Tag Archives: Vicki Ryder

Not Just About Bathrooms

Tune (roughly): The Man on the Flying Trapeze

By Vicky Ryder and Jo-Hanna Read

They lie through their teeth with the greatest of ease, Those bigots who’d bring us all down to our knees; We’ve got to say no to their crap, don’t you see. It’s not just about bathrooms, we know!

They keep coming back with these onerous laws, We won’t let their hatefulness stick in our craws: Making up stories ‘bout rape in the john… It’s not just about bathrooms, we know!

They always keep pushing, they always ban more. Trans athletes, drag shows, and books by the score. They keep coming back with their hate we deplore. It’s not just about bathrooms, we know!

We’re raising our voices, hear what we say: All gender identities are more than OK.  We support and protect in all possible ways. It’s not just about bathrooms we know!

Can you tell me why people can’t see Everyone has a right to their own private pee Without having to prove their “legitimacy.” It’s not just about bathrooms, we know!

We Rage to End All War, Updated to Include Syria

Tune: Battle Hymn of the Republic
Authors: Kathy Russell, Sunny Armer (revision of song by Vicki Ryder)

We’re the Raging Grannies and we’re here to take a stand
Against the senseless killing raging in Afghanistan,
Iraq is still a quagmire and Syria won’t be grand.
We rage to end all war!

CHORUS: No more military action!
We declare dissatisfaction
With greedy politicians who make war with nukes and guns
We rage to end all war!

We put away our knitting; tuck the grandkids into bed.
Throw on our shawls and aprons; put our hats upon our heads.
We stand up for the casualties whose blood is being shed.
We rage to end all war!

CHORUS; No more militarization!
We are raging at our nation
For spending all our taxes to destroy, exploit, and kill.
We rage to end all war!

We stand here on this street and wonder at the sad disgrace
That civil liberties have disappeared without a trace!
We’re tired of old lies, we must put Congress in its place!
We rage to end all war!

CHORUS; With Obama in command
We’ll continue our demands
With Granny clothes and voices strong
We’ll sing with all our might
Until we end all war!!!!! (shout)

The War Economy part 2

Author: Vicki Ryder
Tune: Battle Hymn of the Republic

There’s coal ash, pipelines, fracking, and there’s filling off our shores,
And toxic waste gets dumped upon the people who are poor.
The profited will kill us if we don’t raise up a fuss.
The war economy ain’t workin’ out for us.

We stand in Seattle and we sing our simple song.
For dignity for everyone, a place we all belong.’
Listen, politicians! We won’t take it anymore!
In a land as rich as this why should anyone be poor?

CHORUS:
We are marching in the Poor People’s Campaign
With voices loud and fists raised high till there are no more chains;
And we’ll keep marching forward, and go back again!
Together we are strong!

The War Economy & The Poor People’s Campaign

Author: Vicki Ryder
Tune: Battle Hymn of the Republic

We’re rising in Seattle now and joining the campaign,
A task that wasn’t finished when Rev’rend King was slain.
Fifty years have come and gone but still his words ring true:
How’s the war economy workin’ out for you?

CHORUS:
We are marching in the Poor People’s Campaign,
With voices loud and fists raised high till there are no more chains.
And we’ll keep marching forward, and we won’t go back again!
Together we are strong!

They tell us there’s no money now for jobs or health care plans,
There’s always lots of money for their wars in far off lands.
They spend it all for war, and not for schools or homes, that’s true.
How’s the war economy workin’ out for you?

They spent three trillion dollars when they sent our kids to war.
Not all our kids, ya know, but just the brown, the black, the poor.
They had no hope of finding jobs in good ole USA.
How’s the war economy workin’ for them today?

CHORUS:
We are marching in the Poor People’s Campaign,
With voices loud and fists raised high till there are no more chains.
And we’ll keep marching forward, and we won’t go back again!
Together we are strong!

Radical Environmentalists-Coal

By Kay Thode, Vicki Ryder, Carolyn Powers, Laurie Rostholder
Tune: Coming Round the Mountain

Oh, we’re radical environmentalists.
We’re radical environmentalists,
No more coal should be mined, (no break)
And the coal plants shut not fined, (pause)
We’re radical environmentalists.

Oh, the dust escapes from the open cars.
The coughing can be heard from near and far.
And the trains mess up the traffic, (no break)
Causing massive city havoc, (pause)
We’re radical environmentalists.

We want that black stuff to stay in the ground.
Or in the future, there will be no children’s sounds,
Billion tons of CO 2, (no break)
Into the air it does spew, (pause)
We’re radical environmentalists.

Yes, we’re radical environmentalists,
Mess with mother earth, it makes us pissed.
So get out and tell the others, (no break)
That the earth is still our mother, (pause)
Then you’ll all be true environmentalists!

The Poor Peoples Campaign: A Moral Revival

By Vicki Ryder
Tune: Acres of Clams

There’s something that’s troubling the grannies.
We toss and we turn late at night.
Wond’rin why there are so many hungry
In a land that’s so rich, that ain’t right (spoken!)

CHORUS
It’s time for a moral revival
Come join the Poor Peoples Campaign
To end poverty in our nation
Come join the Poor Peoples Campaign

The government spends all our taxes
For fighting in lands far away,
Killing woman and kids without reason.
It’s no wonder our hair’s turning gray.

They’re drilling and fracking and dumping,
To fatten their wallets, you see.
They don’t really care if we live or die!
It’s enough to make Mother Earth weep.

CHORUS

E-qui-ty for all the people
They say is the law of the land
But our system is blatantly racist
Together for justice we stand.

CHORUS

Repeat chorus

Gun Reform

Tune: Bella Ciao
By Vicki Ryder

Too many dying / and families crying,
We need to rein in the guns and do it
Now! Now! Now!
We’re gonna build a better future
And we’re gonna start right now.

We all bewail / those gun show sales.
We don’t want weapons of war being
sold in stores.
We’re gonna build a better future
And we’re gonna start right now.

We need to get / those background
checks.
And keep the guns from the ones who’d
kill us
Now! Now! Now!
We’re gonna build a better future
And we’re gonna start right now.

We are a-wa-re / that thoughts and prayers
Will not stop all the guns now in killers’
hands;
We need new laws that do much more
And we demand to have them now!

You politicians / who might be wishin’
That you can wash all the blood from
your complicit hands;
Break with the N-R-A! We need new
laws today.
And we demand to have them now!
Now! Now! Now!

Stop This Nomination

(Tune: “There is a Tavern in the Town”)
Lyrics by Vicki Ryder © for the Raging Grannies

There was a time in days of old [days of old]
When justice mattered, so we’re told [so we’re told]
(But now the) corporations own our Supreme Court,
(So say good)bye to women’s freedom to abort.

We won’t be saved by Roe v Wade [Roe v Wade]
Not even if we’re force-a-bully laid [we’re afraid]
A-nd) you can bet that our health care Safety Nets
Will be stolen from us if they’ve not been yet.

Environmental regs will go away [go away]
And the First Amendment will become passé [Oy vey!]
(And there will) be more guns to threaten our loved ones
Now the Court’s been purchased by the N-R-A.

We used to think that we could just appeal [just appeal]
To a court where we could get a good fair deal [an honest deal]
(But now we’re) fighting for our lives, and if we’re to survive,
(We‘ve got to) stop this nomination — STOP IT NOW!
It’s a gross abomination — STOP IT NOW!
For the future of our nation – STOP IT NOW!

Get Out and Vote

  • tune: My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean
     lyrics: Peggy Dempsey & Vicki Ryder(Rochester, NY)

Last night some new thoughts did surround me
When thinking of heroies of old,
What they fought for does really astound me,
They were so brave and so bold.

The men said that women weren’t able
To think or to make up their minds
So men would make all the decisions
And leave all the women behind

  • REFRAIN:
    Rise up, sing out
    On matters that matter to you and me!
    Sign up! Get out and vote
    And we’ll make a difference, you’ll see!

Some brave women in our communities
Refused to be quiet and meek
They struggled to gain opportunities
To work and to vote and to speak.

Our Susan B. Anth’ny and others,
They spoke and they marched and they wrote,
Saying women must be treated fairly
And they must be allowed to vote!

  • REFRAIN

Now many long years have transpired
Since brave women won us a voice
They worked and they struggled together,
So we’d have a vote and a choice.

  • REFRAIN

Don’t Buy Eden Foods

  • tune: Battle Hymn of the Republic
    Lyrics: Vicki Ryder

We’re the Raging Grannies and we’ve come out here to say;
Save your hard-earned bucks and don’t buy Eden Foods today,
‘Cause they’ve joined with Hobby Lobby to take women’s rights away,
So, don’t buy Eden Foods.

CHORUS:
Something’s rotten in the garden’
And Eden Foods, they ain’t no bargain,
They’re using their religion to take women’s rights away,
So, don’t buy Eden Foods.

Bring Back Our Tax Dollars

  • tune: My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean
  • by Jane Hare and Vicki Ryder

Our taxes fly over the ocean,
To fund the Afghanistan war,
But our taxes are urgently needed,
Right here for the jobless and poor.

CHORUS:
Bring back, bring back,
Oh bring back those taxes and spend them here,
Bring ‘em back, yes bring ‘em back,
And then how we Grannies will cheer!

Our bridges and highways are crumbling,
Our teachers and schools need support,
The money that’s now spent on killing,
Should be used to wage peace and not war.

REPEAT CHORUS

We should be supporting our students,
Who struggle to pay for their loans,
And we should be supporting our families,
While the banks just foreclose on their homes.

REPEAT CHORUS

We’ve worked mighty hard for the money,
That we pay every year to the Feds,
And we don’t want it paying for warfare,
When we all could have healthcare instead.

REPEAT CHORUS

Legitimate Rape

Author: Vicki Ryder
Tune: “Zip-a-dee-doo-dah”

“Legitimate rape” is great birth control.
So says Todd Akin, and he oughta know.
If we are raped we can rest unafraid,
‘Cause we can’t get pregnant if forcibly laid.

Our female bodies are clever that way,
We only get pregnant when we say “okay.”
Doctors have told him, so it must be so,
The stork only comes if we don’t say “No!”

Rape won’t make babies and that is a fact;
There’s no global warming; the Earth’s really flat.
We heard it on FOX News so it must be true.
Well, Mr. Akin, we say “FUCK YOU!”

Bring Back Our Tax Dollars

  • by Jane Hare and Vicki Ryder
  • Tune: My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean

Our taxes fly over the ocean,
To fund the Afghanistan war,
But our taxes are urgently needed,
Right here for the jobless and poor.

  • Chorus:
    Oh bring back those taxes and spend them here,
    Bring ‘em back, yes bring ‘em back,
    And then how we Grannies will cheer!

Our bridges and highways are crumbling,
Our teachers and schools need support,
The money that’s now spent on killing,
Should be used to wage peace and not war.

  • Chorus

We should be supporting our students,
Who struggle to pay for their loans,
And we should be supporting our families,
While the banks just foreclose on their homes.

  • Chorus

We’ve worked mighty hard for the money,
That we pay every year to the Feds,
And we don’t want it paying for warfare,
When we all could have healthcare instead.

  • Chorus

Give Us a Beach

  • Tune: Home on the Range
  • Lyrics: Vicki Ryder

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