Category Archives: Environment & Energy

Big Oil vs. Life on Earth

Lyrics By: Laurie Rostholder

Tune: Marine Corps Hymn

From the sand dunes down in south Iraq
To the wild Alaskan seas,
We have trashed the earth to pump the oil
Just to fuel our SUV’s.
We have overthrown democracies
To exploit their oil reserves,
Intervened in sovereign nation-states
‘Cause it’s Big Oil that we serve

Mega-profits go to Texaco,
To BP and Exxon, too.
Halliburton, Shell and Conoco,
But the cost is paid by you.

Many lives and many billions spent
Just so profits can be made
By extractive corporations:
Yes, it’s blood for oil we trade.

Yes, it’s blood for oil we trade.

We must turn things ‘round immediately.
Exploitation has to cease.
Build a green and clean economy,
And it must be based on peace.
We reject extractive industries.
Let our planet start to heal!
Give our kids a world that’s livable.
We demand a GREEN NEW DEAL!

Gaggle Against GMOs

Gaggle Against GMOs
tune: Side by Side
 
Oh, we’re a gaggle of Grannies
Urging you off of your fannies,
We’re raising our voice,
We want a new choice
NO GMOs

With all the money they’re spending,
Splicing genes unending,
They’re wrecking our food
And spoiling our mood –
NO GMOs

With all of their gene splicing,
There is no way to know
What damage they are doing.
GMOS have got to go!

So, join this gaggle of Grannies!
Get up off of your fannies.
We’re telling you now
We’re angry and how,
NO GMOs

We really mean it! NO GMOs
We mean precisely! NO GMOs
We will say it very nicely! NO GMOs
Read our lips! (Mouth: NO GMOs)

Climate Change Is Here

Tune: My Boyfriend’s Back
By Jo-Hanna Read
 
Spoken (maybe with “oohs” in the background):
We thought if we just shut our eyes
The problem would go away.
But when that didn’t work, we realized
The problem is here to stay.

Sung:
Climate change is here and we’re already in trouble
(Hey-la, hey-la, climate change is here)
Now we see it happ’nin’, gotta fix it on the double
(Hey-la, hey-la, climate change is here)

They been spreading lies that it isn’t true
(Hey-la, hey-la, climate change is here)
That climate fluctuations are nothing new
(Hey-la, hey-la, climate change is here)

Hey- the oceans keep on risin’
And, we’re fin’ly realizin’

Those carbon emissions are filling the air
(Hey-la, hey-la, climate change is here)
Causing destruction everywhere
(Hey-la, hey-la, climate change is here)

With so many creatures dyin’
Don’t you think we should be tryin’?

It’s time to say we don’t believe deniers’ lies
(Hey-la, hey-la, climate change is here)
To save the planet now we got to organize!
(Hey-la, hey-la, climate change is here)
(Hey-la, hey-la, climate change is here)
(Hey-la, hey-la, climate change is here)

Yell: Hey, everyone, climate change is here now!

Do Not Despair

Tune: Old McDonald Had a Farm
By: Laurie Rostholder

The Brits and Obama wiretapped me
That’s what 45 says.
A Muslim English conspiracy
Against the future prez.
With a tweet tweet here,
And a tweet tweet there,
Twittering bullshit everywhere.
The Brits and Obama wiretapped me,
That’s what 45 says.

Pruitt says it’s not CO2,
Making our planet warm.
And the EPA must go,
As it does corporate profits harm.
Islands shrinking here,
Glaciers melting there,
Climate chaos everywhere.
Pruitt says it’s not CO2,
Making our planet warm.

Breitbart Bannon wants the system to blow.
He’s tired of everyone.
A war with China would be a great show.
That’s his idea of fun.
Neo Nazis here.
White supremacists there.
Racist hate mongers everywhere.
Breitbart Bannon wants the system to blow.
He’s tired of everyone.

The Ryan Death Plan shrinks Medicaid,
And makes old people pay more.
The rich will get the greatest care,
While millions are shown the door.
With more death here.
Bankruptcies there.
Crappy health care everywhere.
The Ryan Death Plan shrinks medicaid,
And makes old people pay more.

Rick Perry is the chosen head,
Of a department he once called Oops.
To think he’s in charge of nuclear waste,
Should give us all the poops.
With no more progress on energy that lasts.
Innovative research a thing of the past.
Rick Perry is the chosen head ,
Of a department he once called Oops.

And here’s one that we shouldn’t  forget,
Our friend named Vladimir.
This happy guy seems far away,
But he’s really very near.
Creating distraction without working hard.
Drinking vodka to our discord.
And here’s one that we shouldn’t forget.
Our friend named Vladimir.

There’s so much more to sing about.
And commitments we must make.
To prevent our country going to hell.
And keep each other safe.
Undocumented, Queer, Black, Trans, and Brown,
Muslims, Jews, Women, all our old and young.
We stand up for what’s so unfair.
And we will not despair.

Resist!   Resist!  Resist!  Resist!

New Year’s Vision

  • tune: Deck the Halls

Tax the rich; don’t starve the poor, Fa la la la la la la la la
Let’s end homelessness for sure, Fa la la…etc
Raise the wages, increase welfare, Fa la la etc….
Share the wealth and cut the warfare, Fa la la etc….

Let’s pass healthcare legislation, Fa la la la la la la la la
That will cover all the nation, Fa la la, etc…
Clean up all the air and water, Fa la la etc…
Let’s take no more steers to slaughter, Fa la la etc….

Join the grannies, fight by golly, Fa la la la la la la la la
End all this nuclear folly, Fa la la, etc..
Build a world where children thrive, Fa la la etc..
Do it while you’re still alive, Fa la la etc…

Even Pipelines Take a Leak

  • Tune: Jesus Loves Me
    Lyrics: Barbara Siefred/Vancouver Raging Grannies

Even tankers take a leak.
It may be happening as we speak.
Heavy crude sings and lasts and lasts.
They say, “There’s risk, but we can manage.”
There’s still oil from Exxon-Valdez damage.
Our coastal waters can be very rough.
Don’t they know the meaning of dangerous?

  • Stop Enbridge Gateway
    Stop oil pipelines
    Stop oil tankers
    And keep our waters clean

Everybody lives downstream
We don’t want to see oil’s rainbow sheen
On coastal waters this plan must stop:
It’s clearly stupid to the last drop.
Even pipelines take a leak.
We know the havoc they can wreak.
Oil on water makes us tense – Pause

Close the Gateway on Enbridge: It’s Common Sense

Y2K

  • tune: Danny Boy
    by Hinda Kipnis

Oh, Y2K, the chips, the chips are falling
In nuclear plants, both here and ‘cross the sea.
Four hundred plus reactors are waiting.
It’s not yet known where me-eltdowns will be.

To save the bank, we’ve all been told: Don’t panic!
But mum’s the word for nuclear tragedy.
The time is now: deactivate reactors.
Prevent Y2K catastrophe!

Radioactive Thyroids

  • tune: My Bonnie Lies Over The Ocean
    by Kay Thode

You’ve polluted the air and the water
Irradiated sheep and cows,
Seeped toxics toward the Columbia,
Oh what, oh what, will you do now!

  • Chorus:
    Clean up, clean up,
    Clean up the messes you’ve made,
    Hanford bosses,
    Clean up the messes you’ve made.

You didn’t cause harm to our thyroids
The government says you did not,
But of course it took years to discover
Your nuclear gas release plot.

  • Chorus

Use all of your budget for cleanup,
And to compensate folks you have harmed
It’s time you made up for the damage
You’ve caused with your nuclear farm.

  • Chorus

Public Involvement (10/29/01)

  • tune: My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean
    by Kay Thode

We’ve written, we’ve sung and we’ve spoken,
All of it to no avail,
No matter how reasoned our stance is,
You just keep ignoring our tale.

  • Chorus:
    Listen, listen,
    Heed what we’re saying to you,
    Hear us, hear us—
    You know that our message is true.

We want to be told of decisions
To reduce cleanup efforts before
It’s too late to take any action
To impact the process once more.

We want what we say to be heeded,
Not filed in another report,
And alternative viewpoints considered,
Not just as a last resort.

  • Chorus

We’re tired of coming to hearings
And giving our views every year,
What’s the use of this public involvement
If all we get is a deaf ear.

  • Chorus

Hanford Victory (1/31/99)

  • tune: After the Ball Is Over
    by Kay Thode

Now that fast flux is ended
Now we have won at last
We celebrate our victory
Cause that dire threat has passed.
We thank all the people in this room
For all the work they’ve done
Now we must all work to see that
Cleanup is job number one.

We still have a federal budget
That shortchanges people’s health
And they are still squandering money
On missiles that take so much wealth.
We’ll keep opposing this outrage
We will keep on with the fight
To create a world that is peaceful
Where nuclear war won’t ignite

Hanford Hearing (10/18/99)

  • tune: Blowing in the Wind
    by Kay Thode

How many times must we come before you
To tell you to shut that thing down?
How many times must we testify
Before you will hear our call?
How many times must we stand up here
Before you will listen to our plea?
The answer my friend, is blowing in the wind,
The answer is blowing in the wind.

(August 2000)

How many dollars have gone down the drain
To keep FFTF on line?
How much cleanup could you have done
With all that money and time?
How many years will you keep searching for
A reason for it to survive?
The answer, my friend, is all politics,
The answer is all politics.

Hanford Cleanup (3/6/99)

  • tune: My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean
    Kay Thode

Get rid of that Fast Flux reactor,
Shut it down for once and for all,
We really don’t want and don’t need it
So get it shut down by this fall.

Chorus:
Fast Flux, Fast Flux,
Get rid of Fast Flux for me,
Fast Flux, Fast Flux,
Get rid of Fast Flux for me.

The budget to clean the environment
Will be cut thirty-five percent
Don’t waste thirty million on Fast Flux,
For cleanup it’s much better spent.

Chorus

Hanford Cleanup (1/22/02)

  • tune: My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean
    Kay Thode

Empty those high level waste tanks,
Vitrify seventy-five percent,
Don’t leave leaking active waste here
Despoiling our environment

Uphold the Tri-Party agreement,
Protect the Columbia’s fish,
We don’t want radioactive salmon
To be served up to us on our dish.

Line all the low-level waste ground,
Ensure they are safe for all time,
Clean up the soil and ground water,
Meet all of the legal deadlines.

Clean up, cleanup,
Cleanup is job number one,
Cleanup, cleanup,
That is what must be done.

Hanford Bubble

  • tune: If You’re Happy and You Know It
    Kay Thode

There’s a crust upon the bubble in the tank.
There’s a crust upon the bubble in the tank.
But if the bubble it should burst
You will see the worst
Disastrous mess that you have ever seen.

If you don’t know what to do with the tank,
If you don’t know what to do with the tank,
Then why on earth would you create
Ad deadly new mistake
By putting FFTF back on line?

Concentrate your bucks on cleanup, do you hear!
Concentrate your bucks on cleanup , do you hear!
We don’t need a new disaster
Plaguing us forever after,
So shut down FFTF for all time.

Fast Flux Shutdown

  • tune: My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean
    Kay Thode

Uphold the November decision,
Do not restart FFTF
It’s long past the time that it ended
Before it makes a new mess.

  • Chorus:
    Shut down, shut down,
    Shut down Fast Flux by 2003,
    Shut down, shut down,
    No more delays don’t you see.

Put milestones in the cleanup agreement,
To shut Fast Flux once and for all,
We’re sick of you delaying deadlines,
Just shut it right down by the fall.

Retrieve leaking waste from the waste tanks,
Vitrify at least 20 percent,
Import no more low-level wastes here
Stop delaying much needed treatment..

  • Chorus:
    Cleanup, cleanup,
    Cleanup is job number one,
    Cleanup, cleanup,
    That is what must be done

Down Ol’ Hanford Way

  • tune: South of the Border
    Canadian Grannies’ Songbook

South of the border
Down ol’ Hanford way
There are some storage tanks
Of nuclear waste bubbling away.
The fallout could blow here
And ruin our day
From south of the border
Down ol’ Hanford way.

For forty-odd years
No warning were given.
“No need to worry, dears,
About radioactive iodine.
The tanks are not rusting,
The rivers are clear.”
South of the border
Down ol’ Hanford way.
But this is all B.S., we know.
Aye-yi-yi-yi, Ayi-yi-yi!

Cleanup Hanford

  • tune: My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean
    by Kay Thode

Get rid of that Fast Flux Reactor,
Shut it down for once and for all,
We really don’t want and don’t need it,
So get it shut down by the fall.

Forty-four million would buy us more cleanup
Not danger of future misuse
To produce isotopes or plutonium
For which there isn’t any good use.

We’re sick of you delaying deadlines
And wasting our dollars to keep
That blasted reactor on standby
It’s past time to put it to sleep.

You pay the contractors for failing
To do what they should have done
Then reduce the dollars needed for cleanup
This really is not what we call fun.

How long will you waste our tax dollars
To keep that damn thing on the line
We’ve told you for years don’t want it
Must we do it yet another time.

Where Have All the Forests Gone?

  • tune: Where Have All the Flowers Gone?
    Canadian Grannies

Where have all the forests gone?
We watched them passing.
Where have all the forests gone?
We ought to know.
Where have all the forests gone?
Gone to pulp mills every one.
When will we ever learn?
When will we ever learn?

Where have all the songbirds gone?
Who saw them passing?
Where have all the thrushes gone?
Whose songs we know-ow.
Where have all the songbirds gone?
Seeking homes but finding none.
When will we ever learn?
When will we ever learn?

Where have all the ow-wls gone?
Silently passing.
Where have all the great greys gone?
Soft-winged and slow.
Where have all the ow-wls gone?
To museums every one.
When will we ever learn?
When will we ever learn?

Where has wilderness all gone?
To history passing.
Where has wilderness all gone?
Who let it go?
Where has wilderness all gone?
Where we’re going every one,
If we don’t ever learn.
If we won’t ever learn.

We’ve Been Throwing All the Garbage

  • tune: I’ve Been Working on the Railroad
    The Raging Grannies Songbook, 1993

We’ve been throwing all the garbage
In the city dump.
Don’t throw away your baby’s Pampers
‘Cause they’ll sit there in a lump.
The water’s getting real polluted,
And there’s not enough to drink.
If we sit here doing nothing,
Our world will really stink!

  • Chorus:
    The Earth is so polluted
    The Earth is so polluted
    The Earth is so polluted it makes us sick!
    The Earth is so polluted
    The Earth is so polluted
    We better do something quick!

Toilet Tissue Song

  • tune: Men of Harlech
    Victoria Grannies

Here is something that we wish you’d
Take on as a vital issue.
It’s the case for toilet tissue—
The recycled kind.

It is absolutely fitting,
Whether standing up or sitting,
We decide to stop committing
Environmental crime.

Don’t go on ignoring
All that bleach and chlorine.
Shop for a recycled brand
And you will beel much better by ensuring

Purer air and purer water.
Be and environment supporter.
Let’s all do the things we oughta,
Even on the John.

Teddy Bears’ Picnic?

    • tune: Teddy Bears’ Picnic
      The Raging Grannies Songbook, 1993

If you go down in the woods today, you’re sure of a big surprise.
If you go down in the woods today, you’ll never believe your eyes!
Cause every tree that ever was there is going away—it soon will be bare.
Oh where, oh where will the teddy bears have their picnic?

Weldwood’s taking the trees all down; the people said, “Please don’t!”
But they didn’t seem to care. Is there something we can still do?
It’s up to me and up to you, so we can save a place
For the bears to picnic.

Take the Gross Out of Groceries

  • tune: Take Me Out to the Ballgame
    The Raging Grannies Songbook, 1993, adapted by Kay Thode

Take the gross out of groc’ries,
Keep altered food off our plates.
Some of these products sound quite bizarre!
Keep mom’s home cooked fav’rites just as they are…
This is just what we’ve feared and
You know who is to blame.
Put a freeze on facsimiles—
End Monsanto’s game!

Take the gross out of gro’ries.
We are playing roulette.
Who can tell what will come of this change,
Or what happens when food’s rearranged?
Cause it’s gross, gross, gross what they’re doing.
Gene splicing’s really a shame.
We’ll get down on our knees and say PLEASE!
End Monsanto’s game

Take Me Out to the Clearcut

  • tune: Take Me Out to the Ballgame
    The Raging Grannies Songbook, 1993

Take me out to the clearcut! We’ll picnic on a few stumps.
I want you to know I’m a tree-farming nut
Who thinks like a chainsaw that’s stuck in a rut.
MacBloedel gets a Hip Hooray!
They make black picnic grounds pay.
So it’s one, makes you two, dear investors, thank you!
You have spruced up our day!

Take me out to the clearcut—the timber’s been tidied away.
It’s been sold down the stream in a businessman’s dream.
It’s swell to stand here in a landscape so clean!
So it’s off to lumbering elsewhere—I’ll lumber you and you me.
It’s the buzz of the mill that produces the thrill
Worth a million trees!

So take me out to the clearcut—who needs tall cedars, I say?
The air is depleted and so is the earth,
And that makes us realize what we are worth.
So let’s all get into the greenhouse—it’s warming to know we’re okay.
And if God wanted trees, she’d not make it so easy
To whack them away!

Roll Out the Log Trucks

  • tune: Roll Out the Barrel

Roll out the log trucks! Even though people will yell.
Roll out the log trucks! There’s still a tree we can fell.
There’s no tomorrow—take what is easy and run.
When disaster strikes behind us, it’s okay, we’re gone!

Roll out the barrel! Sorry, it’s empty, we’ve found.
Roll out the barrel! Water is not to be found.
Forests are leveled, ruvers are muddy and slow.
Landslides, floods and NO more wildlife—people, too, will go!

They cut down the last pine tree, and they hauled it away to the mill.
Tit’s quite okay said Ralph Klein, cause those trees are all mine,
And a dead tree’s a reall good tree.

They cut down the old growth, then the soil washes into the creek.
It means that new trees won’t grow so the willlife must go,
And the LUNDscape will sure be bleak.

They cut down the old growth stands, then no tourists will come to our lands.
We’ll see the rivers choked up ‘til we can’t fill our cup,
So we must have a change in plans.

PTP’S (Persistent Toxic Pollutants)

  • tune: My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean
    Kay Thode

They’ve poisoned the food on our dishes
Even breast milk contains PTPs
We eat, drink and breathe those pollutants,
When will you ban their release?

We’ve waited for you to do something,
Protecting the public’s your job,
But we haven’t seen any action,
To end this chemical fog.

It’s past time for you to take steps to,
Ban all those persistent PTPs,
Don’t allow any more releases,
Start to cleanup, now, if you please.

P.O.P. (Persistent Organic Pollutants)

We eat POP and drink POP
And breathe it each day,
Cause those cursed pollutants
Just won’t go away.

They’ve found it in orcas and birds
In breast milk and in the fish,
We fear that daily we get it
In the food that we put on our dish.

Most of our waters are polluted
Toxic sites are all around,
When will you take some action
To protect our Puget Sound?

We’re tired of waiting while you,
Do nothing and let toxics spew
It’s past time — Ban all releases,
End this poisonous stew.

Give us no more broken promises,
And lengthy prolonged delays,
Act now to protect us

Polychlorinated Biphenols

  • Do as a rap or make up a tune
    The Raging Grannies Songbook, 1993

Poly-chlorinated biphe-e-nols
Will fry your brain and rot your adre-e-enals,
Concentrating in our fatty tissue.
This is not a glamorous issue.
But maybe, if they bury it deeper in the ground,
By the time it kills somebody, we won’t be around.

Chloro-fluoro-carbon produ-u-uction.
Is causing ozone layer redu-u-uction.
When ultraviolet rays have seared us to the bone,
We won’t get much relief from using Coppertone!
Disposables pursue us no matter where we roam.
Who could contemplate a life without styro-foam?

We all want our comfort and convenience,
Which leaves us sitting squarely right on the fence.
These things are very difficult to believe.
It’s not the way that life’s portrayed on our TV!
Our kids might all get cancer and have defective genes,
But they will be the best-dress mutants you have ever seen.
Poly-chlorinated biphe-e-nols!
La-la-la-la, la-la-la-la-la-la-la

Now’s the Time to Raise Our Voices

 

  • tune: Someone’s in the Kitchen with Dinah
     The Raging Grannies Songbook, 1993

Now’s the time to raise our voices!
Now’s the time to stand up proud!
Now’s the time to make our choices!
Now’s the time to shout out loud!

We want a world of peaceful coexistence,
And Earth where all the creatures can survive,
Not just pieces here and in the distance—
A place where old growth forests stay alive!

  • change tune: The More We Get Together

Sooo, the more we work together, together, together,
The more we work together, the happier we’ll be!
For your friends are my friends,
And my friends are your friends,
The more we work together, the happier we’ll be!

No More Beef

  • tune: My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean
    by Kay Thode

They gave us E-coli and deserts,
They raised our cholesterol, too.
They’re chopping down all the rain forests,
To bring those big Ma-acs to you.

  • Chorus:
    Cut back, cut back,
    Cut back consumption of me-e-at.
    Cut back, but back,
    Tofu can be quite a treat.

They could use all the grain they feed cattle
To end all starvation on earth.
Resolve to stop e-eating beef now,
It also reduces your girth.

Chorus

Quit eating red meat for your health, dear,
For love of cows, piggies and sheep,
You’ll cut both your weight and your food bill,
And they won’t all be put to sleep.

Chorus

Give Me a Home Where the Rivers Don’t Foam

  • tune: Home on the Range
    The Raging Grannies Songbook, 1993

Oh, give me a home where the rivers don’t foam,
And the squirrel and the chipmunks can play,
Where the lakes all have fish you can put on your dish,
And the skies are not smoggy and grey.

  • Chorus:
    Home, home on the earth,
    Your beauty’s beginning to fade.
    We’ve got to act fast, our luck it won’t last.
    Our home we juste can’t throw away.

Those nuclear wastes are inclined to escape
When into the ground they are dumped.
We don’t want PCBs in the birds and the bees
And dioxin on our babies’ rumps.

Chorus

Oh, give me a home safe inside the ozone.
There’s danger in those cosmic rays.
Oceans up to our neck from greenhouse effect—
Please don’t wash all this beauty away.

Chorus

Get Together and Save the Forest

  • tune: Coming ‘Round the Mountain
    B.C. Sunshine Coast Grannies

Oh, the forest’s our concern and so we’re here.
The forest’s our concern and so we’re here.
It was a lovely invitation
Asking our participation
‘Cause we do not want our forest cut and clear.

So if we can get together, all of us,
And find a plan that doesn’t cause a fuss,
We will fight for conservation
For the future generation—
That’s the one and only plan we will discuss!

Gaggle to Save the Trees

  • tune: Side by Side
    The Raging Grannies Songbook, 1993, adapted by Kay Thode

Oh, we’re a gaggle of Grannies,
Urging you off of your fannies,
We’re telling those chumps,
We’re sick of the stumps,
Save the trees!

We know that you mean well Plum Creek,
It’s protecting nature that you seek,
So leave some more trees
For the birds and the bees,
Save the trees.

Oh, we’re a gaggle of Grannies,
We’ve gotten off of our fannies,
We’re raising our voice,
We want a new choice,
Save the trees.
We really mean it,
Save the trees,
We mean precisely,
Save the trees…
We’ll say it nicely,
Save the trees.
READ OUR LIPS: (Mouth) Save the trees!)

Gaggle against Dioxins

  • tune: Side by Side
    The Raging Grannies Songbook, 1993

Oh, we’re a gaggle of Grannies,
Urging you off of your fannies,
We’re raising our voice,
We want a new choice,
NO DIOXINS.

With the dioxins that they’re spewing
More cancers are accruing,
They’re doing us in,
It’s really a sin,
NO DIOXINS

To change this situation,
Dioxins must be banned,
Tell this administration,
They’ve got to take a stand.

So, join this gaggle of Grannies,
Get up off of your fannies,
We’re telling you now,
We’re angry and how,
NO DIOXINS
We really mean it, NO DIOXINS.
We mean precisely, NO DIOXINS
We will say it very nicely, NO DIOXINS
READ OUR LIPS: (mouth: NO DIOXINS)

The Family Jewels

  • tune: Oh, What a Beautiful Morning
    Edmonton Grannies

Watch out for those blobs in the water.
Polluting in spite of the rules.
They’re not just a hazard to nature—
They’re threatening the family jewels.

When so many of us got breast cancer,
No one seemed in a rush with an answer.
But wouldn’t you know that they’re raring to go
Now that research has shown why the sperm count is low.

If your lover has trouble performing,
Remember we gave you a warning.
If you want to be fruitful and to multiply,
Fish him out of that lake and make sure he’s dry.

Clearcut

  • tune: Take Me Out to the Ball Game
    The Raging Grannies Songbook, 1993

Take me out to the clear-cut,
We’ll picnic on a few stumps.
I want you to know I’m a tree-farming nut
Who thinks like a chainsaw that’s stuck in a rut.
Weyrhauser gets a Hip Hooray
They make paved picnic grounds pay.
So it’s one, makes you two,
Dear investors, thank you!
You have spruced up our day!

Take me out to the clear-cut
The timber’s been tidied away.
It’s been sold down the stream
In a businessman’s dream.
It’s swell to stand here
In a landscape so clean.
It’s off to lumbering elsewhere
I’ll lumber you and you me.
It’s the buzz of the mill (bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz)
That produces the thrill (wriggle suggestively, here)
Worth a million trees!

WTO Affair

  • tune: My Sweet Little Alice Blue Gown
  • by Kay Thode

In my sweet little Alice Blue gown,
I tripped blithely down into the town.
There were cops everywhere,
A WTO affair,
And on every street corner,
Protesters were there.

They were calling for a living wage,
And to rewrite each WTO page.
They don’t want modified food,
Or forests that are nude
Here or anywhere else on earth.

The Earth Is Gonna Thrown Up Over Us

  • tune: Coming ‘Round the Mountain

Oh, the Earth is gonna throw up over us,
Oh, the Earth is gonna throw up over us!
We’re polluting all our water
And we know we hadn’t oughta.
Oh, the Earth is gonna throw up over us.

Oh, the Earth is getting sicker every day,
Oh, the Earth is getting sicker every day.
We’re polluting all our water
And we know we hadn’t oughta.
Oh, the Earth is getting sicker every day.

(The Raging Grannies Songbook, 1993)

Corporation Green

  • tune: Wearing of the Green
    The Raging Grannies Songbook, 1993

O Granny dear, and do you hear
The news that’s going ‘round?
The corporations have decided
They must shift their ground.
It’s the biggest mass conversion
That the world has ever seen!
They’ve seen the light, but it’s not white—
It’s corporation green!

  • Chorus: Now they’re corporation green,
    Yes, they’re corporation green.
    It’s the biggest mass conversion
    That the world has ever seen.
    They’re well-behaved, they’ve all been saved,
    However bad they’ve been.
    These holy men are born again—
    They’re corporation green!

We’d like to know what hit MacBlo
And Fletcher Challenge yet.
They care for owls and waterfowls
And marbled murrelets?
“Share the forest” is the call
Big clearcuts are obscene.
And who can doubt dioxin’s out—
They’re corporations green!

  • Chorus

Exploding Oil Trains

  • Laurie Rostholder
    tune: Home On The Range

Seattle’s our home
And we don’t want it blown
Up by trains carrying volatile oil.
The tanks are so old
They can eas’ly explode
We’ve seen how they kill and they maim.

  • Chorus:
    Keep those trains far from us
    Or better yet don’t let them muss
    Our climate up more
    Let’s show them the door
    Keep the oil in the ground evermore.

 How can we let greed
So eas’ly impede
Our right to a climate that’s clean
The future looks bleak
Unless we can keep
Fossil fuels down where they belong.

  • Chorus

This statement we make
Is strong not opaque
Clearly we fear for our lives
In the present and then
For our kids and their kin
Keep all that oil in the ground.

Gaggle Against Coal- 2

  • by Laurie Rostholder

Oh, we’re a gaggle of grannies,
Urging you off of your fannies,
We’re raising our voice,
We want a new choice,
NO KEYSTONE PIPELINE!

While the decision is pending,
This is the message we’re sending,
We must draw the line,
While there’s still time,
NO KEYSTONE PIPELINE!

We’re telling you Obama,
That you must say no,
If you approve the pipeline,
Your words are just for show!

So join the gaggle of grannies,
Get up off of your fannies,
We’re telling you now,
We’re angry and how,
NO KEYSTONE PIPELINE!
We really mean it
NO KEYSTONE PIPELINE
We mean precisely
NO KEYSTONE PIPELINE
We will say it very nicely
NO KEYSTONE PIPELINE
Read our lips
no key stone pipeline (silent)

Gaggle Against Keystone Pipeline

  • by Laurie Rostholder

Oh, we’re a gaggle of grannies,
Urging you off of your fannies,
We’re raising our voice,
We want a new choice,
NO KEYSTONE PIPELINE!

While the decision is pending,
This is the message we’re sending,
We must draw the line,
While there’s still time,
NO KEYSTONE PIPELINE!

We’re telling you Obama,
That you must say no,
If you approve the pipeline,
Your words are just for show!

So join the gaggle of grannies,
Get up off of your fannies,
We’re telling you now,
We’re angry and how,
NO KEYSTONE PIPELINE!
We really mean it
NO KEYSTONE PIPELINE
We mean precisely
NO KEYSTONE PIPELINE
We will say it very nicely
NO KEYSTONE PIPELINE
Read our lips
no key stone pipeline (silent)

Gaggle: Hanford, Fix Those Leaks

  • by Laurie Rostholder

Oh, we’re a gaggle of grannies
Urging you off of your fannies
We’re raising our voice
We want a new choice
Fix those leaks

The nuclear toxins are leaking
For decades of this we’ve been speaking
The waste stays around
And spreads through the ground
Fix those leaks

Some want nuclear reactors
To provide our energy
It’s clean, safe, and efficient
What astounding hypocrisy

So join this gaggle of grannies
Get up off of your fannies
We’re telling you now
We’re angry and how
Fix those leaks
We really mean it
Fix those leaks
We mean precisely
Fix those leaks
We will say it very nicely
Fix those leaks
Read our lips
(silently) Fix those leaks

Saints: Oil Trains

  • tune: When the Saints Come Marching In
    by Laurie Rostholder

When we stop (pause) all the fuel trains
When we stop all the fuel trains
How I want to be in that number
When we stop all the fuel trains

When fossil fuels stay in the ground

When energy is safe and clean

When no fuel trains are in our tunnel

When all divest of fossil fuels

When air is clean and oceans too

When we stop all the fuel trains

DIVEST

  • TUNE: Away In a Manger

Divest fossil funds and divest fossil stocks,
Invest in our future and walk what you talk.
We burn fossil fuels now at great global harm,
It’s time to invest in a planet less warm.
Divest universities, cities, and schools.
Divest temples, churches invested in fuel.
Our fossil fuels mostly must stay in the ground.
Our future is priceless, let’s keep it around

DECK THE COAL

  • TUNE: Deck the Halls

Close the coal plant in Centralia Fa la la
Solar power will never fail ya, Fa la la
We have lots of greener choices, Fa la la
Stop the coal and raise our voices, Fa la la la la, La la la la

Coal plants fill our air with gasses, Fa la
Breathed by all our lads and lasses, Fa la
We can call on higher powers, Fa la la
From the sun and wind and showers, Fa la la

Close the coal plant in Centralia Fa la la
Coal will shrink your genitalia Fa la la
Coal has lots of nasty gases, Fa la la
Close the plant and save your (pause) health, Fa la la, etc….

CHARLIE ON THE METRO BUS

  • Tune: M.T.A./Charlie
    Lyrics: Mike Wold

Now let me tell you of a story ‘bout a man named Charlie,
Who was never know to make a fuss,
He put Orca in his pocket,kissed his wife and family,
Went to ride the Metro bus

  • CHORUS:
  • But did he ever return? No, he never returned
    And his fate is still unlearned (Poor Old Charlie!)
    He may wait forever at a downtown bus stop
    He’s the man who never returned.

Charlie tagged his card in the Rainier Valley
He was headed for Delridge Way
But when he tried to transfer he just waited and waited
Cause they’d taken the route away.

  • CHORUS

All might long Charlie waits at the bus stop
Saying, ‘What will become of us?’
How can I ever manage to get to my job
If I’m always gonna miss this bus?

  • CHORUS

Charlie calls his wife every evening a seven
She says, ‘Where are you, tell me where!’
Charlie says to her, ‘I’m still just waiting.
For a bus that can take me there.’

  • CHORUS

Good people of Seattle, don’t  you think it’s a scandal,
That they are cutting bus service this way?
Fight for better transit and for decent wages
And get to his job today!

  • LAST CHORUS:
    Or else he’ll never return, No he’ll never return
    And his fate will be unlearned(Poor Old Charlie)
    He will wait forever at a downtown bus stop
    He’s the man who never returned.

 

GIVE ME A HOME WHERE THE RIVERS DON’T FOAM

  • The Raging Grannies Songbook, 1993
    tune: Home on the Range

Oh, give me a home where the rivers don’t foam,
And the squirrel and the chipmunks can play,
Where the lakes all have fish you can put on your dish,
And the skies are not smoggy and grey.

  • Chorus:
    Home, home on the earth,
    Your beauty’s beginning to fade.
    We’ve got to act fast,
    Our luck it won’t last.
    Our home we just can’t throw away.

Those nuclear wastes are inclined to escape
When into the ground they are dumped.
We don’t want PCBs in the birds and the bees
And dioxin on our babies’ rumps.

  • Chorus

Oh, give me a home safe inside the ozone.
There’s danger in those cosmic rays.
Oceans up to our neck from greenhouse effect—
Please don’t wash all this beauty away.

  • Chorus

Coal Train

  • by Lou Truskoff
  • tune: Peace Train (Cat Stevens)

Now I’ve been thinking lately ’bout the dangers of the coal train
And the powerful forces that move you forward, can they be contained?
And I’ve been worried lately ’bout the dangers that you bring
Poisoning the air and water every precious living thing.

  • chorus:
    So coal train of destruction comin’ down the track!
    Will we mobilize enough to turn you back?
    Yes, coal train deadly roller, got to stop the coal train!
    Woo-woo, stop that choo-choo, got to stop the coal train.

Now I’ve been thinking lately, what Bill McKibben said.
We’ve already gone way past 350, soon the planet may be dead.
So I’ve been worried lately about this situation
While our so-called leaders blather on about deficits and sequestration.

  • chorus

Divest, Divest

  • by Shirley Morrison
    tune: “Hi Ho, Hi Ho”

Divest, Divest
From fossil fuels, less
We spew out too much CO2
Earth needs a rest.
Po-lu-tion!

Let’s protest
A REALLY BIG PROTEST
To keep all oil and coal and gas
Deep down inside the Earth
Then we’ll

Invest, yes,
Then we’ll re-invest
In energy that’s
Clean and Green
But now DIVEST!!!!!!

Coal Cars

  • by Ruth Arent
    Tune: I’ve Been Working on the Railroad
    Note: tune of second verse is: first 2 lines and last 2 lines of first verse

We’ve been hearing ‘bout the coal cars
Every single day
We are shocked and we are raging
They must not have their way.
Filthy poisons, dirty profits
An environmental mess
China’s coughing up the money
And coal sharks could care less.

  • CHORUS:  So-Everyone should go,
    Let the coal sharks know
    Stinking up the air is a NO! NO! NO!
    Everyone should go.
    Let the coal sharks know
    We mean it when we shout NO! No!

We are faced with green house gasses
Dioxides by the pound
We are talking ‘bout survival!
Listen up! It is PROFOUND!!!!

  • CHORUS

The Planet’s Getting Hot

  • tune: I Love You a Bushel and a Peck
    Santa Cruz, CA, Raging Grannies

I kid you not, the planet’s getting hot
We might pretend it’s not, but the world is on the spot.
We’re really in the soup, and here’s the latest scoop—
We’ll soon be under water, ‘cause the planet’s getting hotter
It’s true….. Yes, it’s true……..
Whatever, ever shall we do?
Doodle-oodle-oodle, Doodle-oodle-oodle, Doodle-oodle-oodle-doo.

  • It never snow; there’s no more icy floes
    The polar bears will weep
    Cause there’s no place left to sleep
    The penguin chicks are cheepin’
    While the waters quickly deepen;
    The Eskimos who shelter in their igloos simply swelter—
    They’re blue….. skiers too….
    The planet’s hot, we can’t pretend it’s not
    Whatever, ever shall we do?
    Doodle-oodle-oodle, etc….

Let’s build an ark in the Lincoln Park
We’ll build it in the dark, so we won’t attract a shark
We’ll furnish it with sails to withstand the mighty gales
We’ll sail it on the water, ‘cause the planet’s getting hotter.
We’ll float… In our boat….
The planet’s hot; we can’t pretend it’s not.
Whatever, ever can we do?
Doodle-oodle-oodle, etc

  • Do not despair, there’s still some time to spare
    We’ll save the ozone layer—We can do it if we dare!
    Let’s make a resolution to BANISH all pollution
    Make a set of rules to dispense with fossil fuels,
    Let’s do… Me and you …..
    The planet’s hot, we won’t pretend it’s not—
    Let’s go and raise a hullabaloo!
    Doodle-oodle-oodle, etc..

Monsanto Song

  • tune: On Top of Old Smokey
    San Jose, CA, grannies

On top of old Smokey,
See how it glows—
Monsanto has buried
A bushel of woes.

  • The first was potatoes
    Genetically marked,
    Spliced with a jelly-fish
    They glow in the dark.

And then came tomatoes,
So round and so red –
But don’t let them fool you.
They’re genetically dear.

  • Now comes the saddest,
    Which we should all mourn,
    Old Round-Up is hidden
    In each kernel of corn.

So as you sit eating
Your veggies today,
Remember Monsanto
Is lighting your way!

No More Waste

  • tune: Deck the Halls

Hear the latest nuclear folly,
Fa, la Fa, la, la la, la, La, la, la, la.
Shipping wastes in trucks by golly,
Fa, la, la la, la, La, la, la, la.
Transuranics on the highway,
Fa, la, la la, la, La, la, la, la.
Endangers folks along the byway,
Fa, la, la la, la, La, la, la, la.

Don’t trade any more new waste,
Fa, la, la la, la, La, la, la, la.
For promises made in haste,
Fa, la, la la, la, La, la, la, la.
Trading low level waste for high,
Fa, la, la la, la, La, la, la, la.
Makes us as the question why,
Fa, la, la la, la, La, la, la, la.

File a TRO, block shipments,
Fa, la, la la, la, La, la, la, la.
Stand by TPA commitments,
Fa, la, la la, la, La, la, la, la.
No new waste with no EIS,
Fa, la, la la, la, La, la, la, la.
We want cleanup, not a new mess,
Fa, la, la la, la, La, la, la, la.

Leaking trenches we do fear,
Fa, la, la la, la, La, la, la, la.
Don’t bring any more new wastes here,
Fa, la, la la, la, La, la, la, la.
We won’t become a waste dumpsite,
Fa, la, la la, la, La, la, la, la.
For the nation, without a fight,
Fa, la, la la, la, La, la, la, la.

Eating

  • tune: What Shall We Do With a Drunken Sailor?
    San Jose, CA Grannies

What shall we do with the world food crisis?(3X)
Learn this very morning…

Scan the labels when you’re buying (3X)
Eating out or shopping,

Buy Local, fresh and healthy (3X)
No more junk food anytime,

Eat less meat, more fruits and veggies(3X)
For healthy bodies and our planet,

Corn for food, not biofuels (3X)
That’s food for humans, not machines

Help local farmers grow more food(3X)
Time is wasting, we’ve got warning.

Food for people, not for profits(3X)
Food security for all.

Feed the hungry & poor among us(3X)
Benefit all creatures

Learn to share our scarce resources(3X)
And our love and caring.

End of FFTF

  • tune: Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean

We’re glad you’ve decided to shut down
FFTF for once and for all
We’ve waited for years for this message
We wish it were done by the fall.

  • But we’ll prefer 2007
    To complete this reactor’s demise
    And hope you will expedite cleanup
    Of the tanks and the soil on the site.

Empty those high level waste tanks,
Vitrify seventy-five percent,
Refuse to accept any mixed wastes
Just clean up our environment

  • Clean up, clean up,
    Cleanup is job number one.
    Clean up, clean up,
    That is what must be done.

Clean Up the Waste

  • tune:Enjoy Yourself, It’s Later Than You Think

For years and years,
We’ve come and sung,
Beseeched and testified,
FULL cleanup is what we all want,
And we’re not satisfied.

We won’t take any
More new waste,
‘Til what’s here is all clean,
We’re sick of being
Your waste dump,
It really is obscene.

Clean up the waste,
It’s later than you think,
Clean up the waste,
Before it’s in the drink,
The Columbia is really on the brink,
Clean up the waste, Clean up the waste,
It’s later than you think!

Clean Up Is Job Number One

  • tune:My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean

Empty those high level waste tanks,
Vitrify a higher percent,
Don’t leave leaking active waste tanks here
Despoiling our environment.

CHORUS:
Cleanup, cleanup, Cleanup is job number one,
Cleanup, cleanup, That is what must be done.

Uphold the Tri-Partite agreement,
Protect the Columbia’s fish,
We don’t want radioactive salmon,
To be served up to us on our dish.

CHORUS

Line all the low-level waste grounds,
Ensure they are safe for all time,
Clean up the soil and ground water,
Meet all of the legal deadlines.

CHORUS

At Last

At last, FFTF will be gone,
Its standby days are over,
We celebrate with song.

At last, we see the end in sight,
It’s much too far away yet,
But okay if it’s done right.

We have a dream of a clean Hanford
That folks can visit without fright,
A place where healthy critters wander,
With no Danger in sight.

At last, once more
We think it’s true,
FFTF will be shut down,
Our hopes and dreams come true.

Radical Environmentalists – XL Pipeline

  • tune: She’ll Be Coming Round the Mountain

Oh, we’re radical environmentalists.
We’re radical environmentalists.
We like clean air and clean water,
And our beaches in good order.
We’re radical environmentalists.

Oh, we don’t like energy from fossil fuels,
And we know that frackin’ kills-We ain’t no fools!
And we’d rather see those windmill blades
Than nuclear plants in the Everglades!
We’re radical environmentalists!

We’ve seen drilling; we’ve seen fracking in our time,
But we’ll stand against that damned XL pipeline.
We don’t want their gas and oil
Mucking up our earth and soil,
‘Cause we’re radical environmentalists!

Yes, we’re radical environmentalists.
Mess with Mother Earth, it makes us pissed!
So get out and tell the others
That the Earth is still our mother…
Then you’ll all be true environmentalists!

Hanford Hearing, 11/2/05

  • tune: Enjoy Yourself, It’s Later Than You Think

For years and years
We’ve come and sung,
Beseeched and testified,
To get the waste here all cleaned up
But we were just denied.
Then people spoke through 297
The vote was very clear,
Full cleanup is what we all want,
Now, not another year.

CHORUS:
Respect the vote and clean up all the waste,
No more delays, it must be done with haste,
The Columbia is really on the brink
Clean up the waste, clean up the waste,
It’s later than you think!

We don’t want your IDF landfill
To increase our waste load,
You haven’t cleaned up what is here,
We’re ready to explode.
We won’t take any offsite waste
‘Til what’s here is all clean,
We refuse to be the national waste dump,
It really is obscene.

CHORUS:
Respect the vote and clean up all the waste,
No more delays, it must be done with haste,
The Columbia is really on the brink
Clean up the waste, clean up the waste,
It’s later than you think
1

Hanford Cleanup

  • by Kay Thode
  • tune: John Brown’s Body

The chosen site of Hanford is for radioactive waste.
It mixes in our water and we all can have a taste.
The river called Columbia is about to get some too.
Nuclear soup for me and you!

Leaking tanks forever!
Leaking tanks forever!
Leaking tanks forever!
Plutonium makes us strong!

We have so little money for clean up the mess,
We’re spending it on armaments that bring us happiness.
So what’s a little poison when you mix it in your tea—
It builds the economy!

Leaking tanks forever!
Leaking tanks forever!
Leaking tanks forever!
Plutonium makes us strong!
(Kay Thode)

Corporate Veggies

  • tune: Row Row Row your boat
  • lyrics by: Nancy Goedert, modified

Rows Rows Rows of corn
From Monsanto seeds
Overcome and overtake
All other varieties.

Emerald beetles killed the Ash
Dutch Elm killed trees, too.
When a bug kills Corporate corn
Then what shall we do?

Sweet, tart, juicy tomatoes-
disappearing fast
Replaced with tasteless
corporate orbs that
ship well, and they last.

Corporate Tomatoes

  • by: Nancy Goedert
  • tune: I Feel Pretty (from West Side Story)

They’re so PREtty
CORporate toMAtoes
They’re not JUicy
just PREtty and MOIST.
THERE’s no FLAvor
but they’re FIRM (pause)
and they SHIP (pause) so WELL.

You won’t TASTE them so
THEY won’t Cover the
FLAvors of THE other FOODS.
No SWEET, no TARTness
and no JUices dripping
DOWN your CHIN.

SEE the pretty toMAtoes
ON the SHELF.
See how aITRACtive they ARE.
SEE the pretty RED.
See the pretty SHAPE.
Feel its firm FORM.
Such a pretty FRUIT.

Corporate toMAtoes.
Who needs FLAvor?
Who needs JUiciness –
THAT’S just a MESS.
I Say good BYE to the
FRUITS that WE used to LOVE.

We Must Act

  • by Laurie Rostholder
  • tune: Freres Jacque

Storms keep brewing
What are we doing
About climate change
About climate change
No time for disbelievers
Or nature misperceivers
We must act
We must act

While we’re analyzing
The temperatures are rising
Fires will increase
Food production cease
We watch the deserts growing
Starvation never slowing
We must act
We must act

Glaciers are shrinking
Islands are sinking
As oceans rise
Before our very eyes
No time for dumb debate
We hope it’s not too late
We must act
We must act
We must act
We must act

Coal Train Passes Me

  • tune: Come they tell me/little drummer boy

Coal train passes me pa rum pum pum pum
A hundred cars I see pa rum pum pum pum
Each car five hundred pounds pa rum pum pum pum
Of dust it spews around pa rum pum pum pum,
rum pum pum pum, rum pum pum pum

Coal train blocks our roads pa rum pum pum pum
For hours and hours it goes with load after load
It cuts me off from home pa rum pum pum pum
My children are alone pa rum pum pum pum
rum pum pum pum, rum pum pum pum

Coal sits in our ports, big mountains of coal
We’ve stripped the earth of coal pa rum pum pum pum
The dust fills up my lungs pa rum pum pum pum
I taste dust on my tongue pa rum pum pum pum,
rum pum pum pum, rum pum pum pum

Our coal goes to Asian factory ports
To dusty towns built just to slave on exports
We bum up coal a lot pa rum pum pum pum
Coal makes our planet hot pa rum pum pum pum,
rum pum pum pum, rum pum pum pum

Coal train passes me pa rum pum pum pum
On its last run.

This Green Human

  • tune: This Old Man

This old man, he had one
SOGgy piece of HOT dog bun.
With a nick nack paddy wack
To the compost bin
He GRINNED and simply tossed it in.

This small town, it had two
WINDmills spinning as AIR blew through
With a nick nack paddy wack
HARness all the wind
Catch e-LEC-tricity, WATCH ‘em spin.

My friend’s folks, they drive three
CARpools for my FRIENDS and me
With a nick nack paddy wack
FILLing every seat
Saves gas every TIME we meet.

This old man, he bought four
Amtrac passes to the shore
With a nick nack paddy wack
Moving people fast
TRAINS can help our PLAnet last.

This old woman, she bought five
COOLer bulbs with LONGer lives
With a nick nack paddy wack
More efficienCY
LIGHTS save E-lecTRICity.

This old man, he saw six
HYbrid cars do MILEage tricks
With a nick nack paddy wack
PLUS a battery
SAVE on fuel eCONomy.

This Can Is Your Can

  • tune: This Land is Your Land

This can is your can, this can is my can.
We used it once and we’ll use it again.
It might come back as a bicycle handlebar!
This can was made for you and me.

This bag is your bag, this bag is my bag.
It works as well as the day it was made.
Just take it back to your local food store.
This bag was made for you and me.

This cup is your cup, this cup is my cup.
For take-out coffee it can be filled up.
Forget the Styrofoam and save the ozone.
This cup was made for you and me.

This land is your land, this land is my land.
We can’t keep taking and poison making.
If we respect it and don’t neglect it
This land will last for you and me.

There’s a Hole in the Bottom of the Sea

There’s a hole in the bottom of the sea.
There’s a hole in the bottom of the sea.
There’s a hole, there’s a hole, there’s a hole in the bottom of the sea.

There’s a spill in the drill in the hole in the bottom of the sea.
There’s a spill in the drill in the hole in the bottom of the sea.
There’s a spill, there’s a spill, there’s a spill in the drill in the hole in the bottom of the sea.

Now the sea and the land fill with oil from the spill in the drill in the hole in the bottom of the sea.
Now the sea and the land fill with oil from the spill in the drill in the hole in the bottom of the sea.
There’s oil, there’s oil, there’s oil in the sea and the land from the spill in the drill in the hole in the bottom of the sea.

Let’s arrest BP for the hole in the sea, for the sea and the land full of oil from the spill in the drill in the hole in the bottom of the sea.
Let’s arrest, let’s arrest,
(speak) LET’S ARREST BP!!!

Take Good Care of Yourself

tune: You Belong to Me!

Healthy food is good for you
And your family.
Take good care of yourself—
Build community!

  • Be sure to ride your bike—oo, oo!
    Take a hike—oo, oo!
    Fly a kite—oo,oo!
    Get off your butt and turn off the TV!

Throw the plastic bottles out,
And the pesticides,
Take good care of yourself
And we all will thrive.

  • Make the water safe and pure-oo, oo!
    Let’s be sure—oo, oo!
    Life is more—oo, oo!
    Of friendship, fellowship, and caring.

Healthy food is good for you
And your family.
Take good care of yourself—
Build community!

Scientists’ Lament

  • by Monica Zucker
  • tune: Battle Hymn of the Republic

We can’t say “global warming.”
We can’t say “Studies show…”
We can’t say “greenhouse gasses,”
We can’t say “Now we know…”
We’ve got to hide our science–
Never mention Kyoto,
Cause his head is in the sand.

Chorus:
But the facts are so alarming
That the planet earth is warming
Our emissions surely harming
But his head is in the sand.

We love carbon dioxide!
We love the SUVs!
We love all the emissions–
Even lung disease!
We love deregulation
And the censorship decrees,
Cause his head is in the sand!

Chorus

Saints- Environment

  • tune: When the Saints Come Marching In

When food is free of pesticides,
When food is free of pesticides,
How I want to be in that number
When food is free of pesticides.

  • Variations:

When old growth trees are left to stand…

When salmon streams have been restored…

When Hanford wastes have been cleaned up…

When wastes don’t flow to Puget Sound…

When all pollutants have been banned…

Saints- Coal

  • tune: When the Saints Come Marching In

There is no thing such as clean coal,
There is no thing such as clean coal,
How I want to be in that number
There is no thing such as clean coal.

    • Variations:

When we use wind and sun and waves…

When no coal cars pollute the air…

When all the coal stays underground…

When the air is fresh and clean…

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

  • tune: Stand Up, Stand Up, for Jesus

Reduce, reuse, recycle,
Replant, regenerate,
Rebuild, refuel, reforest,
And re-evaluate.

Revamp, react, recover,
Reclaim recall, renew,
Rejoice and redistribute,
Reform, refine, refuse.

Resolve, respect, refinish,
Restore, re-educate,
Rebound, refill, refurbish,
And rehabilitate.

Recoup, reflect, rebottle,
Repair and recognize,
Recheck, refit, rekindle,
Respond, revitalize.

Radical Environmentalists

  • tune: She’ll Be Coming Round the Mountain

Oh, we’re radical environmentalists.
We’re radical environmentalists.
We like clean air and clean water,
Just like the farmer’s daughter.
We’re radical environmentalists.

Oh, we like our veggies without pesticides,
And our meat without those hormones placed inside.
We like fish without PCB’s
And forests that still have some trees.
We’re radical environmentalists.

We like automobiles that do not pollute,
And we like guns that simply cannot shoot.
We like lawns grown without Weed N’ Feed.
We don’t like that gene-spliced seed,
We’re radical environmentalists.

So join these radical environmentalists,
Who want wind power and electric cars.
Recycle all your glass and paper
And you can tell your Maker
You’re a radical environmentalist.

On Top of Old Smoky

  • by Monica Zucker

On top of old smoky,
That coal burning plant,
They say they’ve made coal clean,
But you know they can’t.

They top all the hills when
They dig out the coal.
Then dump waste in rivers,
Like a big sewage bowl.

The stories ‘bout clean coal
Are clearly untrue.
The air is polluted—
T’will suffocate you.

On top of old smoky,
That coal burning plant,
They say they’ve made coal clean,
But you know they can’t.

Look Around You

  • Shirley Morrison and Kay Thode
  • tune: Clementine

Look around you, see the people
Who are working everyday
For the kind of world we all want,
Where healthy children laugh and play
A world with no more nuclear arms,
Guns are banned and want is rare,
Where all races live together,
Everyone has good health care.

  • Equal rights and equal wages,
    Social justice on the earth,
    No pollution on the planet,
    A new world will come to birth.
    Look around you see the people
    Who are working everyday
    For a world of peace and plenty
    Where the grandkids laugh and play.
     

Katrina Rap

  • by Ann Smith

Our government moves at a very slow pace.
They didn’t understand New Orleans was a race.
To save people, save lives, and pretend to care
For the needy, the poor, and the black who live there.
If this was a test, they utterly failed.
This negligent lot should be charged and jailed.
The next storm is coming—who knows where or when.
With Washington’s record—will they be ready then?

It’s Later Than You Think

  • tune: Enjoy Yourself

For years we’ve sung,
Beseeched and testified,
To clear the waste,
But we were just denied.
The people spoke
In their initiative.
We showed our fear,
The vote was clear—
Don’t wait another year.

Chorus:
Respect the vote
And clean up all the waste.
No more delays
It must be done with haste.
Columbia is really on the brink
Clean up the waste!
Clean up the waste!
It’s later than you think.

We don’t want
The nation’s nuclear load.
You haven’t cleared!
We’re ready to explode.
Don’t give us more
Until what’s here is clean.
Clean up the waste!
Clean up the waste!
It really is obscene.

It Ain’t Necessarily So

  • Lyrics by Salt Spring Raging Grannies of Canada to Tune by George Gershwin
  • Note: The full title of this song is “All Purpose Comprehensive Rant about Everything That Is Wrong with the Whole World.” Seattle Grannies may make up verses for occasions.

CHORUS
It ain’t necessarily so,
It ain’t necessarily so.
The corporate media
Would like to mislead ya,
It ain’t necessarily so,

(Environment)

Salt Spring’s not gone to the dogs.
Trees are just unemployed logs.
We mustn’t get madder
Just ‘cause Taxada
Is trashing our watershed bogs.

Don’t worry about greenhouse gas–
The doom and gloom won’t come to pass.
Remember the looting
We get from polluting
All goes to the governing class.

CHORUS

(Food)

Genetically modified food
Is certified legally good.
Ignore all the rumors—
Just be good consumers.
Don’t ask all those questions—it’s rude.

Hormone-laced beef is just swell.
Just look at our own NHL.
No need for inspection
Of bovine injection—
Don’t you want to be macho as well?

(Big Business)

We always promote human rights.
We worry, and can’t sleep at nights.
But sooner or later
The gangster dictators
Who buy our arms must see the light.

Our banks are the best ever seen.
The profits they make aren’t obscene.
We like the adoption
Of enormous stock options
For CEOs fleeing the scene.

Drug company profits are small.
They’re lobbying hardly at all.
When they hear generics
They go into hysterics
For fear that the share prices will fall.

Africa’s dying of AIDS,
But drug barons got to get paid.
They say they feel saddened,
But they hold the patent.
Take aspirin and sit in the shade.

Free trade’s the best way to go.
Only subversives say no.
We’ll follow the factories
South and drink daiquiris.
Viva Low Wage Mexico!

CHORUS

(Schools)

Our school rooms are all well-supplied.
Whoever denies it has lied.
They depend for kids’ readers
On corporate leaders
Who peddle their Pepsi inside.

(Health)

Health care is our most sacred trust.
We’ll give you some time to adjust.
In a matter of urgency
Camp in Emergency
And sit till you’re gathering dust.

CHORUS

(WTO)

Quebec’s got a Big Business Fair.
It’ll be just like Tienamin Square
They admit it’s a pity
To barb-wire the city,
But people might try to get there.

(Defenses)

Women should man submarines,
‘Cause women are fighting machines.
If the ship isn’t celibate
The brass won’t think well of it
Unless there are separate latrines.

CHORUS

(Finally)

We sing ‘cause we don’t want to curse.
We’re alive, and we don’t need a hearse.
But if there’s a screw-up
We plan to wake you up
Or everything’s sure to get worse.

It Ain’t Gonna Rain

  • by Monica Zucker, 2001

CHORUS (with audience)
It ain’t gonna rain no more, no more!
It ain’t gonna rain no more!
How in the heck
Can I wash my neck
If it ain’t gonna rain no more?

It ain’t gonna rain no more, no more!
Turn the lights down, cut the heat.
Stop watering the lawn,
Tell the salmon not to spawn,
Cause it ain’t gonna rain no more!

(CHORUS)

It ain’t gonna rain no more, no more!
You’re gonna pay the price.
The governor has warned ya
Our juice went to California,
And it ain’t gonna rain no more!

(CHORUS)

It ain’t gonna rain no more, no more!
California cooked its goose.
They deregulated power
And now they’re taking ours,
And it ain’t gonna rain no more!

(CHORUS)

It ain’t gonna rain no more, no more!
Texas oil men made a steal.
Bush’s pals took out the cash
Letting small producers crash,
And it ain’t gonna rain no more!

(CHORUS)

It ain’t gonna rain no more, no more!
We must drill the Arctic wilds.
Corporate greed will get the money
If the weather stays so sunny,
And it ain’t gonna rain no more!

(CHORUS)

It ain’t gonna rain no more, no more!
Can Seattle be the same?
Now the pampered folks at Boeing
Say so long we must be going!
And it ain’t gonna rain no more!

It ain’t gonna rain no more, no more!
It ain’t gonna rain no more
Why in the deuce should I lose my juice…
How in hell can my condo dig a well…
We’ll pay through the nose if we turn on the hose…
How in the heck
Can I wash my neck
If it ain’t gonna rain no more!

Initiative 297

  • by Kay Thode
  • tune: Theme of Beverly Hillbillies

I was travelin’ down the highway
As happy as a clam,
‘Til I got caught in a
Horrendous traffic jam.
Then I noticed right beside me,
There on the road,
A truck with nuclear waste
As its load.

It was bound for eastern Washington,
With Hanford as its goal,
And I shuddered as I thought of
The radioactive toll
It could take on people parked there
Just like sitting ducks
Exposed to radiation
From that idling truck.

Little did I know thousands more
Would come down the road,
Sent by DOE
With their cancer causing load.
What kind of government leaders
Would expose us to such harm
As when they sent troops to Iraq
Based on a false alarm.

Well, we’re going to stop those bureaucrats
In Washington D.C.
From sending any more waste here
To damage you and me.
Get out and tell folks everywhere
The danger that we face,
Work for 297,
Save us from more waste.

I Had an SUV

    • by Monica Zucker
    • tune: I Had a Little Ford

Oh, I had an SUV,
A big black SUV,
The biggest SUV you ever did see.
The car was on the wheels,
The wheels were on the ground,
And the engine in the car
Made the wheels go ‘round.
Bump diddy ah dah, BUMP! BUMP!

Oh, the engine guzzled gas,
Polluted all the air,
Polluted all the sea,
Polluted all the ground
That you ever could see.
The car was on the wheels,
The wheels were on the ground,
And the engine in the car
Made the wheels go ‘round.
Bump diddy ah dah, BUMP! BUMP!

I got a hybrid car,
A pretty little car,
The cutest little car
That you ever did see.
It didn’t guzzle gas,
It didn’t ruin the earth,
And look at all the cash
That it saved me!
Oh, that hybrid’s on the wheels,
The wheels are on the ground,
And two engines in the car
Make the wheels go ‘round.
Bump diddy ah dah, BUMP! BUMP!

Hush Little Planet

  • from E-Vine
  • tune: Hush Little Baby

    Some save shells in a treasure chest.
    Some think gold in a safe is best.

    Did YOU know water, wind and sun
    Are valuable for everyone?

    Our planet is a treasure box.
    Our minds can open up the locks.

    The power from water, wind and sun
    Can all be used by everyone.

    Across the world or over here
    We must protect our atmosphere.

    From young and small to big and brave
    We all can help, we all can save.

    There is a place beyond the fence
    Where people use their common sense.

    Where all of us have all agreed
    To NEVer take more than we need.

 

 

Hanford Victory Party (January 28, 2002)

  • by Kay Thode 
  • tune: Now That the Ball Is Over

Now that Fast Flux is ended,
Now we have won at last,
We celebrate our victory
Cause that dire threat has passed.
We thank all the people in this room
For all the work they’ve done,
Now we must all work to see that
Cleanup gets completely done.

We still have a federal budget
That shortchanges people’s health
And they are still squandering money
On missiles that take so much wealth.
We’ll keep demanding more dollars,
We will go on with the fight,
‘Til they’ve finished the cleanup
And the job has been done right.

Grow GDP

  • tune: Three Blind Mice

Grow GDP
Grow GDP.
SEE the economy grow
IT’S the only show.

CONSIDer what GDP REPresents,
FRACKing and O-il spills WE lament,
TRASH and WASTE of enVIronment.
Enough is enough!
(speak loudly:) ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!

FREE market growth,
FREE market growth,
The ONE-percenter’s oath,
The ONE- percenter’s oath.

Could ONE percenters Solve our trouble?
EVEN that BUSTED-HOUSing bubble?
NINEY –nine STUCK in a TERRIBLE muddle.
Enough is enough!
(speak:) ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!

Grow GDP,
Grow GDP,
SEE the economy grow
IT’S the only show.

GROWTH’s the MANtra we hear ev’ry day,
SUNG to us ev-er-y THIS and THAT way;
BUT there are LI-MITS TO
GROWTH we say,

Enough is enough!
(speak:) ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!!!

Grannies Against Stuff

  • by Canadian Grannies, adapted by Karen Schneider-Chen 
  • tune: Frosty the Snowman

We’re the Raging Grannies
And we’re asking you today
To cut down on buying more stuff—
Show your kids a better way.
We don’t like landfills
Full of stuff that’s thrown away,
We like walks and talks and constructive games
To fill our grandkids’ day.

They don’t need all those presents
To fill their lives with cheer.
They really want your love and time
Throughout the coming year.
So join the Raging Grannies:
Boycott all that stuff.
Today is buy nothing day—
We all have enough.

Got Gas?

  • adaptation by Laurie Rostholder of song by Glen Anderson
  • The Marine Hymn

From Iraq and Venezuela
The Arabian and Caspian Seas,
We will pump out all the planet’s oil
Just to fuel our SUVs.
We can get ten miles per gallon
As we guzzle gasoline.
Since we’ll always need a lot more oil,
We’ll just call out the Marines.

We will pave the way for Texaco,
For Standard, ARCO, too,
And Exxon, Shell and AMOCO—
But the cost is paid by you.
And some foreigners will lose their land
And their lives when we invade,
But WE’LL get gas for our guzzling cars
And enemies that we’ve made.

From Honduras for United Fruit,
To anywhere for our banks,
We will conquer anyplace, anytime,
Until we run out of tanks.
So we cultivate our image
As we dominate the skies—
Not to protect rights and values,
But big business enterprise!

GM Foods Are Good for Me

  • by the Halifax Grannies
  • tune: Yes, Jesus Loves Me, to be sung in little girl voices

GM foods are good for me—
So say government agencies.
Sci-en-tists there do agree
GM foods won’t hu-urt me.

  • Chorus:
    Yes, scientists love me.
    Yes, governments love me.
    Yes, biotech loves me.
    Spin doctors tell me so.

GM corn kills butterflies.
What are other GM lies?
Terminator, can’t you see,
Is good for In-di-a and me.

Chorus

(Halifax Grannies)

Give Us a Beach

  • tune: Home on the Range

Oh, give us a beach
Where oil spills can’t reach,
And there’s no sticky goo on the sand,
Where children can play,
And the birds and fish stay
Free from harm … that’s our simple demand.

  • Chorus:
    Save our seas and our sand!
    We’re here and we’re taking a stand!
    Say NO to those rigs
    And those comp’nies so big!
    Mother Earth still comes first in our land!

We Grannies are blue.
Our predictions came true,
And their oil leaked onto our shore.
It’s gooey and black
And we can’t put it back.
So we don’t want them drillin’ no more!

Chorus

“Drill, baby, drill”
Was a license to kill
For Hal’burton, TransOcean, BP,
So boycott BP
And then maybe they’ll see
What we think of crude oil in the sea!

Chorus

Gaggle Against G.E.S

  • tune: Side by Side

Oh, we’re a gaggle of Grannies
Urging you off of your fannies,
We’re raising our voice,
We want a new choice—
NO G.E.s

With all the money they’re spending,
Splicing genes unending,
They’re wrecking our food
And spoiling our mood—
NO G.E.s

With all of their gene splicing,
There is no way to know
What damage they are doing.
G.E.s have got to go!

So, join this gaggle of Grannies!
Get up off of your fannies.
We’re telling you now
We’re angry and how,
NO G.E.s

We really mean it! NO G.E.s
We mean precisely! NO G.E.s
We will say it very nicely! NO G.E.s
Read our lips! (Mouth NO G.E.s)

(The Raging Grannies Songbook, 1993, adapted by Kay Thode)

Gaggle Against Coal

  • tune: Side By Side

Oh, we’re a gaggle of Grannies,
Urging you off of your fannies,
We’re raising our voice,
We want a new choice,
NO MORE COAL!

With all the money we’re spending
On fossil fuels that’re ending
We all go broke,
The scientists spoke:
NO MORE COAL!

We need new solutions
To clean up land and air.
Stop glacier dissolutions,
And climate change despair.

So join this gaggle of Grannies,
Get up off of your fannies,
We’re telling you now,
We’re angry and how,
NO MORE COAL!
We really mean it! NO MORE COAL!
We mean precisely! NO MORE COAL!
We will say it very nicely!
Read our lips! (silently) NO MORE COAL!
(Curtsy)

Fishies

  • tune: Three Little Fishes

Out in the ocean in a nice polluted sea
Swam a school of fishes—as happy as can be.
We’re goin’ up the river, where we all began—
But wait a minutes, fisihes, they’ve got another plan!
Boop, boop, dittum, datum, wattum, choo, Boop, boop, dittum, datum, wattum, choo, Boop, boop, dittum, your luck is overdrawn, ‘Cause you’ll never make it up—the river to spawn.

What happened to the turbot, the herring and the cod Is happening to the salmon—DON’T BLAME IT ALL ON GOD!
The dams are killing salmon and they have got to go
Before the salmon are extinct and we are full of woe!
Boop, boop, dittum, datum, wattum, choo, Boop, boop, dittum, datum, wattum, choo, Boop, boop, dittum, We’ve got to save those fish!
Remove those damn dams before the salmon go squish!

Enough Is Enough

  • tune: Three Blind Mice

Grow GDP
Grow GDP.
SEE the economy grow
IT’S the only show.

CONSIDer what GDP REPresents,
FRACKing and O-il spills WE lament,
TRASH and WASTE of enVIronment.
Enough is enough!
(speak loudly:) ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!

FREE market growth,
FREE market growth,
The ONE-percenter’s oath,
The ONE- percenter’s oath.

Could ONE percenters SOLVE our trouble?
EVEN that busted HOUSing bubble?
NINEY –nine STUCK in a TERRIBLE muddle.
Enough is enough!
(speak:) ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!

Grow GDP,
Grow GDP,
SEE the economy grow
IT’S the only show.

GROWTH’s the MANtra we hear ev’ry day,
SUNG to us ev-er-y THIS and THAT way;
BUT there are LI-MITS TO
GROWTH we say,

Enough is enough!
(speak:) ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!!!

Dolphin Song

  • tune: Three Little Fishies

Out in the ocean in a nice warm sea,
Swam a school of dolphins, as happy as can be.
Then along came the Navy, with a military plan
To train those wild, free dolphins
To serve as spies for man.

Boop, boop, dittum, datum, wattum, choo,
Boop, boop, dittum, datum, wattum, choo,
Boop, boop, dittum, your luck is overdrawn,
Cuz you’ve been kidnapped and now you are a pawn.

You’re going to live in pens
To keep you from the cold,
Except for two hour sessions
When you do what you’re told.
The Navy and the Army have got a lot of cheek,
If they think nobody’s watching,
Then they’re up the creek.

Boop, boop, dittum, datum, wattum, choo,
Boop, boop, dittum, datum, wattum, choo,
Boop, boop, dittum, we’ve got to stop the plan,
No more dolphins captured,
Becoming slaves for man.

Dioxin- What a Toxin!

  • The Raging Grannies Songbook, 1993, adapted

(Spoken)

Oh dioxin—what a toxin!
It helps make our paper look just right.
Never gritty,
Oh, so pretty.
Keeps our toilet tissue soft and white.

Carcinogenics are misunderstood.
They may kill us off,
But it’s for our own good!

O, dioxin—what a toxin!
There’ve been traces found in Puget Sound, they say,
In the shellfish—
What a swell dish!
Could be served with mercury flambé!

Jobs are important, we all can agree,
But who’ll pay the price
Once we’ve poisoned the sea?
Oh, dioxin—what a toxin!

Deck the Halls (Nuclear Folly)

  • by Kay Thode

Deck the halls with boughs of holly.
Fa la la la la, la la la la
Do away with nuclear folly.
Fa la la la la, la la la la
Grannies in their bright apparel,
Fa la la, la la la, la la la l
Sing about the nuclear peril!
Fa la la la la, la la la la

For your attention, we are dressed
Fa la la la la, la la la la
For peace on Earth, you might have guessed.
Fa la la la la, la la la la
We will sing out all our protest,
Fa la la la la, la la la la
’Til we end the nuclear menace!
Fa la la la la, la la la la

 

 

 

Corporate Farm

  • from: the Victoria Grannies
  • tune:  Old MacDonald’s Farm

We all live on a corporate farm,
EE AYE EE AYE DOUGH.
And on that farm are too many pigs
EE AYE EE AYE DOUGH.

With a tax break here and a tax break there.
Here a break, there a break, everywhere a tax break.
We all live on a corporate farm
EE AYE EE AYE DOUGH.

Those pigs get fat but they don’t produce
EE AYE EE AYE DOUGH.
They’re not very pretty and they’re not any use
EE AYE EE AYE DOUGH.

With a bank account here and a bank account there,
Here a scam, there a scam, everywhere a tax scam,
Pigs get fat but they don’t produce
EE AYE EE AYE DOUGH.

There is no use for overfed pigs
EE AYE EE AYE DOUGH.
All they do is eat and oink.
EE AYE EE AYE DOUGH.

With a tax scam here and a tax break there
Here a scam, there a break everywhere an oink, oink
Kick them out and clean up the mess
EE AYE EE AYE NO!!

Clearcut the Forest

  • tune: My Favorite Things

Clearcut the forest
And kill all the fishes.
DEnude the hillsides
Against all our wishes.
Who cares if all of our trees disappear?
We can grow more in about 80 years.

Who needs green trees?
Who needs clear streams?
Who needs oxygen?
We’re fooling around with
The health of the earth—
It may not heal again.

(quiet) If no one knows it,
(loud) Let’s expose it.
Make it go away.
Refuse to buy wood
That’s not cut as it should.
Let us begin today!

Chemical Restaurant

  • tune: Alice’s Restaurant

They won’t say what they’re cooking today
At the Chemical Restaurant
Maybe it’s beans with monkey genes
At the Chemical Restaurant
You got one sore breast, or maybe both?
Maybe the milk is full of Bovine Growth
They won’t say what they’re cooking today
At the Chemical Restaurant

They won’t say what they’re zapping today
At the Chemical Restaurant
They can’t wait to irradiate
At the Chemical Restaurant
Thanks, Monsanto, it looks so good
We mustn’t bitch if it tastes like wood
They won’t say what they’re zapping today
At the Chemical Restaurant

They won’t say what they’re cooking today
At the Chemical Restaurant
Those almighty sods are playing God
At the Chemical Restaurant
They’re patenting seeds—you know what’s next?
If we don’t stop ‘em they’ll be patenting sex!
They won’t say what they’re zapping today
At the Chemical Restaurant

Celebrate

  • by: Kay Thode
  • tune: That’s the Glory of Love

 
We’re gonna dance a little, prance a little,
Say goodbye to that reactor.
Heart of America,
You made it happen,
THANKS!

We’re gonna sing a little, chant a little,
Raise our glasses up a little.
We’re here to celebrate,
The end of Fast Flux,
For all time!
 

Bicycle Song

  • tune:  A Bicycle Built for Two
  • from The Raging Grannies Songbook, 1993

Daisy, Daisy, bicycling’s good for you
Driving’s crazy, cars spew out CO2
We know we should not disparage
An elegant motor carriage
But take a hike, or ride a bike
The environment will love you!

Aren’t you glad that we have commuter trains
Proper bike paths, or even cycle lanes?
Oh, who needs an eight-lane highway?
Why can’t they do it my way?
We’d clean the air, have dough to spare
If only we’d use our brains….

Another Way

  • tune: Accentuate the Positive

We gotta make more stuff—
Fuel the economy
Buy more stuff—
Guarantee prosperity!
Go for greed—
While others live in poverty!
We never learned another way.

We gotta eat more meat—
Nuke the food from agrifarms!
Kill more fish—
Steroids in the salmon farms!
Cut more trees—
Turn the land to fiber farms!
We never learned another way.

We gotta build more dams—
Turn more power on!
Make more cars—
Roads for them to travel on!
Pump more gas—
Keep the pressure on!
We’ll never learn another way.

We’re fat and happy!

(Speak) We’ve got to learn another way!

  • Performance suggestion: Divide group in 2. One half sings the bold lines, the other the nonbold lines, and all sing the bold & italicized lines.

 

And the Band Played On

We guzzle our food, taking more than our share,
And we just don’t care.
We turn on our energy sources with flare,
And we still don’t care.
In cars we’re commuting, as we keep polluting,
Common-sense tucked away all the while,
Even though we well know (pause)
That the planet is small
And belongs to all.  THAT’S GREED!