1. |
O Babylon!
02:05
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Babylon - O Babylon!
Wake up from your sleep!
Ya babble on - babble on!
God knows you're in too deep!
No wall will hold - no wall will hold!
Before God's judgment seat!
The towers built - the towers built
Will fall before His feet!
Change your ways - change your ways!
Feed My lambs and sheep!
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2. |
I Hear Talk
03:20
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I hear talk about Chicago
With our gangs and the violence of guns
As I travel the rural states of this land
The opioid crisis don't walk - no, it runs
And the right and the left and the middle
Don't want it on their front lawns
While the most moneyed politicians
Talk and talk while corporate mouths yawn
Visit the jails and the prisons
From sea to shining sea
Visit the courtrooms and laws on the books
And tell me that freedom is free
When it's sold to the highest bidder
When their bank account is kept safe
Offshore, upscale, political cronies
In these United States
The talk I hear over and over
Love takes a backseat to loot
Money buys power and fascist prestige
And the marginalized get the boot
I write this song on Veteran's Day
With the millions of flags over millions of graves
And I wonder - who are the slaves?
Those who whitewash the truth away
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3. |
Educated Guess
02:07
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Last night I heard tell of a patriot
And mostly he is smilin'
Like a president for the one percent
Bank accounts in the offshore islands
If I'm right
I think I've been left
Just an educated guess
Conspiracy theories don't pay my bills
Nor do trickle-down ethics heal my ills
It's the talk of caring when outsourcing rules
And they literally bank on a nation of fools
Been a student of history, profit and loss
The power of money regardless the cost
The rich and the shameless focus on gain
As long as we're buyin' they'll sell us the same
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4. |
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Gonna tell you a story
About a nation I love
Some ain't gonna like it
Want me to shut up
From the east to the west
The land grab came
We sent them packin'
Plenty to an early grave
History ain't a liar
When your face was red
White man decided
You were better off dead
Might makes right y'all
Manifest destiny
Expand that empire
Justice free
Got to understand
They had to expand
With the power of weapons
Got to get that land
It's the history of humankind
Unkind, subhuman
Mercy gets left behind
On the road to ruin
Think what you like
Say it loud and proud
White covered in red
Blood cries out from the ground
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5. |
Working Poor
01:48
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Rustbelt trains keep rollin' on
Movin' Chinese goods to every town
The union songs ain't sung much more
Wall Street barons closed the store
Welcome to the ranks of the working poor
Welcome to the ranks of the working poor
College grads go back to school
No livin' wage but you ain't no fool
Women's pay is on the floor
The boss man chooses, that's for sure
The boss man chooses, that's for sure
They told us if we worked real hard
We'd own a fine house with a dog in the yard
That we could be anything that we chose
The emperor's wearin' his new clothes
Hey hey ho ho activist
No sense hangin' like a passive fist
Most sit on the couch an' just complain
Dance between drops in a soakin' rain
Artful Dodgers at our core
Or we hide inside an' lock the door
Silent architects of the working poor
Hail the architects of the working poor
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6. |
Fake
03:31
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Fake you, fake them
Fake us, fakin' it again
Lyin' dogs in a fake sun
Fake social media
Political gun
I’m so sick of it
We’re in the thick of it
Sleight-of-hand deflection
Reality shows
Bank account grows
Fake wins election
Fake love, real guile
Fake news every once in a while
Fake concern all across the aisle
Little fake god with a phoney smile
Fake this, and fake that
If we don't like it
It's fake, an' that's that
Fake information from the father of lies
Fake salvation shouldn't be a surprise
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7. |
Mother of Exiles
03:35
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You might be different
You might be strange
Probably come
From some other place
You dress pretty funny
An' what an odd name
Why don't you go back
From wherever you came
Give me your tired
Give me your poor
The wretched refuse
Of your teeming shore
Send these, the homeless
To our golden door...
But does the mother of exiles
Shine anymore?
They came from the north
The south, east and west
We welcomed them sometimes
And near-passed the test
But those differences
That we might celebrate
Seemed to challenge our power
And made us irate
It seemed competition
To who we'd become
It was never an issue
‘Cuz we always won
The broken, the orphans
Returning vets
Minority people
And the tribes that are left
The foreigner, addict
And those we don't like
They boil up our fears
Challenged our way of life
To share became odious
Taxing us raw
Enough is enough...
We ain't open no more
Does the mother of exiles
Matter anymore?
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8. |
Money to Burn
01:55
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You impress the rich an' shameless
With millions in the bank
But silver, gold to have an' hold
Don't put love in their tank
Shoes ya wear to yer underwear
Won't put out the heat
For widows, orphans, mentally needy
Ya left out in the street
The stranded empty-handed
You gilded-caged ignore
Unless they pay homage
An' at your feet adore
Much is given, will be required
But to you more ain't enough
One above sees every deal
An' He will call yer bluff
Build bigger barns or towers
Executive privilege thick
Ain't real love or power
Just a little business trick
You talk like they're important
But only to your brand
The heart of the heartless
Is buried in the sand
There's One name under heaven
Which ought to cause concern
Yes One Who's up in heaven
Who ought to cause concern
The sickest truth some among us
Never seem to learn
That mountain of money
It's all gonna burn
It was just, only just
All just money to burn
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9. |
Great Again
02:43
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Money, power, all contain
Great temptation, lots to gain
Lookin' great in shameless fame
But it won't erase a common stain
Walk with Him in the cool of day
Gardeners with feet of clay
Feast on every sweet but one
Walk in faith or be undone
Humbly serve as you take
Mind the lies of talkin' snakes
I'm the answer to your cry
Launchin' codes, suit and tie
Emperor in serpent’s threads
Cull the living, curse the dead
Much is given, much required
Spent for heaven, spin for fire
Emperors in serpent’s threads
Cull the living, curse the dead
No one gets the best of me
All are false who disagree
Walk with Him in the cool of day
Gardeners with feet of clay
Feast on every sweet but one
Justice, mercy, humbly won
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10. |
Self Defense
03:33
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Go on take it off the rack
Tuck in, hear the action klack
Take aim and never once look back
In self defense
Drink deeply of the anger, fear
Tell yourself this is why you're here
Beam of light on the wounded deer
Trapped within the fence
You murdered him in self defense
Pulled the trigger every bullet spent
Not considering the pain, lament
Sucking smoke for air
This murder in self defense
No love nor kindly sense
Blood cries out
What do you care?
Find political will
Effective drugs to kill
Bullets, gas and still
History mocks your work
Shout the lie of your innocence
Self righteousness, ignorance
Your page at the end of time
Filthy rags and dirt
We murder in self defense
Pull the trigger with the words we sent
Divorce ourselves from the hell we fed our enemies
'Til every mouth and door are shut
We murder in self defense
Law for them, grace for me
Death for them, deaf for me
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11. |
Loser's Game
02:25
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As we love the mountains
An' the hollows where you roam
Near the railroads and the rivers
Where you have made your home
We love you, yes we do!
Without you we grow pale
No cake no wake no funeral
Early piney box or nails
You're in our heart and in our lungs
Black and thick and fine
We breathe you as our daily bread
Ol' wineskins with old wine
Daddy and grand daddy too
Addicted to the work
For long years their women feared
But a man ignores the hurt
You may be the death of us
But we'll love you jus' the same
Ol' king coal you take your toll
No matter who's to blame
Ol' king coal you'll win the roll
‘Cuz change is a loser's game
We'll love you with all our heart
Love you 'til death do us part
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12. |
Thug
02:02
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Ya love a fight
Live spite
Must win
Ya love a beat-down
No mind
Mad kind
No time
To put your feet down
All about control
Three piece suit, flag on lapel
Just like thug gang-bangin'
The bitter pill gonna rot you whole
Gotta channel
Rage, fear
Play married
With every babe you leer
Top dog
In the vomit
Shout 'til burn-out
Hot like a comet
It's all about control
If they don't like it, heads gotta roll
It's all about you
Emperor dressed red, white an' blue
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13. |
Straw Man
03:24
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Headlights are on
We hit the high beams
The margins crowd
Our American dream
You cannot trust
The underclass
While atlas shrugged
They ate our trash
O destiny, sweet destiny
Manifest your hold on me
O providence
Play our winning hand
Light the match
So burns the straw man
We are the kings
And queens of right
We back it up
With our sovereign might
Predestined lords
In this corrupt earth
Our noses long
By royal birth
We came we saw
And we conquered all
For God and man
Kings of the hill
We shall prevail
On blood-soaked land
Banking spoils of war
So burns the straw man
How dare the peasants disagree
We were born to rule
And them to poverty
Let justice roll
From our holy hand
Our might makes right
As we burn the straw man
In endless night
We keep command
Bright as our skin
We burn the straw man
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14. |
Oil Today
01:50
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Black is beautiful, when we strike with luck
Black is wonderful, when it makes a buck
Texas, Oklahoma, oh, you know it well
Fossil fuel the golden rule
An' send the earth to hell
Numb the pain
All is bright, all is gain
Sinkhole sweet, little quakes
Bankers grin, Trojan lakes
Oil today, gone tomorrow
Wealth, prestige, paves the sorrow
Climate change don't mean much
In an ivory tower power lunch
Jobs for the hungry mob
You worked for it, you did not rob
Silver, gold and sweetest crude
While you win the world will lose
Less for them, more for you
Black rainfall, environment blues
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15. |
Market Value
03:45
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Tyranny and fear
Hooded in the night
Grinning, lynching mobs
Stark in broad daylight
Selective memory
A privilege of white
Who say "How far we've come!"
Selective memory
A privilege of white
With ignorant eyes shut tight
Sold at market value
The root of evil grows
From ancient shores of promise
To brutal heat and cold
You say all lives matter
But you know who matters most
The black and brown
Not in your town
You say all lives matter
But you know who matters most
The black and brown
Not in your town
So many whipping posts
Black or brown or "other"
They are "the least"
Cells, bars, razor wire
Like racist acts, increase
So who does Jesus value?
Each and all "the least"
God will not be mocked
What we sow, we’re gonna reap
Sold at market value
The root of evil grows
From ancient shores of promise
To brutal heat and cold
You say all lives matter
But you know who matters most
The black and brown
Not in your town
So many whipping posts
Sold at market value
The root of evil grows
From ancient shores of promise
To brutal heat and cold
You say all lives matter
But you know who matters most
So many whipping posts
Sold at market value
Continues to this day
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16. |
The Principal Principle
03:19
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All eyes on you - gotta be the main
Nobody comes close to you - can't beat you at your game
Ain't nothin' to be sorry for - as long as you're first
You're the winner, even when you lose - an' the truth gets worse
You're a person of principle - an' the principal is you
An ethical trainwreck - play the king, be the fool
You scold and belittle - don't dare disagree
But when the end comes around
Gonna be on your knees
At the sound of the last trump
Pride before the fall
The most powerful liar in the world
Will have nothin' to say at all
Could've cared about the widow
The homeless and the hurt
Could've cared for the planet
Took your pay from scorched earth
Made a fortune off a name
Bought a trophy wife
Built towers of babble
In exchange for a life
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17. |
You Ain't
03:25
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Over the river
Middle of the night
Hunger in your belly
Violence an' fright
Speak a different language
Cook a different meal
They don't care what you think
They don't care how you feel
Add up the numbers
They will make it clear
They don't like your kind
You ain't welcome here
They love law
When it deals them a winnin' hand
Justice for the Natives and
Blacks in their land
Asians, Hispanics
Everybody's rights
Clean, bright, tidy
'Specially if you're white
Just so you'll understand
They will make it clear
Unless you're just like them
You ain't welcome here
A nation of immigrants
Civilized and armed
Saw the goods and conquered
Few became alarmed
But when time came to share the wealth
It was time to fight
Do before it's done to you
Might determines right
And they’re sayin' one more time
Rage, fear or tears
Mercy, justice, take a hike
You ain't welcome here
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18. |
Mud and Spit
03:29
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We need mud and spit for our eyes
And eyes to see, as you see
We need ears, to hear with our heart
Love to set, the captive free
Money won't do it
Power won't do it
Fear won't do it
Lies won't do it
We must go and wash like you said
We got to turn away from destruction
Move beyond vengeance and war
Lord how we need Your instruction
To do justice, to love mercy
To walk humbly with our God
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Glenn Kaiser Chicago
After 40+ years of playing music, Glenn Kaiser is known for his raw, bluesy vocal, fiery guitar chops as well as his harmonica work, Glenn is comfortable playing traditional and modern blues, original worship music and R&B.
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