April 19th (Live in Olympia on May 10th, 1998)
This song exploring the synchronicities surrounding Patriots Day, and its auspicious date, would eventually end up on A Curmudgeon For All Seasons.
It was recorded as part of a great night of music in Olympia.
I opened. Then it was Chris Chandler, accompanied by Laura Freeman and Josh Zawaduck, followed by Dan Bern and his band, featuring Martha Wainwright.
Lyrics
APRIL 19TH
April 19th
It’s a pretty good day
A pretty good day
in the US of A
because it’s Patriot’s Day
and all the patriot’s say,
“Three cheers for the grand old flag
Hip Heil Horray!”
The folks that died at Waco
might have something more to add
but the radio it said
the folks in Waco were bad,
and got what they deserved
But what about M.O.V.E. in Philadelphia?
Or A.I.M. at Wounded Knee?
Or the syphilis experiments we did at Tuskegee?
What about the Japanese internment camps?
And Joseph McCarthy?
How much more patriotic can you friggin’ be?
I don’t know how much of it’s
got dick to do with me
but it shatters the illusion that we’re actually free
But then I turn to my history and I see that
April 19th is when the first shots were fired
in the revolutionary war which transpired
was a great conflagration in which I’m told we were successful
and now we rule the world, man
We’ve really got our hands full!
But in Oklahoma City
several bombs were detonated
Shoulda been heard ’round the world
but the world had been sedated
and heard but one
on April 19th…
well the folks that died at Waco, man
they never got their turn
Were the folks that died at Waco
really bad enough to burn?
Yeah April 19th
is a pretty good day
A pretty good day in the US of fuckin’ A
I got my hands full
I barely got my rent paid
I work down at the landfill
and last night I got laid
The folks that died in Waco
They were waitin’ on the lord
instead they met the lead
of another Roman sword
On April 19th…
Well, the folks that died at Waco
might have something more to say
but the folks that died at Waco
won’t be sayin’ it to…
day
Credits
Written by Andras Jones
Recorded live at The Accidental Music Festival
at Traditions Fair Trade in Olympia, WA
on May 10th, 1998
Purchase
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