BARDS THE OFFICIAL STORY TELLERS

As you begin reading "RICH AS HELL"  we cover the Wizard of Oz story as the allegory for all about what being "financially literate" actually means.  The Wizard of OZ movie had a song called  "Over The Rainbow" written by the lyricist  E. Y. "Yip" Harburg himself!
​Yip Harburg was the child of Orthodox immigrants, grew up on the Lower East side, translating everything into Yiddish for his parents, and decided to give up songwriting and support his parents by becoming a salesman? And then the Depression hit, Yip lost his job, and began writing songs again​.

THE FUNK BROTHERS
Standing in the audience at the festival with no VIP - all in it together. You remember music, right?
Something that's played on real instruments that is melodic that you can sing along to, that touches your soul. And that's not what's being sold in commercials, it's not what's getting endorsements, but it's what we need. See The Funk Brothers

The Forgotten Man - also sung as "Buddy, Can You Spare a Dime?"
Bravo! A song about the soul of America!  and sadly we still need to sing it. 
One of the best-known American songs of the Great Depression. Written in 1931 by lyricist E. Y. "Yip" Harburg and composer Jay Gorney.

"Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?" was part of the 1932 musical New Americana; the melody is based on a Russian lullaby Gorney heard as a child. It became best known, however, through recordings by Bing Crosby and Rudy Vallee. Both versions were released right before Franklin Delano Roosevelt's election to the presidency and both became number one hits on the charts. the best-selling record of its period, and came to be viewed as an anthem of the shattered dreams of the era. The song asks why the men who built the nation -- built the railroads, built the skyscrapers -- who fought in the war (World War I), who tilled the earth, who did what their nation asked of them should, now that the work is done and their labor no longer necessary, find themselves abandoned, in bread lines. It refers to "Yankee Doodle Dum", a reference to patriotism, and the evocation of veterans also recalls military bonuses, which were a topical issue.

 

James McMurtry- We can't make it here

Gene Burnett  - Jump You Fuckers (A Song For Wall Street)

 

Hope for the Best - Expect the Worst ~ Mel Brooks

 

"Which Side Are You On?" Jackson Browne
"How long, if this theft goes on, will this country still be here?" Jackson Browne debuts a new song at OCCUPY Unplugged and asks us "Which Side Are You On?" With the incredible band Dawes backing him up.

Jun 25, 2014 Schemata Theory perform 'Courage Is Contagious' from 'Words Not Heard, Read or Seen'. 
@SchemataTheory vocalist,

COURAGE IS CONTAGIOUS LYRICS:
They demand for you to trust in them 
Protection over freedom 
And so there is no need to question 
Sedated by deception 

However then amongst the crowds 
Are individuals who shout truth loud 
Those in charge try to stamp out doubt 
But it's too late because... 
 
We've found you out 
Now the truth has been unveiled 
Courage is contagious 
Refocus 
Light up the world
 
Once we know it cannot be unknown 
Looking away is to condone 
Minds conscious with conscience lead the way! 
Dismantle global dismay 
 
Self-preservationists outcry 
With lie after lie after lie! 
But there can be no more doubt 
And no excuses because... 
 
We'll take you on! 
Knowing who you are and what you've done. 
We are awake! 
Unwilling to pay for your mistakes 
 
We won't stand down! 
Mass fraud will sink you, and you will drown 
We have the proof! 
You kill the messengers, but not the truth

 

HUNGRY FREAKS DADDY- Frank Zappa The opening cut on "Freak Out.

"Mister America Walk on by
Your schools that do not teach
Mister America Walk on by
The minds that won't be reached
Mister America Try to hide
The emptiness that's you inside
When once you find that the way you lied
And all the corny tricks you tried
Will not forestall the rising tide of
​Hungry freaks daddy"

From the initial double album, "Freak Out," this is Frank Zappa's take on the Watts riots. 

"Well I'm about to get sick From watchin' my TV
Been checkin' out the news Until my eyeballs fail to see
I mean to say that every day Is just another rotten mess
And when it's gonna change, my friend Is anybody's guess"

 

Pete Seeger's 90th Birthday Celebration from Madison Square Garden pbs

The origin of the phrase "folk process" has been attributed to musician Pete Seeger.

"In ancient days, all the men knew the same hunting songs, and all the women knew the same lullaby. Then, when agriculture was invented, then class society developed and you have priesthood and aristocracy that owned the land, and now they could afford to have, for example, [story telling] music made for them. And this was the beginning of high art.

 

Debtor Prisoners Song of 1738

A starving life all day we lead
No comfort here is found,
At night we make one common bed
Upon the boarded ground;
Where fleas in troops and bugs in shoals
Into our bosoms creep,
And Death Watch Spiders round ye walls
Disturb us in our sleep.

Were Socrates alive, and bound
With us to lead his life,
'Twould move his patience far beyond
His crabbed scolding wife;
Hard lodging and much harder fare
Would try the wisest sage,
Nay! even make a parson swear
And curse the sinful age.

Thus we insolvent debtors live,
Yet we may boldly say
Worse villians often credit give
Than those that never pay;
For wealthty knaves can with applause
Cheat on and ne'er be try'd
But in contempt of human laws
In coaches safely ride.

Crazy Train - Ozzy Osborne

Lyrics: ALL ABOOOOOAAAARRD HAHAHAHAHAHA... AY AY AY AY AY...
Crazy, but that's how it goes
Millions of people living as foes
Maybe its not to late
To learn how to love And forget how to hate

Mental wounds not healing Life's a bitter shame
I'm going off the rails on a crazy train
I'm going off the rails on a crazy train

I've listened to preachers
I've listened to fools
I've watched all the dropouts
Who make their own rules
One person conditioned to rule and control
The media sells it and you live the role

Mental wounds still screaming
Driving me insane
I'm going off the rails on a crazy train
I'm going off the rails on a crazy train

I know that things are going wrong for me
You gotta listen to my words
Yeh-h yeeeeaaaahhhh

CRAZY ASS GUITAR SOLO!!!!!!!!!!

Heirs of a cold war
That's what we've become
Inheriting troubles I'm mentally numb
Crazy, I just cannot bear
I'm living with something that just isn't fair

Mental wounds not healing
Who and whats to blame
I'm going off the rails on a crazy train
I'm going off the rails on a crazy train

 

THE BANKER

While reading Aldous Huxley (Brave new world) a banker tells you, you're living in a dream, he and others like him created.

Performed By Mike Daviot -- Written, Directed and Produced By: Craig-James Moncur 10/16/2009

While we Bankers and Brokers are only a few
But if you saw that then you'd take back the power
Hence daily terrors to make you all cower

The Panics the crashes the wars and the illness
That keep you from finding your Spiritual Wholeness
We rig the game and we buy out both sides
To keep you enslaved in your pitiful lives

So go out and work as your body clock fades
And when it's all over a few years from the grave
You'll look back on all this and just then you'll see
That your life was nothing, a mere fantasy

There are very few things that we don't now control
To have Lawyers and Police Force was always a goal
Doing our bidding as you march on the street
But they never realise they're only just sheep

For real power resides in the hands of a few
You voted for parties what more could you do
But what you don't know is they're one and the same
Old Gordon has passed good old David the reigns

And you'll follow the leader who was put there by you
But your blood it runs red while our blood runs blue
But you simply don't see its all part of the game
Another distraction like money and fame

Get ready for wars in the name of the free
Vaccinations for illness that will never be
The assault on your children's impressionable minds
And a micro chipped world, you'll put up no fight

Information suppression will keep you in toe
Depopulation of peasants was always our goal
But eugenics was not what we hoped it would be
Oh yes it was us that funded Nazis!

But as long as we own all the media too
What's really happening does not concern you 
So just go on watching your plasma TV
And the world will be run by the ones you can't see

Folk Song Army
by Tom Lehrer

 

Pre literate times . . .
In the Beginning, Ballads were responsible for spreading Literacy, because people bought the sheet music to learn the words.

We are the Folk Song Army.
Everyone of us cares.
We all hate poverty, war, and injustice,
Unlike the rest of you squares.

There are innocuous folk songs.
Yeah, but we regard 'em with scorn.
The folks who sing 'em have no social conscience.
Why they don't even care if Jimmy Crack Corn.

If you feel dissatisfaction,
Strum your frustrations away.
Some people may prefer action,
But give me a folk song any old day.

The tune don't have to be clever,
And it don't matter if you put a coupla extra syllables into a line.
It sounds more ethnic if it ain't good English,
And it don't even gotta rhyme--excuse me--rhyne.

Remember the war against Franco?
That's the kind where each of us belongs.
Though he may have won all the battles,
We had all the good songs.

So join in the Folk Song Army,
Guitars are the weapons we bring
To the fight against poverty, war, and injustice.
Ready! Aim! Sing!

Occupy Wall Street!