Love Me, I’m A Liberal
Phil OchsOriginale | PAY ME, I'M NEOLIBERAL #2 |
LOVE ME, I’M A LIBERAL I cried when they shot Medgar Evers Tears ran down my spine I cried when they shot Mr. Kennedy As though I'd lost a father of mine But Malcolm X got what was coming He got what he asked for this time So love me, love me, love me, I'm a liberal I go to civil rights rallies And I put down the old D.A.R. I love Harry and Sidney and Sammy I hope every colored boy becomes a star But don't talk about revolution That's going a little bit too far So love me, love me, love me, I'm a liberal I cheered when Humphrey was chosen My faith in the system restored I'm glad the commies were thrown out Of the A.F.L. C.I.O. board I love Puerto Ricans and Negros As long as they don't move next door So love me, love me, love me, I'm a liberal The people of old Mississippi Should all hang their heads in shame I can't understand how their minds work What's the matter don't they watch Les Crane? But if you ask me to bus my children I hope the cops take down your name So love me, love me, love me, I'm a liberal I read New Republic and Nation I've learned to take every view You know, I've memorized Lerner and Golden I feel like I'm almost a Jew But when it comes to times like korea There's no one more red, white and blue So love me, love me, love me, I'm a liberal I vote for the democtratic party They want the U.N. to be strong I go to all the Pete Seeger concerts He sure gets me singing those songs I'll send all the money you ask for But don't ask me to come on along So love me, love me, love me, I'm a liberal Once I was young and impulsive I wore every conceivable pin Even went to the socialist meetings Learned all the old union hymns But I've grown older and wiser And that's why I'm turning you in So love me, love me, love me, I'm a liberal. | LOVE ME, I’M A LIBERAL Greetings all you young free traders I will tell you my greatest tale How I looted pillaged and plundered And never went to jail Cause I called it all freedom and democracy Though both of those concepts have failed To start, I'm raising your tuition I’m Neoliberal Though my young days were often quite brutal Swords, guns and so many dead Now times have changed for the better And they sit and meet with me instead Maybe because I'm running their elections Or maybe because they’re strangled by debt Either way they’re quickly becoming Neoliberals And though I’m president of all Bolivia I don’t have much to say I can’t speak Quechua or Espanish Cuz I grew up in the US of A And I struggled through private acadamies So surely your children will pay Cuz I'm privatizing the school system I’m Neoliberal Ah the people of all Latin America Should all hang their heads in shame You know they need to come down from the mountains And get in the money game And if they won't work in our factories We'll simply just cut off their aid So pay me, pay me, pay me, I'm Neoliberal I’ve patented foreign invasion With patents pending on air And I’ve made GMO labor leaders That all believe in Laissez-faire And though their suffering wage cuts and job loss They just don’t seem to care Cuz I’ve spliced their common sense gene with Tomatoes I’m Neoliberal Now I go around preaching development Through unrestricted Free Trade Even though it's completely ass-backwards As Russia has clearly displayed We'll force it on you with sanction threats Or our armies will have to invade Now pay me, pay me, pay me I'm Neoliberal |
Sonny Ochs says: "Lerner & Golden were both columnists with left-leaning tendencies. Harry Golden, a humorist, wrote some marvelous books and short stories. One I recall is his plan for integration in schools in the south (this was back when). Since the Southerners didn't mind blacks standing next to whites when making purchases in stores, he proposed that they take out all the chairs in the schools and let the students stand to learn. He called this "vertical integration."
Jason V. says: "Les Crane had a talk show based in NYC. Crane was quite liberal, and had many folksingers on his show."
Jello Biafra and Mojo Nixon did a cover of this song with some updated lyrics (on their album "Prairie Home Invasion." Mojo Nixon sang this updated version solo on Comedy Central during their 1996 State of the Union show.
Chords supplied by Guy Matz and corrected by James Barnett.
Jan Hauenstein says ``Phil Ochs didn´t write the melody which comes from an old Irish folk song, "Rosin the Bow". That melody also found a new home in several American folk songs before Phil put it to good use. The melody for the "chorus-line" (Love me, love me, love me, I´m a liberal) is probably original Ochs, though.''