"Free Money for the Cronies, and Lilliputians Get the Onus"
The following was submitted as an entry to the Templeton Press "New Threats to Freedom" Video contest by my friend and fellow Dartmouth alumnus, Jolyon Pruszinski. When it comes to the music tastes of our membership, I know that few here regularly listen to and enjoy rap. However, this performance was so entrancing -- and the lyrics sheer poetry -- that I just had to share with you all.
Lyrics:
wake up wake up, wake up wake up,
wake up wake up, wake up wake up
wake up! wake up! what are these days that we live in?
where bankers and politicians get all the trust we're givin? transparency's like mud with this financial necromancy
food is gettin spendy, all the while you gettin fancy
with the free money for cronies, and lilliputians get the onus,
my panic's widespread, you say, 'check out my bonus!'
helicopter ben, where are you gettin all this money?
this really seems like funny money honey
don't even try to tell me you aint making all us needy
i'll believe it when i hear it from the easter bunny
where you at alan greespan? mister obi wan
our tiller's been shakin without ya steady hand
oh wait, man, i forgot that all along you had a game plan
just stick the invisible hand back in the till of grandma's pension plan big business and bankers in bed with government wankers
news anchors turn apologist for [expletive] hand spankers
S-E-C and oversight from congress? back room dealers?
there's no light at the end of my tunnel when to cookie stealers, caught hand in jar, the pols say "second helpings for certain!
uh - pay no attention to the man behind the curtain."
taxpayers and debtors, new serfs to secret overlords
and enforcement at the edge of the sword
the nation's come unmoored from any moral anchors
when young men aspire to be i-bankers
i'll do a little thinkin', i'll play a little organ
buy a little silver, gonna crash jp morgan
check out these bailouts... one day they'll turn to dollar routs
but i doubt that these louts would take haircuts on even brussels sprouts they'll be delilah to our samson, hold us hostage for ransom
promising to pay obligations with inflated dollar phantoms
thanks a lot dartmouth for all your higher office tenants
between paulson and geithner i think it's time to do some penance i-bankers, conflicting interests, J-P Morgan, Goldman Sachs,
time's running out for you to get away with bear-raid-attacks
time to lay the smack down on nefarious ambitions
time to enact some limits on C-F-T-C positions
the media wont report that the emporer's wearing naked shorts
see how you like some fractional reserve pitchforks
you make the dollar look good, but its just a whitewashed tomb
only the servants of mammon could go and call this bust a boom
they pop the trunk of the hearse, now they're loading up the casket wait where we going? and what we doing in this hand-basket?
they'll inflate away your savings, watch out orphans and widows
these captains of industry and power brokers aint no action-heros mutual funds and I-R-As are like aesop's fables
we're gonna learn a lesson like the way that cain taught one to abel and where's the church while these bankers ransack my global village? just hoping that they get their ten percent of the plunder and pillage will you sell us downriver? and sell your soul if you can
not even gain the world, just grub the crumbs up from the man?
if so we fail the people, the lord, and all the nations
but failure's not an option for our future generations
the kids will need a land to love and live in when it turns to spring so lets stand up to the bosses to ensure the freedom rings
i'll do a little thinkin', i'll play a little organ
buy a little silver, gonna crash jp morgan
the earnings from this market of stocks are like a black box
until taxpayers see the bankers pullin their glocks, yellin
"bail us out or we'll blow the whole thing down!
"you think this is bad? we're gonna make this place a ghost town!" finally we see the hors d'oeuvres that you been serving
holding moral scruples just by fractionally reserving
but one day soon you'll get your well-deserved desserts
cause these masters of the universe have got to lose their shirts
the machinations spark investigations every season
but the CIA shuts it down for security reasons
their offshore bank accounts, fraudulent amounts
used to disabuse the people of their golden goose
hard work and saving, while the lying spys been stealing
their double dealing leaves this nation needing healing
all this thieving must end, we need some transparency
jail the fiscal magicians who mess with the currency
no more bankers and banks to steal the people's coin collection
toss corrupt judges, time for some direct election
time to take the politicians out behind the woodshed
term limits and prison are a better fix than hot lead
with central bankers addicted to money printing crack
full faith and credit of uncle sam has got to get the sack
and for God's sake! we've got to take out the C-I-A
and make them choose the light of day or the highway
temptation to do justice from the business end of my revolver
but equal application of the law must be the problem solver
tighten that up and then rely because the arm is long
then we can lock em where they'll sing a sing sing song
i'll do a little thinkin', i'll play a little organ
buy a little silver, gonna crash jp morgan
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Comments :
Re: "Free Money for the Cronies, and Lilliputians Get the Onus"
Love it. Dartmouth seems to have a stronghold on conservative rap!
Nov '10
Re: "Free Money for the Cronies, and Lilliputians Get the Onus"
In Austin they passed a law against "texting while driving". I can't imagine they would ever allow "Filming a Video and Rapping" while driving.
Good stuff. Since I prefer my rap via mashup , I'd really dig it if he dropped the rhymes over a cool rock or alternative track. I had been thinking of introducing Ricochet to Danger Mouse's Grey Album.
Re: "Free Money for the Cronies, and Lilliputians Get the Onus"
Lance: In Austin they passed a law against "texting while driving". I can't imagine they would ever allow "Filming a Video and Rapping" while driving.
Good stuff. Since I prefer my rap via mashup , I'd really dig it if he dropped the rhymes over a cool rock or alternative track. I had been thinking of introducing Ricochet to Danger Mouse's Grey Album. · Apr 1 at 12:45pm
Hey Lance, how do you like Girl Talk? Best mashups ever, but I certainly can't link to it from Ricochet due to CoC constraints. Danger Mouse's Grey Album is awesome. My favorite track is "What More Can I Say?" mashed up with the Beatles' "While My Guitar Gently Weeps." Warning: That track contains the "N-word."
Dec '10
Re: "Free Money for the Cronies, and Lilliputians Get the Onus"
"Onus" is the least likely word in a song lyric since Smokey Robinson put "Pagliacci" in "Tears of a Clown."
Nov '10
Re: "Free Money for the Cronies, and Lilliputians Get the Onus"
My affection for the genre far outdistances my knowledge of it. Always trying to be cognizant of what I like, and why, I just know that I have always preferred rap when its mixed with rock, going back to Anthrax and Public Enemy doing Bring the Noise I can't speak to the technicalities unfolding in a rock track, but I do feel it compliments the rhythmic and melodic nature of the rhymes in a completely different way than does the beats and scratches of hip hop. A way that I just liked a whole lot more. Turns out that there just aren't that many interesting collaborations going on, (and the whole rock/rap of Limp Bizkit et all made my ears and heart hurt). But the mashup pays respect and plays off both parts. And quenches my thirst. I have only recently discovered how much of it there is out there, and I was not familiar with GirlTalk. Some quick research reveals that he is a master of the trade. And a quick listen sure confirmed it. Thanks! I love discovering new stuff!
Dec '10
Re: "Free Money for the Cronies, and Lilliputians Get the Onus"
Toby Mac and the old DC Talk stuff. Jesus Freak, y'all. Nuff said.