In this series, presented under the headline “Songs To While Away The Class Struggle By”, I will post some songs that I think will help us get through the “dog days” of the struggle for our communist future. I do not vouch for the political thrust of the songs; for the most part they are done by pacifists, social democrats, hell, even just plain old ordinary democrats. And, occasionally, a communist, although hard communist musicians have historically been scarce on the ground. Thus, here we have a regular "popular front" on the music scene. While this would not be acceptable for our political prospects, it will suffice for our purposes here. Markin.
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The Emperor Has No Clothes
Notes: words and music by Malvina Reynolds; copyright 1965 Schroder Music Company, renewed 1993.
Well the emperor wears no clothes,
All he's got on is a slogan,
It's really not much of a thing,
He'd be better off wearing a g-string,
The emperor has no clothes.
They wove him a suit out of nothing,
A couple of worn-out phrases.
"Commitments," "aggression" and such,
He paid through the nose for the touch,
And the emperor has no clothes.
He's got mud and blood all over,
And that is a rotten cover,
Him heading a fine procession
With only his facial expression,
The emperor has no clothes.
The Frenchman said, "You're naked!"
But the emperor couldn't hear.
An adman was filling his ear
With a story of destiny--
A man who was bare as Adam,
As any small child could see.
He stands like Napoleon
With his hand tucked into his jacket,
But he really hasn't a jacket,
No trouser, no pocket, no placket,
The emperor has no clothes.
The rogues are selling him napalm,
Airplanes, bullets and rockets,
A prospectus for doomsday war,
Plus a noble historical stance,
When what he needs are some decent civilian pants.
Malvina Reynolds songbook(s) in which the music to this song appears:
---- [none]
Malvina Reynolds recording(s) on which this song is performed:
---- [none]
* * * * *
http://www.wku.edu/~smithch/MALVINA/mr415.htm
This page copyright 2007 by Charles H. Smith and Nancy Schimmel. All rights reserved.
***************
The Emperor Has No Clothes
Notes: words and music by Malvina Reynolds; copyright 1965 Schroder Music Company, renewed 1993.
Well the emperor wears no clothes,
All he's got on is a slogan,
It's really not much of a thing,
He'd be better off wearing a g-string,
The emperor has no clothes.
They wove him a suit out of nothing,
A couple of worn-out phrases.
"Commitments," "aggression" and such,
He paid through the nose for the touch,
And the emperor has no clothes.
He's got mud and blood all over,
And that is a rotten cover,
Him heading a fine procession
With only his facial expression,
The emperor has no clothes.
The Frenchman said, "You're naked!"
But the emperor couldn't hear.
An adman was filling his ear
With a story of destiny--
A man who was bare as Adam,
As any small child could see.
He stands like Napoleon
With his hand tucked into his jacket,
But he really hasn't a jacket,
No trouser, no pocket, no placket,
The emperor has no clothes.
The rogues are selling him napalm,
Airplanes, bullets and rockets,
A prospectus for doomsday war,
Plus a noble historical stance,
When what he needs are some decent civilian pants.
Malvina Reynolds songbook(s) in which the music to this song appears:
---- [none]
Malvina Reynolds recording(s) on which this song is performed:
---- [none]
* * * * *
http://www.wku.edu/~smithch/MALVINA/mr415.htm
This page copyright 2007 by Charles H. Smith and Nancy Schimmel. All rights reserved.
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