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It's A Crime
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political satire
acoustic folk social commentary political satire western massachusetts oil coal climate change fracking incineration music for social change nuclear energy
Folk singer, social commentary, satire, people's stories, children's music
Hi Folks, The Bard Insurgent here. My comrade D.O. (the Poet Roofer) and I got that handle (The Bard Insurgents) from traveling town to town performing songs and poetry about people's lives. I've been performing since I was 3 years old, cutting my vocal chords on liturgical and classical music. I was a concert soloist as a child, when I wasn't herding cows, throwing hay and shoveling manure. During the Civil Rights movement and the Vietnam war, I began writing songs about social change. I left the country in 1970 and my dozen years in other countries, mostly in Africa & South America, have provided a global perspective to my music. My travels helped me realize that people all around the world are essentially the same in their basic life needs and their desires to live peacefully in their communities. These experiences have informed my commitment to working for international understanding as I organize at home. A powerful way to educate and inspire is with music. I tell people's stories, do social commentary with a touch of satire that I hope you enjoy and share with your friends, as well as sing together in the streets and in your living rooms. I also have children's music written for the children in my life with Jacob and Kayla as primary muses. Looking forward to seeing you on the road, Tom
Song Info
Genre
Acoustic • Acoustic Folk
Charts
Peak #34
Peak in subgenre #7
Author
Tom Neilson
Rights
Tom Neilson
Uploaded
August 31, 2013
Track Files
MP3
MP3 4.6 MB • 160 kbps • 3:59
Story behind the song
Wars happen because lies are told about them. When I worked in Somalia, I had a report covered up because "it told the truth." As Monsanto makes food policy with its ties to the White House and Cabinet, our food supply is put in a precarious position with lies about glyphosate and the consequences of genetic modification. Our potable water is threatened by gas and oil drilling, mountain top removal, radioactive waste, agricultural poisons, and climate change. Radiation levels from Fukushima are covered up while years of radioactive waste fill up the Pacific and pollute our air, food and water. It is the end of the world as we know it because lies are told about the destruction of our natural resources and people - all so that a few can make billions off the spoilage. 99% of the voters voted for the above violations in the 2012 election. In Orwellian faux-patriotism, mass murder is honorable; “drones save lives;” “it isn’t torture unless there is organ failure;” annulling civil liberties keeps us safe and protects our freedoms; non-Wall Street candidates are “a threat to democracy.” Barack Obama, a constitutional law professor, tells the Yemeni government to keep a Yemeni journalist in jail, seemingly for reporting US drone attacks. “Guardian” newspaper computers are ordered destroyed by the government. A journalist's partner is detained at the border and harassed under ‘anti-terrorist’ laws. Journalists’ phone records, lap tops, and cell phones are confiscated. Whistleblowers reporting lies, waste, corruption, and abuse are arrested in record numbers, but the government says they are not whistleblowers rather, traitors and criminals. We have attained a state of perpetual war, streamlined assassinations, and zero privacy of electronic communication. As Jeremy Scahill says, “The world is a battle ground,” and the Obama administration has arrested more people under the 1917 Espionage Act than all his predecessors combined. We are all journalists now, and it is a crime to tell the truth.
Lyrics
Used to be our enemies had a piece of land; Like with oil in Iraq; pipeline in Afghanistan Indians and Mexicans brought out the cavalry, cause they were in the way of manifest destiny Guatemala had bananas, Somalia had oil; Venezuela has democracy that we want to spoil. Cuba has cigars and rum, Phillipines had sugar cane; Colombia had the Ithmus and some kilos of cocaine. But now are enemies are treasonous. They tell the truth and that’s serious. It’s adversity, mockery, insurgency, hostility; but mostly White House sociopathology Daniel Ellsberg was once the most dangerous man for telling the truth about the war in Viet Nam And Bradley Manning’s murder footage was too graphic of US conduct clearly sociopathic Edward Snowden told us all what we already knew that the NSA is taking notes on everything we do Is it worse that they are spying or try to cover up with lying With their files on where we go and with who. It’s called whistleblowing, everybody should be knowin about corruption, the waste and abuse Transparency is treasonous. Democracy is dangerous. It’s a crime to tell the truth. Kiriakou fingered Brennan for torture in Guantanamo Tom Drake, the NSA for a billion bucks a dough, Jeffrey Sterling, CIA sabotaging Nuclear blueprints to Iran they were passin. It’s called whistleblowing, everybody should be knowin about corruption, the waste and abuse Transparency is treasonous. Democracy is dangerous. It’s a crime to tell the truth. I was on the road in Buffalo on my way to Canada to go to a gig in Detroit Seems they had me in a file as long as a ¼ mile about the songs I sing and every joint. They took my passport, put my truck in detention. And submitted me to interrogation I escaped captivity, now only outlaws will be free livin outside the law in and out of this nation. It’s called whistleblowing, everybody should be knowin about corruption, the waste and abuse Transparency is treasonous. Civil liberties are dangerous. It’s a crime to tell the truth.
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