Reply #53: There's a David Rovics song,

[Minstrel Boy]

featuring the Dope Poets Society, you ought to hear.

Available for free download on this page.

Falluja

Maybe you'll hear about me
When you watch the evening news
So I write this letter for you, my friends
The truth then you may choose
I had a good time at Oxford
And the world I did roam
When my studies were finished
Then I went back home

All I wanted were good things
Land and liberty
And all the sorts of things we learned
At the university
I'm not a fan of dictatorships
I'd rather say live and let live
But for those who would threaten my family
There's nothing I won't give

(Chorus)
I will fight for my country
I'll defend this land
I will stare at the whites of your soldiers' eyes
With this Kalishnikov in my hand

When you break down the doors of my neighbors
When you say that might makes right
When you say you're looking for terrorists
In their bedroom late at night
When you torture my brother at gunpoint
On his head a canvass sack
All I can say to you, soldier
Is you'd best watch your back
(chorus)

(Dope Poets: )
See I'ma fight for my country though I hate the war
But I deplore even more what they take me for
Think about where you live, how'd you typically be
When the bombs start falling in the middle of the street
It ain't difficult to see what side to choose
With all the lies they use they can't hide the truth
White lies from these white guys in the white house
Might as well wear white sheets while they wipe out
I mean white out all opposition
And bomb colored people into submission
He's got a Bible, ya think he's down with Jesus Christ?
He likes blacks just ask Condoleezza Rice
It's all evil lies in a weak disguise
See the signs and read in between the lines
If ya wanna save America I'll bring ya support
Arrest the president and bring him to court
Charge him and his puppeteers with war crimes
And start paying reparations of all kinds
You think what I'm telling you to do is extreme
But if you lived in Fallujah it'd be a beautiful dream
So I hold my tears and my hopes and fears,
When you bomb our country and attack our town
Don't be surprised when the whole world cheers
to see another Black Hawk down (motherfucker!)

When you come with your tanks on our city streets
And you say these streets are yours
When you say you'll rebuild us with bombers
And oil tankers on our shores
When you have gunned down my child in Fallujah
You needn't wonder why
I look at you through the blades of your 'copter and say
It's a good day to die