Red 'n' White Blues

They keep putting my country down -- the original 1980 lyrics

    1.
C
Stop and think for a minute
  'Bout this Land of the
    Brave and Free
Two hundred years is short
  But it's a great democracy

     F
They founded a republic
           Fm
  Built it solidly to last
C
Maybe it's gotten big 'n' slow
  But if you look to
     the recent past

     G
Just like a little baby
        F
  We've got all that it takes
C
Just like growin' up
  We've had to
    learn from our mistakes
        an' I get those

G
Red 'n' White Blues when they
  F                       C
  keep puttin' my country down

    2.
       C
Now we don't have Richard Nixon
  To kick us around no more
    And we made a special effort
        To end up Viet Nam's war

       F
And we just quit helpin' Mexico
     Fm
  to paraquat the grass
      C
So Khomeni can take his beads an'
  shove 'em up...
    (let's not be crass)

  G
I know we've still got problems
         F
  And perhaps they've just begun
       C
But at least we've learned
  that freedom doesn't
    come out of a gun
        an' I get those

G
Red 'n' White Blues when they
  F                       C
  keep puttin' my country down

Mindful Webworks / Radical Incline / Red 'n' White Blues, page 2

    3.
  C
I can't defend the stupid things

  Like a country of our size

Still being too proud and too narrow-minded

  To simply apologize
   F
We can't even run our own place
                  Fm
  'cause we're so busy splitting hairs
        C
If we'd mind our own damn business

  We would not be minding theirs

        G
But the way that we've been treated
     F
  Is stickin' in my craw
C
Khomeni wouldn't be around
  if we'd really
    been helping the Shah
        an' I get those

G
Red 'n' White Blues 'cause they
  F                       C
  keep puttin' my country down

    4.
C
Some folks don't trust the Black man

  And some folks fear the Gay

Some folks don't like Disco

  But they trust the C.I.A.

        F
I'm not pointin' any fingers or
            Fm
  Tryin' to tell you how to be
       C
It's a great big blessed country

  And there's room for you and me

      G
And besides the earth is nuclear now
      F
  Not like it was before
           C
This could be the final chapter
  one more war
    will end all war
        and end my...

G
Red 'n' White Blues 'cause we
  F                         C
  wouldn't have no country around....

Red 'n' White Blues

Saturday, October 27, 2001 - 13:00

Lyrics originated 1980 Jan 8. Published to mindfulwebworks.com 2007 Mar 26. ©All original content

The trouble with political songs is how quickly contemporary references become dated. When this song was originally written, it was the Soviet Union who were bogged down in Afghanistan, and America really had quit helping Mexico helicopter-spray poison on pot crops; and as the song reached web-page status, the "drug war" is more insane than ever, there is no Soviet Union anymore, but the Russians back our anti-terrorist bombings of… Afghanistan!

Album:

Radical Incline

Media:

Lyrics

Subjects:

United States of America