“Base Details”
Siegfried Sassoon (1886–1967)
IF I were fierce, and bald, and short of breath,
I’d live with scarlet Majors at the Base,
And speed glum heroes up the line to death.
You’d see me with my puffy petulant face,
Guzzling and gulping in the best hotel,
Reading the Roll of Honour. ‘Poor young chap,’
I’d say—‘I used to know his father well;
Yes, we’ve lost heavily in this last scrap.’
And when the war is done and youth stone dead,
I’d toddle safely home and die—in bed.
“Sit-Ins”
Margaret Walker
Greensboro, North Carolina, in the Spring of 1960
You were our first brave ones to defy their
dissonance of hate
With your silence
With your willingness to suffer
Without violence
Those first bright young to fling names across pages
Of new southern history
With courage and faith, convictions, and intelligence
The first to blaze a flaming path for justice
And awaken consciences
Of these stony ones.
Come, Lord Jesus, Bold Young Galilean
Sit Beside this Counter, Lord, with Me!
"next to of course god america i"
e. e. cummings
next to of course god america i
love you land of the pilgrims' and so forth oh
say can you see by the dawn's early my
country 'tis of centuries come and go
and are no more what of it we should worry
in every language even deafanddumb
thy sons acclaim your glorious name by gorry
by jingo by gee by gosh by gum
why talk of beauty what could be more beautiful than these heroic happy dead
who rushed like lions to the roaring slaughter
they did not stop to think they died instead
then shall the voice of liberty be mute?
He spoke. And drank rapidly a glass of water
5
“SLEEP NOW IN THE FIRE”
by Rage Against the Machine
YEAAAH!
The world is my expense
The cost of my desire
Jesus blessed me with its future
And I protect it with fire
So raise your fists and march around
Don’t dare take what you need
I'll jail and bury those committed
And smother the rest in greed
Crawl with me into tomorrow
Or I'll drag you to your grave
I'm deep inside your children
They'll betray you in my name
Hey!
Hey!
Sleep now in the fire
Hey!
Hey!
Sleep now in the fire
The lie is my expense
The scope with my desire
The party blessed me with its future
And I protect it with fire
I am the Nina, the Pinta, the Santa Maria
The noose and the rapist, the fields overseer
The agents of orange
The priests of Hiroshima
The cost of my desire
Sleep now in the fire
Hey!
Hey!
Sleep now in the fire
Hey!
Hey!
Sleep now in the fire
For it's the end of history
It's caged and frozen still
There is no other pill to take
So swallow the one
That makes you ill
The Nina, the Pinta, the Santa Maria
The noose and the rapist, the fields' overseer
The agents of orange
The priests of Hiroshima
The cost of my desire
Sleep now in the fire
YEAAAH!
Sleep now in the fire!
Sleep now in the fire!
Sleep now in the fire!
Sleep now in the fire!
(Tom picks up a Korean radio station on his amp.)
“Ballad Of Birmingham’
Dudley Randall
'Mother dear, may I go downtown
Instead of out to play,
And march the streets of Birmingham
In a Freedom March today?'
She has combed and brushed her night-dark hair,
And bathed rose petal sweet,
And drawn white gloves on her small brown hands,
And white shoes on her feet.
'No, baby, no, you may not go,
For the dogs are fierce and wild,
And clubs and hoses, guns and jails
Aren't good for a little child.'
The mother smiled to know that her child
Was in the sacred place,
But that smile was the last smile
To come upon her face.
'But, mother, I won't be alone.
Other children will go with me,
And march the streets of Birmingham
To make our country free.'
For when she heard the explosion,
Her eyes grew wet and wild.
She raced through the streets of Birmingham
Calling for her child.
'No baby, no, you may not go
For I fear those guns will fire.
But you may go to church instead
And sing in the children's choir.'
She clawed through bits of glass and brick,
Then lifted out a shoe.
'O, here's the shoe my baby wore,
But, baby, where are you?'
"Mississippi Goddam"
Nina Simone
The name of this tune is Mississippi Goddam
And I mean every word of it
Alabama's gotten me so upset
Tennessee made me lose my rest
And everybody knows about Mississippi
Goddam
Alabama's gotten me so upset
Tennessee made me lose my rest
And everybody knows about Mississippi
Goddam
This is a show tune
But the show hasn't been written for it, yet
Alabama's gotten me so upset
Tennessee made me lose my rest
And everybody knows about Mississippi
Goddam
Hound dogs on my trail
School children sitting in jail
Black cat cross my path
I think every day's gonna be my last
Can't you see it
Can't you feel it
It's all in the air
I can't stand the pressure much longer
Somebody say a prayer
Lord have mercy on this land of mine
We all gonna get it in due time
I don't belong here
I don't belong there
I've even stopped believing in prayer (cont.)
Don't tell me
I tell you
Me and my people just about due
I've been there so I know
They keep on saying "Go slow!"
Just try to do your very best
Stand up be counted with all the rest
For everybody knows about Mississippi Goddam
But that's just the trouble
"do it slow"
Washing the windows
"do it slow"
Picking the cotton
"do it slow"
You're just plain rotten
"do it slow"
You're too damn lazy
"do it slow"
The thinking's crazy
"do it slow"
Where am I going
What am I doing
I don't know
I don't know
Picket lines
School boy cots
They try to say it's a communist plot
All I want is equality
for my sister my brother my people and me
I made you thought I was kiddin'
Yes you lied to me all these years
You told me to wash and clean my ears
And talk real fine just like a lady
And you'd stop calling me Sister Sadie
Oh but this whole country is full of lies
You're all gonna die and die like flies
I don't trust you any more
You keep on saying "Go slow!"
"Go slow!"