The Bailout - Same song as always -- Tom Paxton: "I'm Changing My Name to Chrysler"

[ConsAreLiars]

(edit to add) Lyrics courtesy of http://www.arlo.net/resources/lyrics/chrysler.shtml

I'm Changing My Name to Chrysler
by Tom Paxton

Oh the price of gold is rising out of sight
And the dollar is in sorry shape tonight
What the dollar used to get us
Now won't buy a head of lettuce
No the economic forecast isn't right
But amidst the clouds I spot a shining ray

I can even glimpse a new and better way
And I've demised a plan of action
Worked it down to the last fraction
And I'm going into action here today

CHORUS:
I am changing my name to Chrysler
I am going down to Washington D.C.
I will tell some power broker
What they did for Iacocca
Will be perfectly acceptable to me
I am changing my name to Chrysler
I am headed for that great receiving line
So when they hand a million grand out
I'll be standing with my hand out
Yes sire I'll get mine

When my creditors are screaming for their dough
I'll be proud to tell them all where they can all go
They won't have to scream and holler
They'll be paid to the last dollar
Where the endless streams of money seem to flow
I'll be glad to tell them what they can do
It's a matter of a simple form or two
It's not just renumeration it's a liberal education
Ain't you kind of glad that I'm in debt to you

CHORUS

Since the first amphibians crawled out of the slime
We've been struggling in an unrelenting climb
We were hardly up and walking before money started talking
And it's sad that failure is an awful crime
Well it's been that way for a millenium or two
But now it seems that there's a different point of view
If you're a corporate titanic and your failure is gigantic
Down to congress there's a safety net for you

CHORUS

[pokerfan]

1. As performed by Arlo Guthrie

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=daBx_PBrvSE

[ConsAreLiars]

2. Wow! Thanks!

A VERY different, very Arlo, way to sing that song. Very understated in the Paxton music, and in the Arlo, well, not. And great visuals to go with the lyrics.

Thanks, and a great treat ahead for those who hit that video.

[countryjake]

3. Gotta love Arlo! n/t

[pokerfan]

4. I first heard that song

on 'http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Precious_Friend">Precious Friend,' an album he made with Pete Seeger about twenty-five years ago.

Great album.

[ConsAreLiars]

5. Great songs of the people are timeless.

Was listening to a Paxton (or maybe Ochs or ...) station on Pandora and it came up. Seemed to hit the main points of the current discussion rather clearly.

[pokerfan]

6. Lyrics for the broadband challenged

I'm Changing My Name to Chrysler
by Tom Paxton

Oh the price of gold is rising out of sight
And the dollar is in sorry shape tonight
What the dollar used to get us
Now won't buy a head of lettuce
No the economic forecast isn't right
But amidst the clouds I spot a shining ray

I can even glimpse a new and better way
And I've demised a plan of action
Worked it down to the last fraction
And I'm going into action here today

CHORUS:
I am changing my name to Chrysler
I am going down to Washington D.C.
I will tell some power broker
What they did for Iacocca
Will be perfectly acceptable to me
I am changing my name to Chrysler
I am headed for that great receiving line
So when they hand a million grand out
I'll be standing with my hand out
Yes sire I'll get mine

When my creditors are screaming for their dough
I'll be proud to tell them all where they can all go
They won't have to scream and holler
They'll be paid to the last dollar
Where the endless streams of money seem to flow
I'll be glad to tell them what they can do
It's a matter of a simple form or two
It's not just renumeration it's a liberal education
Ain't you kind of glad that I'm in debt to you

CHORUS

Since the first amphibians crawled out of the slime
We've been struggling in an unrelenting climb
We were hardly up and walking before money started talking
And it's sad that failure is an awful crime
Well it's been that way for a millenium or two
But now it seems that there's a different point of view
If you're a corporate titanic and your failure is gigantic
Down to congress there's a safety net for you

CHORUS

©1980 Accabonac Music (ASCAP)

[kath]

7. I LURVE Tom Paxton.

Glad to see some other fans here.
I've been fortunate to see him in concert 3 times - at the last one it was a few weeks after the escalation ("surge" in Bush-speak) started, and he did "George W. Told the Nation" - an update on his classic "Lyndon Johnson Told the Nation"
Lyrics:
Lyrics by Tom Paxton

I got a letter from old George W.,
It said, "Son, I hate to trouble ya,
But this war of mine is going bad.
It's time for me to roll the dice;
I know you've already been there twice,
But I am sending you back to Baghdad."

Chorus:
Hey! George W. told the nation,
"This is not an escalation;
This is just a surge toward victory.
Just to win my little war,
I'm sending 20,000 more,
To help me save Iraq from Iraqis.

And, so, I made it to Iraq
In time for one more sneak attack,
And to my old battalion I was sent.
We drive around in our Humvees,
Listening to The Black-Eyed Peas
And speaking fondly of the president. (To Chorus)

Celebrities all come to see us,
Grateful they don't have to be us,
Politicians show their best face card.
Where is Bubba? Where's our leader?
Where's our favorite lip reader?
AWOL from the Texas National Guard

If you're hunkered in Fallujah
Wondering who it was who screwed ya,
Wondering what became of “Shock and Awe!”
You are feeling semi-certain
It has to do with Halliburton,
Dick Cheney's why you drew that fatal straw.

One of my favorites of Paxton's political songs is "What Did You Learn in School Today?": http://www.mydfz.com/Paxton/lyrics/wdylis.htm

[ConsAreLiars]

8. Paxton covered the full range of being human in these times.

So sad that so much of what he raised his voice against is back, and worse, today, and that the lyrics only need a change of names and places (if that much) to ring out the basic truths behind this day's news.

And thanks for the Lyrics site - http://www.mydfz.com/Paxton/welcome.htm . Sites like that which are put together by fans are way more helpful and instructive than those commercial sites that just give the lyrics and a "Buy Now" button. In case you haven't found this one, the Phil Ochs Lyrics Index at http://web.cecs.pdx.edu/~trent/ochs/lyrics.html is another that adds a fair bit beyond the bare lyrics to understanding his music, and if you back up to the main page at http://web.cecs.pdx.edu/~trent/ochs/ you'll find more of value.