American Rights

 

Here are parody song lyrics I wrote for the times we are alivin'. I would love for someone who can sing and play guitar (or piano) to record this, even if just on your phone, that would be great!  Please send me a copy. Click here for an instrumental version of American Pie

American Rights (to the tune of American Pie by Don McLean)

Written by RA Burlingham

A short, short time ago

I can still remember how

The country used to make me smile

And I knew that if I had my chance

That I could make my family dance

And maybe they’d be happy for a while

But January made me shiver

With every Fox News story delivered

Bad news on the TV screen

I would just look and scream

I can’t remember if I tried

To find a place where I could hide

And something ached all inside

The day democracy died

So

Bye, bye Miss American Rights

Drove with Sally to the rally but the rally was hype

And them good ole boys were tweeting racist bytes

Typing this’ll be the way that I lie

This’ll be the way that I lie

Did you write the book of laws

All so perfect, and without flaws

If the White man tells you so?

Do you believe in equality?

Can honest acts save humanity?

Without ever, losing your mind?

Well, I knew you wanted out of this

‘Cause I could feel your angst and fading bliss

We broke those sacred rules

Man, you made me get the blues

I became an aging office schmuck

With a broken marriage and a bad prenup

And I knew the country was out of luck

The day democracy died

I started singin’

Bye, bye Miss American Rights

Drove with Sally to the rally but the rally was hype

And them good ole boys were tweeting racist bytes

Typing this’ll be the way that I lie

This’ll be the way that I lie

For three years now, it’s the same old tone

While people flounder, foreign countries moan

But, that’s not how it used to be

When a woman pledged to you and me

With hope she borrowed from a Kennedy

And a voice that said that all of us are free

And when our heads were looking down

A businessman stole the woman’s crown

The courtroom was adjourned

A no-guilty verdict returned

And while Putin sat in his hallowed halls

He smiled and thought, I have his balls

And we all wondered why the gall 

The day democracy died

We were singin’

Bye, bye Miss American Rights

Drove with Sally to the rally but the rally was hype

And them good ole boys were tweeting racist bytes

Typing this’ll be the way that I lie

This’ll be the way that I lie

Helter skelter in a Covid swelter

Staying home in our fallout shelters

Cases rising and deaths grow fast

It doesn’t really matter who it grasps

Health officials warn the plague will last

But the businessman says, the virus will soon pass

Then a Black man lost his voice too soon

And the people marched to a frightful tune

We all got up to rant

Black lives need a chance

And when the players made the open field

They refused to sing while on one knee

Do you recall what it revealed?

The day democracy died

We started singn’

Bye, bye Miss American Rights

Drove with Sally to the rally but the rally was hype

And them good ole boys were tweeting racist bytes

Typing this’ll be the way that I lie

This’ll be the way that I lie

And here we are sheltered in one place

Generations lost in space

With little time to start again

Come on Don be nimble, Don be quick

Donny boy sat on a candle stick

‘Cause fire is the devil’s only friend

And as I watched him on the stage

My hands were clenched in fists of rage

All the top men who fell

Couldn’t keep us from his hell

As the protests chimed into the night

Asking for our equal rights

I saw Satan laughing with delight

The day democracy died

He was singin’

Bye, bye Miss American Rights

Drove with Sally to the rally but the rally was hype

And them good ole boys were tweeting racist bytes

Typing this’ll be the way that I lie

This’ll be the way that I lie

I went online to fight the blues

I hoped to see some happy news

But I just had to turn away

I keep my distance, mask on face

And try to drown out the rants of race

But the noise there just continues to play

And in the streets, the people screamed

The mothers cried and the children dreamed

But no good words were spoken

The church bells all were broken

The founding fathers I admire most

George W, Tom and Johnny’s ghost 

They caught the last train to the coast

The day democracy died

And they were singing

Bye, bye Miss American Rights

Drove with Sally to the rally but the rally was hype

And them good ole boys were tweeting racist bytes

Typing this’ll be the way that I lie

This’ll be the way that I lie

And they were singing

Bye, bye Miss American Rights

Drove with Sally to the rally but the rally was hype

And them good ole boys were tweeting racist bytes

Typing this’ll be the way that I die.