Ed Broadbent cared so much about fighting child poverty...

[Symphony of Freedom]

That he was one of our most strident supporter of spending enough money on cannabis prohibition to feed and shelter every impoverished child in our land.

The only decent politician we've ever had is Svend Robinson.

[iverglas]

1. so long, it's been good to know you

And I didn't even know that was a Woody Guthrie piece when I started humming it ...

I've sung this song, but I'll sing it again,
Of the place that I lived on the wild windy plains,
In the month called April, county called Gray,
And here's what all of the people there say:

CHORUS:
"So long, it's been good to know yuh;
So long, it's been good to know yuh;
So long, it's been good to know yuh.
This dusty old dust is a-gettin' my home,
And I got to be driftin' along."

A dust storm hit, an' it hit like thunder;
It dusted us over, an' it covered us under;
Blocked out the traffic an' blocked out the sun,
Straight for home all the people did run,
Singin':
(CHORUS)

We talked of the end of the world, and then
We'd sing a song an' then sing it again.
We'd sit for an hour an' not say a word,
And then these words would be heard:
(CHORUS)

Sweethearts sat in the dark and sparked,
They hugged and kissed in that dusty old dark.
They sighed and cried, hugged and kissed,
Instead of marriage, they talked like this:
"Honey..."
(CHORUS)

Now, the telephone rang, an' it jumped off the wall,
That was the preacher, a-makin' his call.
He said, "Kind friend, this may the end;
An' you got your last chance of salvation of sin!"
(CHORUS)

The churches was jammed, and the churches was packed,
An' that dusty old dust storm blowed so black.
Preacher could not read a word of his text,
An' he folded his specs, an' he took up collection,
Said:
(CHORUS)


-- let alone that Woody had rewritten it:


I got the news that the war had begun
It was straight for the Army Hall that I run
And all of the people in my home town
Was a running up and a running down
Singing:

CHORUS:
So long, it's been good to know you
So long, it's been good to know you
So long, it's been good to know you
There's a mighty big war that's got to be won
And we'll get back together again.

The crowd was packed by the railroad track
People was yelling and patting my back
And while the engineer rung his bell
I hugged all the mothers and kissed all the gals,
Singing:

CHORUS

I got to the camp and I learnt how to fight
Fascists in daytime, mosquitoes at night
I got my orders to cross o'er the sea
So I waved "goodbye" to the girls I could see,
Singing:

CHORUS

I got on a boat and I started to float
My old pack-sack and my big wool coat
With ten thousand men we rode the foam
And sung this song to the people back home:

CHORUS

I landed somewhere on a fighting shore
With ten million soldiers and ten million more
And while we were chasing that Super Race
We sung this song in the chase.
It was:

CHORUS

So it won't be long till the fascists are gone
And all of their likes are finished and done
We'll throw the clods of dirt in their face
And walk away from that lonesome place
Singing:

CHORUS


But then, Woody was probably just another pseudo-progressive in your books. Or at least, in the book you were pretending to read us the lesson from ...