Please open your hearts and your purses
To a man who is misunderstood
He gets all the kicks and the curses,
Though he wishes you nothing but good:
He wistfully begs you to show him
You think he's a friend, not a louse,
So remember the debt that you owe him,
The Landlord who lends you his house.
So pity the downtrodden landlord,
And his back that is burdened and bent;
Respect his grey hairs, don't ask for repairs,
And don't be behind with the rent!
You are able to work for your living
And rejoice in your strength and your skill;
So try to be kind and forgiving
To a man whom a day's work would kill;
You can work and still talk to your neighbour,
You can look the whole world in the face,
But the landlord who ventured to labour,
Would never survive the disgrace
So pity the downtrodden landlord,
And his back that is burdened and bent;
Respect his grey hairs, don't ask for repairs,
And don't be behind with the rent!
When thunder clouds gather and darken,
You can sleep undisturbed in your bed,
But the landlord must sit up and hearken,
And shiver, and wonder, and dread
If you're killed, then you'll die in a hurry,
And you never will know your bad luck,
But the landlord is shaking with worry,
"Has one of my houses been struck?"
So pity the downtrodden landlord,
And his back that is burdened and bent;
Respect his grey hairs, don't ask for repairs,
And don't be behind with the rent!
When a landlord resorts to eviction,
Don't think that he does it for spite;
He is acting from deepest conviction,
And what's right, after all, is what's right;
But I see that your hearts are all hardened,
And I fear I'm appealing in vain;
Yet I hope that my last plea will be pardoned,
If I beg on my knees once again .
So pity the downtrodden landlord,
And his back that is burdened and bent;
Respect his grey hairs, don't ask for repairs,
And don't be behind with the rent!
To a man who is misunderstood
He gets all the kicks and the curses,
Though he wishes you nothing but good:
He wistfully begs you to show him
You think he's a friend, not a louse,
So remember the debt that you owe him,
The Landlord who lends you his house.
So pity the downtrodden landlord,
And his back that is burdened and bent;
Respect his grey hairs, don't ask for repairs,
And don't be behind with the rent!
You are able to work for your living
And rejoice in your strength and your skill;
So try to be kind and forgiving
To a man whom a day's work would kill;
You can work and still talk to your neighbour,
You can look the whole world in the face,
But the landlord who ventured to labour,
Would never survive the disgrace
So pity the downtrodden landlord,
And his back that is burdened and bent;
Respect his grey hairs, don't ask for repairs,
And don't be behind with the rent!
When thunder clouds gather and darken,
You can sleep undisturbed in your bed,
But the landlord must sit up and hearken,
And shiver, and wonder, and dread
If you're killed, then you'll die in a hurry,
And you never will know your bad luck,
But the landlord is shaking with worry,
"Has one of my houses been struck?"
So pity the downtrodden landlord,
And his back that is burdened and bent;
Respect his grey hairs, don't ask for repairs,
And don't be behind with the rent!
When a landlord resorts to eviction,
Don't think that he does it for spite;
He is acting from deepest conviction,
And what's right, after all, is what's right;
But I see that your hearts are all hardened,
And I fear I'm appealing in vain;
Yet I hope that my last plea will be pardoned,
If I beg on my knees once again .
So pity the downtrodden landlord,
And his back that is burdened and bent;
Respect his grey hairs, don't ask for repairs,
And don't be behind with the rent!
Contributed by Bernart Bartleby - 2016/2/25 - 14:37
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Parole di Barnet 'Doggie' Woolf, scienziato, genetista e liricista
Musica di Arnold Clayton, compositore e arrangiatore
Entrambi gli autori collaborarono con il circuito dell’Unity Theatre (a Liverpool, Glasgow, Manchester e Londra), esperienza teatrale legata al movimento operaio e al Partito comunista
Testo trovato sul solito, ottimo Mudcat Café
In un singolo del 1950 in cui Fred Hellerman (membro de The Weavers), si presentava con lo pseudonimo di Bob Hill
Poi nell’EP del 1961 intitolato “Songs for Swinging Landlords To”, interpretata da Stan Kelly e Leon Rosselson
Una canzone risalente all’immediato secondo dopoguerra in cui vengono sarcasticamente ringraziati i locatori, avidi e strozzini, una categoria di sfruttatori e parassiti che torna sempre a proliferare nei momenti in cui la crisi morde di più, come sono anche i nostri. Qui a Torino abbiamo il famoso e famigerato Giorgio Molino, detto “Il Ras delle Soffitte”, uno che possiede centinaia di immobili in città e che dagli anni 70 è stato periodicamente arrestato e processato per gli affitti esosi di alloggi fatiscenti imposti a disperati, per sfruttamento della prostituzione, per aver smantellato coperture in amianto senza rispettare le misure di sicurezza previste, per evasione fiscale… In queste settimane Molino è di nuovo al centro della cronaca cittadina perché sarebbe proprio a lui che il Comune ha appaltato la sistemazione dei rom cacciati dal campo illegale di Lungo Stura Lazio che è stato smantellato… Da criminale a fornitore di un ente pubblico!
Pare, purtroppo, che quest’ultima tresca sia stata portata a galla non da un SEL o da un 5stelle ma dal consigliere Maurizio Marrone, ex picchiatore del Fronte della Gioventù e ora in Fratelli d’Italia, quello che anni fa riempì la città con manifesti color marrone e la scritta “Cambia colore a Torino. Vota Marrone” (che cattivo gusto!) ed ora ci sta riprovando con uno sfondo migliore, tutto granata, ma in cui campeggia l’inquietante slogan “Torino. Casa Nostra”, che piacerà tanto non solo ai fascio-leghisti ma pure ai mafiosi e ‘ndranghetari stabilmente insediatisi quassù ormai da tempo.