Fooling the People

Copyright 2005 by Jeff Suzuki

I rarely do things that don't have multiple uses. For example, there have been some egregious abuses of power by kings in the SCA. There have been even more egregious abuses of power by certain elected officials in the US. I realized I could kill two birds with one stone by writing songs appropriate for the SCA that could refer to either situation. In particular: If I did my job well, everyone will know exactly who the song is about...but two different people will disagree over which power mad lunatic the song refers to.

Little did I realize that I would (as my wife put it) open up a floodgate: once I started writing social commentary songs, I couldn't stop. I won't claim that my songs are any good...but I wrote four of them in five weeks (and two others that could as easily refer to events in the real world as events in the SCA world). For those who are interested, the Tyranny Trilogy consists of Our Thoughts are Our Own, A Warning to Tyrants, The Bay Tree, and Rights for Safety (yes, the trilogy has four songs), which came hard on the heels of two others, The Coward Marshal and Alas, My Friend.

This song breaks the pattern, somewhat, as it's totally modern. It also sets a record for the fastest song I've ever written. On October 25, 2005 the number of American soldiers killed in Iraq passed the 2000 mark. It indirectly inspired this song, which was written between 10:30 AM and 11:10 AM on my subway ride into work. Note that I would have made a reference to the number...except that it's not going to stay at 2000.

The music is Waltzing Matilda. Note that in this (as in the original), the second and fourth lines of the chorus are always the same as the fourth lines of the preceding stanza, and the third line of the chorus is the same as the third line of the preceding stanza. When I sing it, I sing the last stanza and chorus at half speed beginning with “Down fell the soldiers...”

Once a jolly scion camped on the White House Lawn With all his friends and family, And he sang as they watched and waited while the nation boiled, "You'll come a-fooling the people with me." Chorus Fooling the people, fooling the people, You'll come a-fooling the people with me. And they sang as they watched and waited while the nation boiled, You'll come a-fooling the people with me. Down came the towers on a sad September morn, Up came the scion who shouted with glee, "Evil folks who've done this have given us a perfect cause We'll go a-fooling the people you'll see." Chorus "First start a war that we can never, ever win Then while the people live fearfully We can change what we want, how we want, until we've got our fill We'll go a-fooling the people you'll see." Chorus Up came a builder, riding in his golden car, Down came a bid he won easily You can make tons of dough if your friends control the public purse He came a-fooling the people, you see. Chorus Up came some judges, to carry on his legacy, Down fell the soldiers, brave, young and free, And their ghosts may be heard as you pass by the White House lawn, He came a-fooling the people, you see. Chorus

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