Category Archives: Homelessness

Hallelujah Homelessness (Song for the Homeless)

Lyrics by: Nancy Hatcher and Kay Pitts, Fresno Gaggle

We stand upon the corner but the cars go right on by
We see the people watching us but they avoid our eyes
We hold out signs, hope for a coin, for food and for supplies
But the people think we lie.
I’m not afraid to work, you see; I’ve worked most of my life.
But I fell upon some hard times and now all I know is strife
The doors keep closing in my face; I haven’t got a chance
To hold up my head with pride

CHORUS 1:
Glory, Glory Hallelujah
We know how to stick it to you
We’ll take all your possessions and we’ll drive you all away
And you’ll just disappear.

I’m worried about my family; my kids live in a car
My spouse cries every day and night; no money in the jar.
We live on change and handouts from some people we don’t know
And we just don’t get very far.
We stand quietly and wait our turn at soup lines in the park
We’re grateful for the food and clothes and stay until it’s dark
And then we turn and slowly make our way back to our tarp
And we feel that life’s not fair.
We go to bed each night and lie awake ‘cuz we can’t sleep
Not knowing if our tents and tarps will be put in the street
It’s freezing cold, it’s raining hard or swelt’ring in the heat.
It’s impossible to sleep.

Repeat CHORUS 1

Mine eyes have seen the ‘dozers as they come on down the street
We really can’t believe it ‘cuz we’re barely on our feet.
The dump trucks simply haul away the few things that we own.
And we’re homeless once again.
We’d like to have a real bed so that we can safely sleep
A roof to shelter all of us, some water and some heat
A shower would be wonderful, I wouldn’t feel so beat.
If I just had a place to call home.

CHORUS 2:
We don’t like your Hallelujah!
And we know how to stick it to ya’!
We’ll ‘doze you out of office when we’re In the voting booth.
And you’ll just disappear!

Tiny Houses

Tune: Little Boxes by Malvina Reynolds
By Jo-Hanna Read

Tiny houses give us shelter,
Tiny houses strong and beautiful!
Tiny houses give us shelter,
They keep us dry and warm.
There’s a green one and a pink one,
And a blue one and a yellow one.
And they all are strong and beautiful
And we call them home.

And the people in the houses
Have all known such adversity.
We all need to have houses,
Tiny houses are a start.
We are workers and parents
Who struggle to make ends meet,
And we all need to have houses
That we can call home.

Evry person in this city
Should have shelter to keep us dry,
To protect us and our children
From the storms that life brings.
So we celebrate tiny houses
As a step in the right dir-e-ection.
Tiny houses built so lovingly
And we call them home!

Cancel the Rent 

Tune: Addams Family Theme
By Anitra Freeman

Everybody's hurtin'
The future still uncertain
Mounting debt a burden
It's time to cancel the rent

Cancel the rent (snap snap)
Cancel the rent (snap snap)
Cancel the rent 
Cancel the rent
Cancel the rent (snap snap)

People in the street
Are living without heat
And not enough to eat
We need housing for all
Housing for all …

Comp'ny profits soared
Homebound consumers gored
And homebound students bored
It's time to tax the rich
Tax the rich…

Any kind of trouble
Rent just seems to double
It's time to pop the bubble
We need rent control now
Rent control now...

Gaggle for Low Income Housing

  • tune: Side by Side
  • by Cynthia Linet
Oh, we're a gaggle of grannies
Urging you off a your fannies
We don't think it's neat
To live on the street
Homes for all!

With so many homes in our city
So few for the poor , it's a pity
It's time for a change
We must arrange
Homes for all!

We are each other's keepers
To help out everyone.
How can we be content when
There's so much to be done?

So heed this call from your grannies
Don't just protect your own fannies.
Homes for us all.
We must hear the call:
Homes for all!

We really mean it: HOMES FOR ALL!
We mean precisely: HOMES FOR ALL!
We will say it very nicely: HOMES FOR ALL!
READ OUR LIPS: (silently) HOMES FOR ALL!





Cranes, Humongous Cranes

By Linda Jansen
To the tune of “Food, Glorious Food”

Cranes, humongous cranes
All over the city.
They’re not building for us
That’s really a pity.
Hey, City Council please play fair (pause)
You work for us all (spoken: right?).
Build public housing for all. It’s up to you.
Answer our call!

They knock down our homes
And put up new towers
Can’t afford that place
Even working 40 hours
Hey, City Council please play fair (pause)
You work for us all (spoken: right?).
Build public housing for all.  It’s up to you.
Answer our call!

Stop the Sweeps

By Linda Jansen
To the tune of Chim Chim Cheree

There’s money in banks that will never get used
And people who need it for housing & shoes
What wicked system has such a result?
Must have been built by some mean greedy cult!

CHORUS:
Chim chiminey, chim chiminey Chim chim cheree!
The cops must be stopped from their sweep jamborees
Chim chiminey, chim chiminey Chim chim cheroo!
If you don’t try to stop ‘em, might happen to you!

The cops don’t sweep chimneys. That’s not what they do.
They harshly enforce the rich city’s rules.
So we must stop them, a lot is at stake
Don’t want the wealthy to steal the whole cake.

CHORUS

If you have a chimney, you must have a stove
And a room where you sit and never get cold
If you think that is something that we all need,
Join your neighbors who’re out there to stop this bad deed.

CHORUS

City Council says housing’s an obvious need.
Housing for all–they say that’s their creed?
They can’t dilly-dally, must get off of their duffs.
And build public housing, or their jobs they can stuff.
And build public housing, or their jobs they can stuff!

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…

Welfare Clock

  • by Kay Thode
  • Rap

The clock is tickin’ day by day,
Thanks to “reform” welfare’s going away.
Who cares if you’re hungry
Or can’t pay the rent?
Jobs are the answer
Said the President…Clinton, that is.
Now five years are up
On the welfare clock.
There’ll be more homeless
Sleeping on the block.
It’s time to pay moms
Who take care of their kids.
Raise the grants!
Lift the lid!

There’s a Rental in This Town

  • tune: There’s a Tavern in the Town

There’s a rental in this town, in this town,
And there my fam’ly settled down, settled do-o-own.
We ate and slept and played there every day,
And paid our rent so we could stay.

  • Chorus:
    Fare thee well for we must leave thee.
    Do not let this parting grieve thee.
    Our rent jumped sky high believe me,
    And so we must part.

Adieu, adieu kind friends, adieu, yes, adieu.
We can no longer be with you, be with you, ou, ou, ou.
We’ll hang our clothes on a weeping willow tree,
And sleep in Nickelsville for free.

Peace, Peace

Peace, peace, peace, peace.
Wars must end and wars must cease.
We must learn to live together.
Peace, peace, peace.

Peace, peace, peace, peace.
Make homelessness and hunger cease.
We can learn to live together.
Peace, peace, peace.

Peace, peace, peace, peace.
Police brutality must cease.
We must learn to live together.
Peace, peace, peace.
Peace, peace, peace.

Peace, peace, peace, peace,
Gender vi-o-lence must cease.
We must learn to live together.
Peace, peace, peace.

Housing Song

  • tune: Sweet Betsy from Pike
  • by Kay Thode

There are millions who’re sle-eping out in the street.
Clutching their bundles they all have no heat,
No place to call home or bed for their head—
They’re lucky if some of them even get fed.

In this rich prosperous country wouldn’t you think
We could house all the homeless as quick as a wink,
If we weren’t spending billions on weapons of war.
Let’s use diplomacy! Make war no more.

When wages are too low to pay the high rent,
And cities refuse to even put up a tent,
It’s time for a change—on that we agree.
More bucks for housing is what we need!

spoken:
More bucks for housing is what we need!

Back of the Bus

If you miss me at the back of the bus
You can’t find me nowhere.
Come on up to the front of the bus
I’ll be riding up there.
I’ll be riding up there,
I’ll be riding up there.
Come on up to the front of the bus,
I’ll be riding up there

If you’re looking for shelter
You can’t find it nowhere.
Come on up to the greenbelt,
Folks are camping up there…

If you miss me in the greenbelt
You can’t find me nowhere
Come on over to Nickelsville,
Folks are building up there…

If you miss me at Nickelsville
You can’t find me nowhere
Come on down to the jailhouse,
We’ll be bunking down there…

If you miss me at the jailhouse
You can’t find me nowhere
That’s cause we all stood together
We’re still building up here!…