Sunday, January 31, 2010

The RU 486 Waltz

words & tune (c) 1995
by Carole Rose Livingston

1.

RU 486, 486, 486.
RU 486, 486. It's not legal
.

2.

Why not? Right-wing fanatics, right-wing fanatics, right-wing fanatics.
Why not? Right-wing fanatics, right-wing fanatics. It's not legal.


3.

I need RU 486, 486, 486.
I need RU 486, 486. Make it legal.


4.

RU 486, 486, 486.
I need RU 486, 486. Make it legal.

Saturday, January 23, 2010

POWer to the People

1.

Power, I say POWer to the people. (3x)
We're gonna light up our own lives.

2.

Power, I say POWer to the women...

3.

Power, I say POWer to the children...

4.

Power, I say POWer to the workers...

5.

Power, I say POWer to the prisoners...

6.

Etc...

Final line:

We're gonna light up (3x) our own lives.

words & tune by
Carole Rose Livingston
(c) 1981 (June 5th)

Saturday, January 16, 2010

Penelope's Lament

He shall sail the seven seas,
I shall stay at home.
He shall drink in strange cities,
I shall drink alone.

He shall stride over foreign soil,
And dance upon the wave.
I shall sit, and spin, and toil--
They will call him brave.


Words & music by Carole Rose Livingston, based on Dorothy Parker's poem "Penelope"; Also inspsired by the title of Peggy Seeger's record album "Penelope isn't waiting anymore". (c) 1992

Saturday, January 9, 2010

Nobody Needs a Nuke (a.k.a. Everyone Needs A Hug and a Kiss)

words by Carole Rose Livingston
(c) 1986
tune: Here We Go Loop-de-loo

1.

Everyone needs a job.
Everyone needs some food.
Everyone needs a hug and a kiss.
Nobody needs a nuke.

Nobody needs a nuke (uh uh).
Nobody needs a nuke (un un).
Everyone needs a hug and a kiss.
Nobody needs a nuke.


2.

Everyone needs the rain.
Everyone needs the sun.
Everyone needs a hug and a kiss.
Nobody needs the bomb.

Nobody needs the bomb (uh uh).
Nobody needs the bomb (un un).
Everyone needs a hug and a kiss.
Nobody needs the bomb.


3.

Everyone needs a roof.
Everyone needs a floor.
Everyone needs a hug and a kiss.
No one needs nuclear war.

No one needs nuclear war (uh uh).
No one needs nuclear war (un un).
Everyone needs a hug and a kiss.
No one needs nuclear war.


4.

Everyone needs the ground, the earth.
Everyone needs a flower.
Everyone needs a hug and a kiss.
No one needs nuclear power.

No one needs nuclear power (uh uh).
No one needs nuclear power (un un).
Everyone needs a hug and a kiss.
No one needs nuclear power.


5.

Everyone needs some love.
Everyone needs some friends.
Everyone needs a hug and a kiss.
And a song about peace without end.

A song about peace without end (uh huh).
A song about peace without end (um hm).
Everyone needs a hug and a kiss,
And a song about peace without end.


(1st ending:)

So
We'll sing it all over again.


(2nd ending:)

And
That's how the so-o-ong ends.


This is a game for kids (also a rally song for grown-ups) in which each line can be accompanied by the appropriate gesture or sound. It can be performed in a circle or with a leader facing a semicircle or audience.

Sunday, January 3, 2010

No More

No more crack cocaine for me,
No more, no more.
No more crack cocaine for me.
Many thousands gone.

No more alcohol for me....

No more heroin for me....

No more needles shared for me....

No more unsafe sex for me....


After the Emancipation Proclamation (1863), the original song, "No More Auction Block for Me," was sung by former slaves fighting in the Civil War. The stanzas include "No more auction block for me," "No more driver's lash for me," "No more pint of salt for me," and "No more peck of corn for me." Today's forms of enslavement call forth the updated words. (You might add "cigarettes" after "alcohol," but I can't, because I still smoke.)

Updated words, 1993,
by Carole Rose Livingston,
in honor of Black History Month