They lied, they lied; they took us for a ride
Tried burying the truth, where it very nearly died
They lied they lied, but no matter what they tried to hide
Sing and shout, the truth wins out, everybody knows they lied
I ain't telling you nothing you don't already know
But the governments been lying to you, Joe
They're shaking your hand, while they're showing you the door
To a foreign land so you can fight the poor
Where every Arab is a terrorist
Hiding weapons that don't exist
You can join a coalition of willing nations
Willing to kill civilians for the corporations
Tonight is the night that you give up your rights
To the Patriot Act and the perilous fight
But you won't remember which country you're in
When you wake up in the morning by the dawns early light
If it reminds you of the Third Reich
You better keep quiet if you don't like it
You better watch your backs and cover your tracks
Cause you're paying for it all with your federal tax
Now come on, did you see that presidential smirk?
I say don't look now, it's Captain Kirk!
An arrogant jerk, though likeable too
But the Federation's been lying to you
The Federation, the corporation, the supposed to be public radio station
Violating the neutral zone to promote the imperial corporate nation
Blow up Afghanistan, nuke Iraq
We got the biggest phasers on the block
We're the world's policeman around the clock
You've got the com, now, Mr Spock
And to the victors go the spoils
Dilithium crystals, petroleum oil
They hate our freedoms for no good reason
Arabs, and Klingons, it's open season
So you know that the governments been lying to you
And I know that you know that it ain't nothing new
That's politicians; that's what they do
They've been lying since 1492
They didn't teach me when I was a kid
About all the terrible things that we did
We'll always honor this sacred treaty
With a smallpox covered blanket, sweetie
Agent Orange, and napalm, Gulf of Tonkin, Vietnam
Iran/Contra, Watergate, it's a history of the criminal state
They're spoon feeding it right out of the box
We're fair and balanced says the Fox
While talk show shills are shouting out
It's the liberals we've got to be worrying about
My mom said, really, if the news was controlled
By corporate money, and help in a stranglehold
I would have already heard about it on the TV
If it was really important, I would have been told
By the newscasters, and the pundits, and anchors
And their pals, the politicians, the generals, and bankers
You say they're doing the old bait and switch
But why would they lie? They're already rich
Power corrupts, it's the ancient trend
The list of lies will never end
New lies are coming around the bend
Speak truth to power if truth is your friend
They lie to me, they lie to you
They lie to themselves, but that's nothing new
They lie to the press, the press passes the buck
They lie to the world, now everybody duck!
Tried burying the truth, where it very nearly died
They lied they lied, but no matter what they tried to hide
Sing and shout, the truth wins out, everybody knows they lied
I ain't telling you nothing you don't already know
But the governments been lying to you, Joe
They're shaking your hand, while they're showing you the door
To a foreign land so you can fight the poor
Where every Arab is a terrorist
Hiding weapons that don't exist
You can join a coalition of willing nations
Willing to kill civilians for the corporations
Tonight is the night that you give up your rights
To the Patriot Act and the perilous fight
But you won't remember which country you're in
When you wake up in the morning by the dawns early light
If it reminds you of the Third Reich
You better keep quiet if you don't like it
You better watch your backs and cover your tracks
Cause you're paying for it all with your federal tax
Now come on, did you see that presidential smirk?
I say don't look now, it's Captain Kirk!
An arrogant jerk, though likeable too
But the Federation's been lying to you
The Federation, the corporation, the supposed to be public radio station
Violating the neutral zone to promote the imperial corporate nation
Blow up Afghanistan, nuke Iraq
We got the biggest phasers on the block
We're the world's policeman around the clock
You've got the com, now, Mr Spock
And to the victors go the spoils
Dilithium crystals, petroleum oil
They hate our freedoms for no good reason
Arabs, and Klingons, it's open season
So you know that the governments been lying to you
And I know that you know that it ain't nothing new
That's politicians; that's what they do
They've been lying since 1492
They didn't teach me when I was a kid
About all the terrible things that we did
We'll always honor this sacred treaty
With a smallpox covered blanket, sweetie
Agent Orange, and napalm, Gulf of Tonkin, Vietnam
Iran/Contra, Watergate, it's a history of the criminal state
They're spoon feeding it right out of the box
We're fair and balanced says the Fox
While talk show shills are shouting out
It's the liberals we've got to be worrying about
My mom said, really, if the news was controlled
By corporate money, and help in a stranglehold
I would have already heard about it on the TV
If it was really important, I would have been told
By the newscasters, and the pundits, and anchors
And their pals, the politicians, the generals, and bankers
You say they're doing the old bait and switch
But why would they lie? They're already rich
Power corrupts, it's the ancient trend
The list of lies will never end
New lies are coming around the bend
Speak truth to power if truth is your friend
They lie to me, they lie to you
They lie to themselves, but that's nothing new
They lie to the press, the press passes the buck
They lie to the world, now everybody duck!
Contributed by Riccardo Venturi - 2005/11/15 - 21:30
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Lyrics and music by Jay Mankita
Testo e musica di Jay Mankita
http://polsong.gcal.ac.uk/songs/mankit...
"The song is a humorous, hard-hitting indictment of the Bush administration's lies, the complicity of the media, plus a short history lesson, an introduction to my mother and a thoughtful analysis of the similarities between our president, and Captain James T. Kirk.
I wrote this song after being frustrated by my mother in July 2004. She really did say something to the effect that if corporate media really was keeping real news from being reported accurately, she would have heard about it." -Jay Mankita.