Draw The Line

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DRAW THE LINE BUY IT NOW!!

Draw The Line One Less Mouth To Feed

Ev’rybody’s Goin’ For The Money The AFL-CIO Love Song

(Spider John Koerner)

Way-Hi (Bob Abrahams) Homely Friend Song

Atomic Waste All Used Up (Utah Phillips)

Snake Dance My Body

DRAW THE LINE

Papers on the floor. Crayons circled 'round her

My daughter shapes an intricate design

And she orders me to sit, handling me the blue one

She says "Help me Daddy, help me draw the line!"

Draw the line, draw the line

We have to help each other draw the line

Draw the line, draw the line

We have to help each other draw the line!

The news is on T.V. She's asleep upon my lap

Tears jump down my cheeks like counting sheep, like counting crimes

And the worst crime of them all, will be tomorrow morning

We'll get up and go to work just like everything is fine!

We'll ignore atomic waste, maybe it will go away

And the chemicals we eat don't taste so bad

Our bombs will keep us safe, and our air smells really great

And the old folks in those homes have no reason to be sad!

Chorus

My girl could save the whales, if there's any left to save

She'd wonder why the jails are overflowing with the poor

She'd see ninety-nine percent of our Senators are men

And that ego, greed, and money are the causes of our wars!

The moon shines like her face, I can't look her in the eye

The owl screams "Whooooo - leaves this legacy behind!??"

Somehow we've got to stop, and start a better world

Oh, help me child, please, help me draw the line!

Chorus

And the worst crime of them all, will be tomorrow morning

We'll get up and go to work just like everything is fine!

EVERYBODY'S GOIN' FOR THE MONEY

by Spider John Koerner

Everybody's goin' for the money

Thinkin' it makes the world go round

But this old world keep turnin' on and on

When you're layin' underneath the ground

Somebody's got a hold on you

A hold on your everyday life

A hold on your friends and your relatives too

On your children and your husband and your wife

Hey, they sell you on the television

And they sell you on the radio

They sell you any old way that they can

And they come knockin' on your front door

Well I think I will buy me a wonderful car

And a T.V. and a stereo

And I'll drive and watch and listen all the time

And I won't have to think anymore!

Long as we buy everything we want

We keep missin' something we should know

Somewhere in your town, there's a man broken down

And somewhere there's a guy with too much dough!

So why sing a song about money?

Whey think about our way of life?

Cause it's time to face that the human race

Needs something more than money to survive!

Everybody's goin' for the money

Thinkin' it makes the world go round

But this old world keep turnin' on and on

When you're layin' underneath the ground

Additional lyrics by P. Alsop

WAY-HI

by Bob Abrahams

In the South Dakota summer sun

In Nineteen twenty-five

I was born the son of a Souix and his wife

I was barely, just barely alive

Yeah the midwife slapped my red behind

I opened my lungs and cried

And how many times have I cried to myself

And wished that that infant had died?

Way-hi! My spirit's not dyin'

But it sleeps on the prairie with no place to go

Way-hi! Wake up Wok-on-Tonka!

It's too late for me, but my children must know

After fifteen year I went on the road

From a distance of time I could see

My father insane and my brothers in chains

And my tribe not much different from me

And I served in the Air Force for nigh on four years

In Berlin I was treated okay

But back in Dakota the Germans have homes

Where Injuns no longer can stay

Way-hi! My spirit's not dyin'

But it sleeps on the prairie with no place to go

Way-hi! Wake up Wok-on-Tonka!

It's too late for me, but my children must know

And then I was married and fought to raise kids

But my children could not be for me

By the church they were raise and by Jesus were saved

From an ignorant savage like me

But we're learning in Taos to stand on our own

We're learning in Alcatraz

Our children will teach us, our spirits will lead us

To fight as we did in the past!

Way-hi! My spirit's not dyin'

But it sleeps on the prairie with no place to go

Way-hi! Wake up Wok-on-Tonka!

It's too late for me, but my children must know

ATOMIC WASTE

Atomic waste, perseveres,

It sticks around, (in dangerous form!)

Two hundred thousand years!! (Repeat)

It boils in vats stored underground

It's got to be watched all year 'round

And human beings can make mistakes

One little slip is all it takes!

Chorus

We don't mind, if lights are low

If TV's off, if cars go slow

We'll do without, so cut the juice!

There's no excuse, to cook our goose!!

Chorus

Well we won't fuss, tho we just heard

We missed our bus, to Harrisburg!

Now we're not scared, to breathe the air

Cause we signed up, for Medicare!!

Chorus

The Pentagon is full of nuts!

They claim that they, protect our butts

But bomb research, has atomic waste

Ten times more, than reactors make!!

Chorus

We can't buy life, when poisons spread

Our money can't, buy back the dead

We're born to live, with Mother Earth

We should respect how much she's worth!!

Chorus

SNAKE DANCE

Dancing in a snake dance

Where the dancer twirls and spins

And the guilty serpent strikes

And neither partner wins

I asked her how she'd been

She said, "You've been our best friend,

And I don't know where to begin,

I don't love him anymore

I've had it up to here, I've seen it all before

He won't let me help him

He hollers if I try

And I know I must be crazy

But I can't say 'Good-bye'"

She cried and poured my tea

She said “What can I do?

You see, I'm his guiding light

When I help him talk things through

But he holds me up on high

Where he guards me jealously

While he gets it on with one-night stands

He can't make love with me!

I don't love him anymore

I've had it up to here

I've seen it all before,

He scares me when he's angry

He burns me with his eyes,

And if I say 'I'm leaving’

It kills me when he cries.”

I hugged her in the silence

“It'll all work out,” I lied

I was hardly out her door

When I had to stop and cry

They were dancing in a snake dance

To a tune I used to know

My heart was aching now

Though it happened long ago.

They were dancing in a snake dance

That would have to run it's time

And it hurt to see them dancing

In a dance so much like mine,

Where the serpent strikes

When he hears his dancer's cries

And he feels twice the pain

When his dancer finally dies!

Yes, he strikes 'cause he's afraid

Of love that's true,

And both of them are poisened

When the dance is through.

ONE LESS MOUTH TO FEED

Well Livvy, lately life's been lousy

And I know that you're upset

But life won't get no better

If you can't learn to forget

Cryin' won't bring John-Boy back,

He's out there on his own

And I hope that he is happy,

And I hope he don't come home, . .

Chorus

‘Cause that's one less mouth to feed

One less mouth to feed

When your bluebird of happiness

Eats a poisen seed

Just look on the bright side,

That's one less mouth to feed!

Accidents will happen

It's sad the way things change

Mary Ellen fell into the well

And the water's tasting strange

Ben burned with the chicked coop

And ruined all the eggs

And Grandpa's headed toward the lake

With his moustache all ablaze, . .

Chorus

When the apple of your eye

Has a worm you didn't need

Jim-Bob sank in the river

Tryin' t'catch a frog

Lis'beth ate the dog's food

And got eaten by the dog

Erin's joined a convent,

Jason's guzzlin' gin

Grandma hitchiked to the city

To live a life of sin, . .

Chorus

When your bunny with the lucky feet

Gets flattened in the street

And now you say you're leavin' me

To find a better life

I hope Ike Godsey loves you

I hope he don't leave me his wife

The sun is shining somewhere

This house is cold as stone

And I miss you so my darling, . .

But it's great to be alone!!

Chorus

When your milk-cow of contentment

Falls asleep in the stampede

When your flower of life

Gets mowed down with the weeds

When you little lamb of innocence

Gets terminal V.D.

THE AFL-CIO LOVE SONG

My how I loved you

When you were young and brave

You stood against injustice

With the worker and the slave

And your beauty still excites me

Your spirit lights my way

But love, like fire, dwindles

If you let it fade away.

I'm afraid I'll lose you

To the comforts you have won

Your paycheck now means more to you

Than a job well done

When you fight against the greedy

The hardest thing to do

Is to keep a watch on how you fight

So you don't get greedy too.

And I'm scared to speak my mind

You're still the same, you'll say

But there're lots of young and poor folks

Who need you today

So I sing to keep our love alive

I pray you'll hear my song

Cause our love got us this far

And our union must go on! (repeat)

HOMELY FRIEND SONG

On sunny days I'm feelin' great

I'm walkin' tall and fine

And all the folks who see me

Wanna be a friend of mine

But when I'm feelin' low down

And homely as a hound

When I need my sunny friends

There ain't no one around

I'm lonely for a homely friend to keep me company

I'm lonely for a homely friend who feels like home to me!

A homely friend's the only friend

Who sticks through thick and thin

A friend who knows that friendship goes

Deeper than the skin!

Now everybody feels homely

When they're feelin' low

And everybody acts cool

So no one will know

And you can fool your sunny friends

But you can't fool me

Cause just like you, I'm scared of bein'

Left alone, y'see?! So,

C'mon over, you homely friend and keep me company

I'm lonely for you, my homely friend, cause you feel like home to me!

Cute or ugly, dumb or smart,

Old or fat or thin,

Long as you've got lots of heart

You'll be my homely friend

ALL USED UP

by Utah Phillips

I spent my whole life makin' somebody rich

I busted my ass for that son-of-a-bitch

And he left me to die like a dog in a ditch

Then he told me I'm all used up

He used up my labor, he used up my time

He plundered my body and squandered my mind

Then he gave me a pension of handouts and wine

And told me I'm all used up

My kids are in hock to a god you call Work

Slaving their lives out for some other jerk

My youngest in Frisco just made "shipping clerk"

And he don't know I'm all used up

Some young people reach out for power and gold

And they don't have respect for anything old

Then for pennies they're bought and for promises sold

And someday they'll all be used up

They use up the oil, they use up the trees

They use up the air and they use up the seas

Well how about you friend and how about me?

What's left when we're all used up?

I'll finish my life in this crummy hotel

It's lousy with bugs and my God what a smell

But my plumbing still works and I'm clear as a bell

So don't tell me I'm all used up!

Out side my window the world passes by

It gives me a handout then spits in my eye

And no one can tell me, cause no one knows why

I'm still livin' but I'm all used up!

Sometimes in my dreams I sit by a tree

My life is a book of how things used to be

And the kids gather round and they listen to me

And they don't think I'm all used up

And there's songs and there's laughter, and things I can do

And all that I've learned I can give back to you

And I'd give my last breath just to make it come true

No, I'm not all used up

They use up the oil, they use up the trees

They use up the air and they use up the seas

But as long as I'm breathin' they won't use up me

So don't tell me I'm all used up!

MY BODY

My body's nobody's body but mine!

You run your own body, let me run mine!

My heart was made to be filled-up with love

Not to be ordered, or broken or shoved

My hands were made to hold other hands,

Not to hold guns in faraway lands

Chorus

My womb was made to make kids when I please

Not to obey man-made laws and decrees

My genes were made to pass on human traits

Not to be fried with your atomic waste!

Chorus

Our body's one body, one voice is heard

We each sing for freedom when we sing these words!

Chorus