in a conversation with my two closest friends, and somehow I decided that Ochs' 'Love me I'm a Liberal' was a propos, so I had them listen to it. They loved it, and I found the updated version writing itself.