John McCutcheon
Stand Up!
...Broadsides for Our Time

The phenomenally successful “Hail to the Chief” proved that there is, indeed, still an audience for political satire. And the times keep proving that there is no end of inspirational characters out there. If you’re ready to celebrate the power of duct tape, aircraft carrier landings, good ’ol boy country clubs and the long-overdue answer to Pat Robertson’s prayers, “Stand Up!...Broadsides for Our Time” is just what you need. Another stellar collection of John McCutcheon’s newly-composed “short shelf life” songs (as Tom Paxton calls them).

Besides stripping down the powerful to their most naked folly, John celebrates the veterans of the Civilian Conservation Corps, the inspirational story of Vedran Smailovic (the cellist of Sarajevo), the rescue of the Somerset, Pennsylvania coal miners, and the life of his old friend, Freyda Epstein. Also included is the at-long-last recording of Phil & Hannah Hoose’s “Hey Little Ant,” a concert favorite. Fourteen songs for when you need to laugh so you won't cry and to remind you that you are not alone.

Formats

Lyrics

Duct Tape (2003)
words and music by John McCutcheon

Everyone duct and cover!

The color of the day is orange
The terror risk is high
They never tell us why
Just be prepared
We’re never told just how or when
Or who might be our foe
Everyone I know
Is really scared
But they finally have a tip for you and me
The solution to surviving World War III

Chorus
All you need is duct tape
And everything is gonna be alright
Get Saran Wrap from the drawer
And seal your windows tight
Don’t you worry ‘bout
Anthrax, dirty bombs
Smallpox, radon
When all is said and done
The war on terrorism’s gonna be won
With duct tape

My 401k’s in the tank
My kids’ school’s falling down
And all these clowns can talk about
Is war
There’re one or two things here to do
Like jobs for you and me
Homeland security
Means so much more
But when the questions get a little tough
They have an answer just obtuse enough

Chorus
All you need is duct tape
To hold your tattered life in tact
Everyone just duct and cover
It’ll save you…that’s a fact!
Don’t you worry ‘bout
Education, health care
Retirement, dirty air
Everything’s OK
Trust us, they all say
And get duct tape

Bridge
I’ve used on my car
And I’ve fixed my garden hose
It’s removed a wart or two
Gotten lint right off my clothes
It’s worked on almost everything
I’ve tried to use it for
So I guess it stands to reason
Will work just fine for war

Every time I turn on
My radio, TV
Everything I hear and see
Just makes me wonder
These guys who’ll never face a risk
Are quick to draw the sword
In every deed and word
They reel and blunder
So when you’re tired of their pontification
There’s one sure fire fix for our nation

Chorus
All you need is duct tape
And plaster it ‘cross their lips
All these armchair warriors
Shooting from their hips
When you’ve had enough
Fox News, Falwell
Limbaugh, George Will
Spreading lies and fears
Just cover up your ears
With duct tape

When you’ve had enough
W, Ashcroft
Rumsfeld spouting off
‘Til it makes you sick
Tell ‘em where they can stick
Their duct tape

©2003 John McCutcheon/Appalsongs (ASCAP)

Boys in Green (2003)
words and music by John McCutcheon

While doing my annual concert in Dallas for the local citizen’s group, For the Love of the Lake, I met O’Neal Springer, a veteran of the Civilian Conservation Corps, a New Deal initiative that employed thousands of young men during the Depression, taught them a skill and built the infrastructure for many local and national parks and conservation projects.

In Nineteen Hundred and Thirty Three
Off in Washington, DC
Roosevelt created the CCC
Like nothing we’d ever seen

He called on fellers across the land
To join together, lend a hand
To learn a skill, to take a stand
We were the boys in green

Chorus
Hurrah for the love of the country
Hurrah for the patriot’s dream
With their brains and their backs, with a pick and an axe
Hurrah for the boys in green

When I was lad of just eighteen
We stocked the rivers, lakes and streams
Together fueled this nation’s dreams
We were the boys in green

We built the houses, cleared the land
Ran the fences, built the dams
Made quite a home for Uncle Sam
We were the boys in green Chorus

We build the bridges, trails and roads
We dredged the lakes, we hauled the loads
No more the beach or dune erodes
We were the boys in green

We fought the fires, stemmed the floods
Gathered seeds and planted woods
That grew to be your neighborhoods
We were the boys in green Chorus

With shovel, trowel, hammer and spade
We built this country, learned a trade
By God, it’s quite a world we made
We were the boys in green

Now as an old man I stand perplexed
In a world all paved and multiplexed
And wonder, who is coming next
Where are the boys in green? Chorus

©2003 by John McCutcheon/Appalsongs (ASCAP)
Inspired in part by a conversation w/O’Neal Springer, Dallas, TX, October, 2003

Let’s Pretend (2003)
words and music by John McCutcheon

When the truth’s just not good enough.

Heading home to San Diego
They could almost see the dock
The USS Abe Lincoln
Was returning from Iraq
They were thinking of their loved ones
They were thinking of a home
Of the many sad and lonely nights
On the battlefront alone

He stepped out on the flight deck
In a fighter pilot’s suit
You know, dress up can be fun
And make believe is cute
But I wonder what they wondered
As they surveyed the scene
After what they’d been through
After what they’d seen

Chorus
Life is hard, times are tough
When the going gets too rough
And the truth’s not good enough
Let’s pretend, let’s pretend, let’s pretend

Let’s pretend I fly an airplane
Let’s pretend I fought in war
Let’s pretend I wasn’t AWOL
For sixteen months or more
Let’s pretend I know exactly
What you folks are going through
Let’s pretend that everything I say
Is absolutely true Chorus

Let’s pretend Iraq is grateful
Let’s pretend they waved and cheered
Let’s pretend the whole damn thing
Isn’t getting too damn weird
Let’s pretend that we found weapons
Let’s pretend we caught Saddam
Let’s pretend this doesn’t feel
A bit like Viet Nam Chorus

Let’s pretend affirmative action
Had nothing to do with me and Yale
And the fact that despite three arrests
I never went to jail
Three strikes and you’re out
Is for losers and for jerks
For guys who have to fight in wars
For guys who have to work Chorus

©2003 John McCutcheon/Appalsongs (ASCAP)
Charlottesville, VA November, 2003

We Know War (2003)
words and music by John McCutcheon

Anyone who’s spent any time at all in Europe knows how fresh the memories of the many wars fought there are. Written days before the Iraq War…or, as some have called it, Dubya Dubya II.

We know war
A hundred years it haunts our homes
We know war
The generations left alone
The wombs forever wanting
The burdens we all bore
The empty chair at supper
The pastor at the door

We know war
Death falling from the sky like rain
We know war
The siren’s wail again
The black outs and the blitzkrieg
As we huddled on the floor
Children trembling in the shelter
Midst the unrelenting roar
We know war

Yes, we know war
The rows of crosses in the field
The endless longing
That cannot be concealed
The history
That shows what lays in store

We know war
By the blood in every speech
We know war
In the poison that they preach
The young ones seeing horrors
That they’ve never known before
The scars that never heal
In hearts where hatred keeps the score

We know war
The armies rolling through the street
We know war
As the ones who taste defeat
The endless occupation
The searches door-to-door
The fear that stalks the night
Until you can’t take anymore
We know war

When the battle’s over
And the victors count the cost
Cold calculation
Of what is won and what is lost
The survivors’ song
Will be forevermore

We know war
And every one’s so much the same
We know war
No longer will we add our name
To the killing and the dying
We have known too much before
When we pray for patience
And you ask of us, “What for?”
Because we know war

©2003 John McCutcheon/Appalsongs (ASCAP)

Black Sea (1989)
words and music by John McCutcheon

Yeah, yeah, I know…the Exxon Valdez spill happened (and this song was written) almost 15 years ago. I’ll stop singing this song when Exxon pays the first dime of the $4 billion punitive judgment they were assessed. Recorded live at the Barns of Wolf Trap.

Now, friends, I know you read about it in the papers
Or perhaps you saw the pictures on TV
How the tanker cracked and the sea turned black
But it's time for some compassion, don't you see
Hell, the shipping lane was only 10 miles wide
You fishermen, you ought to understand
And when the captain asked for "one on the rocks"
Well, the third mate followed his command

And we'll change the name to "The Black Sea"
We'll make it all a tourist spot
And when we're done we'll give it back to the people of Alaska
Just to show what man hath wrought
And we'll pass along the cost to the ones who've lost
'Cause you know it's the American Way
Erect a neon sign for the rest of time:
"Brought to you by Exxon-USA"

Now the government, it was quick on its feet
No, they didn't leave a single thing to chance
But when it came to pressuring a corporate giant
Don't you know they did a brand new dance
"I know you got your birds and your mammals and your fishing and your fam'lies
So I hope you'll understand the brief delay"
But you can bet if this had happened off of Kennebunkport
They'd have cleaned it up the very same day

And we could call it "Spill of Fortune"
Maybe you could buy a fowl
Exxon pulls the strings and the government sings
Throws up its hand and throws in the towel
And if we can get the clearance a special appearance
Is scheduled by the IRS
With a mop and a rake and a big tax break
'Cause they're used to working in an awful mess

Now I don't claim to have any answers
But you know that I've got questions by the score
Like, who has the power and who has the name
Who has the right and who has the blame
And who has the lawyers and who has the tax breaks
Who has the damage control
Who has the home and who has the future
Who has the troubled soul?

So you can skim off the oil as you skim off the profits
But you'll only skim the surface of the crime
And when you drive to the pump watch the gas price jump
And I think you'll understand it all in time
Why up in the land of the midnight sun
You know, we're really in an awful fix
Seems corporate profits and the public good
Like oil and water, don't mix

And we could call it "I've Got a Secret"
And everyone could guess what's being done
Or maybe we could call it "To Tell the Truth"
Now wouldn't that be a lot of fun?
But it's more like "Good Morning America"
And everyone is waking up to find
That feather and fin and fur and skin
We're all judged by the bottom line
But, side by side, we're gonna turn that tide
'Cause there ain't gonna be a second time

©1989 John McCutcheon/Appalsongs (ASCAP)

At the Moment (2003)
words and music by John McCutcheon

I was in Greece when my old friend and frequent musical partner, Freyda Epstein, was killed in an automobile accident. Written for a memorial concert in her honor.

At the moment they brought me the message
I was oceans and hours away
Wondering what I was doing
The moment that you slipped away

At the moment I’m looking out windows
At a night that hold only one star
In the morning it’s gone but I know it’s still
Shining afar

At the moment we raised up our voices
And a bit of our soul was set free
I’m still humbled and awed by the beauty
Of the small part of you that’s in me

We laughed and we danced on the table
And confounded the silence with song
In the dark of this night still it echoes so brightly
And strong

I don’t look for reward ever after
For I hold this life much too dear
From what I can tell both heaven and hell
We create in abundance right here

When the fire that burned is but ashes
And the stories have all been retold
The heat and the light will sustain us
Long after the hearth has grown cold

And grief has a place at the table
For it’s part of what we are made of
And it’ll stay long enough to remind us its mother
Is love

At the moment our lives become memory
And all of our dreaming is done
We shed what it is makes us different
And we don what it is makes us one

What is memory but time rendered timeless
Some small proof we each live anew
I refuse to surrender that small part of me
That is you

Some mark their days by the hours
Some mark their days by the signs
Me? I look to that star and where ever we are
We will shine

©2003 John McCutcheon/Appalsongs (ASCAP)

Different (2003)
words and music by John McCutcheon

Maybe the kids are paying attention after all.

A father tucked a little girl
Into bed last night
“Tell me,” said the little girl
“What’s wrong and what is right”
I learned to always tell the truth
Be honest, never lie
I’m punished when I tell a fib
So I’ve got to ask you why
When grandpa called up on the phone
You said to say you weren’t at home…
That’s different
Is what her father told her
It’s different
You’ll understand when you get older
Sometimes grownups have to lie
But kids should never…don’t ask why
It’s just different

A father tucked a little girl
Into bed last night
“Tell me,” said the little girl
“What’s wrong and what is right”
I was taught to clean my room
To pick up all my mess
To leave it cleaner than before
But I must confess
It’s so confusing when I find
The garbage grownups leave behind…
That’s different
Is what her father told her
It’s different
You’ll understand when you get older
It’s complicated, yes it’s true
There’re limits to what we can do
It’s just different

A father tucked a little girl
Into bed last night
“Tell me,” said the little girl
“What’s wrong and what is right”
In school we’re taught to settle fights
With words instead of fists
It takes courage to control
It’s stronger to resist
What are all these lessons for
When we’re so quick to go to war?
That’s different
Is what her father told her
It’s different
You’ll understand when you get older
Despite the lessons learned in schools
Grownups get to fudge the rules
It’s just different

Parents find it great relief
To compromise all their beliefs

It’s different
Than what we thought we’d see
So different
Than what it ought to be
Imagine how our world would seem
If we all lived up to our dreams
It’d be different

©2003 John McCutcheon/Appalsongs (ASCAP)

Love & Understanding (2003)
words and music by John McCutcheon

Pat Robertson continues to be a never-ending fountain of inspiration.

God was having breakfast the other morning
Coffee and bagels with the Heavenly Host
He’d gotten his email and checked the box score
Of the Angels game in the Washington Post
When he saw something in the Metro Section
An article that really caught his eye
And as he read he shook his head and said,
“Oh no, not this guy!”

He said, “Gabriel, come here and take a letter
“To that Robertson guy, the one on TV.
“Yeah, the guy who tells his people
‘Send your money to Jesus, but make all the checks out to me!’
“Yeah, right, the fellow who just loves Charles Taylor
“Blamed 9/11 on all the liberals and the gays
“Well it seems that he want me to put
“Three Supreme Court Justices away!”

“Now, Gabe, it’s one thing to steal my money
“And it’s one thing to be a total sham
“But to pray out a contract on three folks you disagree with
“I mean, just who does he think that I am?
“And I have been listening to all his crap
“For way too many years
“And I believe it’s time his prayers are answered
“But I don’t think he’s gonna like what he hears!”

Chorus
I’m talking ‘bout love and understanding
And everybody working hand in hand
It’s the only way you’re ever gonna make it into
The Promised Land

“Tell him, Pat, I’ve really had it up to here
“With all your politics dressed up in Christian clothes
“Now the Beatitudes I’ve always figured were way more important than the Ten Commandments
“But I know you’ve forgotten every one of those
“And word you’ve been spreadin’ ‘round ‘bout Islam,
“How it’s a perversion and it’s a lie?
“Well, you know Allah, Yahweh and me?
“Surprise! We’re all the same guy!” Chorus

“And you tell him, Pat, you’re really starting to piss me off
“So I’m gonna tell it to you straight
“Boy, you better change your ways or one day soon
“You’re gonna find out that it’s too late
“So just remember, I taught ‘Love your enemies’
“And you know that vengeance is mine
“And I’m a loving God
“But, Pat, don’t tempt me to change my mind!”

©2003 John McCutcheon/Appalsongs (ASCAP)
Leesburg, VA July 2003

In the Streets of Sarajevo (2001)
words and music by John McCutcheon

Vedran Smailovic took up his cello in the streets of his city in the early 1990’s and I took up my pen a few years later.

He was there one Sunday morning
At the corner of the square
In a freshly pressed tuxedo
In a simple folding chair
Just after curfew lifted
When everything was still
He played his cello
In the morning chill

In the streets of Sarajevo
A place of flame and death
This music so surprising
The whole world held its breath
And each morning he returned
To that spot and he would play
In the streets of Sarajevo everyday

And everyday he made me wonder
Where did he ever find
The music midst the madness
The courage to be kind
The long forgotten beauty
We thought was blown away
In the streets of Sarajevo everyday

And many was the day
The soldiers asked him who he was
They warned him of the danger
In doing what he does
Many said that he was crazy
To risk his life in such a way
On the streets of Sarajevo everyday

I wish someone could tell me
Who is crazy, who is sane
Those who stand in protest
Or those who drop these bombs like rain
Those who fill our lives with death
In this place where children play
On the streets of Sarajevo everyday

So I come here in defiance
And to add a bit of grace
Try to ease the awful hatred
And the horror of this place
To remember there is beauty
No matter what they say
In the streets of Sarajevo everyday

And everyday I see them
Those who will not stand aside
Who refuse to be defeated
Who rage against the tide
They are a glimmer in the darkness
The rolling of the stone
A message in a bottle
From the distant shores of home

And everyday he made me wonder
Where did he ever find
The music midst the madness
The courage to be kind
The long forgotten beauty
We thought was blown away
In the streets of Sarajevo
And in the streets of Tel Aviv
And in the streets of Jakarta
And in the streets of every city everyday

©2001 John McCutcheon/Appalsongs (ASCAP)

Hey Little Ant
words and music by Phil & Hannah Hoose

This is the biggest little song I know.

Vocals: John & Catie Curtis

Hey Little Ant, down in that crack
Can you hear me? Can you talk back?
See my shoe? Can you see that?
Oh now it's gonna squish you flat.

(gasp)! Please oh please do not squish me
Spare my life and let me be
I'm on my way home with a crumb of pie
Please don't squish me, don't make me die.

Oh anyone knows that an ant can't feel,
You're so tiny you don't seem real.
I'm so big and you're so small
I don't think it'll hurt at all.

Yeah - well you are a giant and giants can't
Know how it feels to be an ant.
Come down close and you will see
That you are quite a lot like me.

Are you crazy? Me? Like you?
Why I've got a home and a family too.
You're just a speck that runs around.
No one'll care if my foot comes down.

Oh big friend you are so wrong
My nest mates need me because I am strong.
I dig our nest, feed baby ants too
I must not die beneath your shoe.

Yeah well my mother says that ants are rude.
They carry off our picnic food.
They steal our chips and our bread crumbs too.
Who cares if I kill a crook like you?

Hey I'm not a crook, kid, read my lips.
Sometimes ants need crumbs and chips.
Why, one of your chips feeds my whole town
You must not let your foot come down.

Yeah, but all my friends squish ants each day
Squishing ants is a game we play.
They're looking at us, they're listening too.
They all say - I should squish you!

Well I can see you're big and strong
Decide for yourself what's right and wrong.
But if you were me and I were you
What would you want me to do?

Should the ant get squished? Should the ant go free?
It's up to the kid, not up to me.
So we'll leave that kid with the raised up shoe
What do you think that kid should do?

We Are Not Alone (2003)
words and music by John McCutcheon

Commissioned for the twenty-fifth birthday of the Hospice Program in my hometown of Wausau, WI. My mother was one of the very early volunteers there and died there in 1985. My father has been a volunteer there every since.

Chorus
This is me, this is mine
In my life, in my time
Every heart, every soul
We’re each part of the whole
Every birth, every breath
Every life, every death
I am here, I am home
I am not alone

Every step of this journey will be mine
Take a stand
Take my hand
Take your time
From the moment of my birth
Through every day here on this earth
I will live this life for all that I am worth Chorus

And in the end there’s precious little that we own
Great or small
Time is all
Just on loan
So let us live life to the brim
And if we sink or if we swim
Let us leave a bit of grace where we have been Chorus

Each door we close
Leads to an open door
Love is what this living all is for Chorus

©2003 John McCutcheon/Appalsongs (ASCAP)

The Masters (2003)
words and music by John McCutcheon

Fore!

Hootie and Martha on the Number 1 tee
Martha says to Hootie, “It seems to me
“In this day and age wouldn’t you suppose
“You could have a woman on your membership roles?”
Hootie says to Martha, “Put away your bayonet
“There’s something fundamental that you girls don’t get
“We’re a private club, we don’t have to agree
“With the rules of the 21st Century”

Hootie and Martha, number 6, par 4
Martha says to Hootie, “C’mon open up the door
“There’s Anika Sorensten and Sandra Day O’Connor
“To have either as members would surely be an honor”
Hootie says to Martha, “You just don’t understand
“It’s not about whether you’re a woman or a man
“It’s about privilege, connections, money, class
“And if you fail to get, you can kiss my Titlist.”

Hootie and Martha on a long par 5
Martha says to Hootie, “I admire your drive
“But it looks like you ended up way in the rough
“The game that we’re playing is getting mighty tough”
Hootie says to Martha, “You can have your demonstration
“It’s your right in a democratic nation
“But here at Augusta we’re tired of that crap.”
Then he found that he had landed in a very deep trap

Hootie and Martha at the 19th hole
Martha says to Hootie, “It’s out of your control
“One day soon change will come to this place
“And there’s only left a little bit of time to save face.”
Hootie says to Martha, “I’ll take that chance
“To show all the world we still wear the pants.”
Martha says to Hootie, “You’re heading for disaster
“But I guess now we know why you guys are called The Masters”

©2003 John McCutcheon/Appalsongs (ASCAP)

Laz’rus (2002)
words and music by John McCutcheon

When the nine coal miners were miraculously rescued after three days in a flooded mine outside of Somerset, PA the vision of the biblical Lazarus was the first thing that came to mind. One of the unreported heroics of the rescue was the effort of the United Mine Workers over generations that forced the industry to have rescue technology and personnel trained and ready.

Poor Ol’ Laz’rus shake your bones
You come from the world of water and stone
Locked in the belly of the earth all alone
Poor Ol’ Laz’rus shake your bones

Poor Ol’ Laz’rus ain’t it a sight
In that world of endless night
Your dreams are filled this air and light
Poor Ol’ Laz’rus ain’t it a sight?

Poor Ol’ Laz’rus you know it’s true
The earth is gonna claim her due
This world was made by men like you
Poor Ol’ Laz’rus you know it’s true

Poor Ol’ Laz’rus that third day
When they raised your body from the clay
Turned the hand of death away
Poor Ol’ Laz’rus on that great day

Poor Ol’ Laz’rus the ages gonna roll
Squeeze your body into coal
Break your back but not your soul
Poor Ol’ Laz’rus the ages gonna roll

Poor Ol’ Laz’rus shake your bones
You come from the world of water and stone
Nine men a-walkin’ that road back home
Poor Ol’ Laz’rus shake your bones

©2002 John McCutcheon/Appalsongs (ASCAP)

Stand Up (1995)
words and music by John McCutcheon

Commissioned as a video soundtrack for the AFL/CIO Convention in 1995.

John: guitar and vocals
Steuart Smith: electric guitar
JT Brown: bass and vocals
Jon Carroll: piano, organ and vocals
Kevin Davis: percussion
Robert “Jos” Jospé: drums

Let us tell again the stories
Of the ones who set this world aflame
The ones who rose tall, the great and the small
America remembers their names
We saw a world of new horizons
We saw a world of hearts and hands
Each joined in the fight, the power and might
Were gathered from across this land (to)

Chorus
Stand up for our family
Stand up
Stand up for America
Stand up
We got to stand

We are the ones who answer
When America calls out her name
Together we come, united as one
We rise again and again
We are the ones who labor
We are the ones who care
We are the ones, the daughters and sons
We are the ones who dare (to) Chorus

Come and feel a new world rising
Come and heed a brand new call
It echoes our past and it’s coming on fast
Reaching out to one and all
From our parents to our children
All across this mighty land
As the future draws near, our vision is clear
Side by side and hand in hand (we’re gonna) Chorus

We stand for good jobs, fight for good wages, we are the ones (Stand up!)
For health and safety, speaking one strong voice, we are the ones (Stand up!)
We are the dreamers, we are the long haul, we are the ones (Stand up!)
We are the neighbors, we are the family, we are the ones (Stand up!)
We are the workers, we are America, we are the ones (Stand up!)
We are the future, we are the Union, we are the ones (Stand up!)

©1995 John McCutcheon/Appalsongs (ASCAP)