Song written a couple of years ago in the midst of the OWS movement; I tried going back to the type of music that fuelled the protest movements of the 1930s and mixing in a bit of humour. Even if "folk-protest" isn't really my bag I was pretty happy with the words that came out. All still unfortunately true now as I'm sure it will be for a long time to come.
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Honest Man, Lonely Man
Honest man, lonely man
That’s how it all goes today
Well, if you match your words and deeds
You’ll likely walk unaccompanied
An honest man’s a lonely man today
Well, Tricky Dick walked up to me
And he was quite irate
I hadn’t seen him so wound up
Since during Watergate
“I paid the price for the tales I told,” I heard that old ghost sigh
“But beside the whoppers of today
They seem like small white lies.”
Honest man, lonely man
Seems that’s the rule of today
And if you wanna get ahead
You’d best leave the truth unsaid
An honest man’s a lonely man today
(bridge) You talk about a rogue’s gallery
Well, here’s a treasure trove
The only thing they wouldn’t steal
Is a red hot stove
Honest man, lonely man
Seems that’s the rule today
And if you want a piece of that pie
I recommend you learn to lie
An honest man’s a lonely man today
Well, all across our nation now
We hear the well is dry
Austerity’s the only way
And there’ll be no more free rides
You see we’ve got no money for workers or the poor
But the money men can print more up
To start another war
Honest man, lonely man
That’s how it all goes today
If you wanna be called Mr. Tibbs
Then son you’d better learn to fib
An honest man’s a lonely man today
(bridge) You talk about a rogue’s gallery
Well, here’s a treasure trove
The only thing they wouldn’t steal
Is a red hot stove
Honest man, lonely man
Seems that’s the rule today
If you want a home on easy street
The first down payment is deceit
An honest man’s a lonely man today
Honest Abe came riding up
Humming a melody
But he wasn’t whistling Dixie
When he said, “Take it from me”
“There’s one commodity I see
More valuable than gold
“It’s no tall tale when I say
It’s your mortal soul”
Machiavelli would be proud
Of the world in which we live
To seem is all that matters now
And not what nothing is
And pimps and punks and crocks and crooks
Keep stealing, stalling and cooking books
And I don’t think we can go on this way
Honest man, lonely man
Seems that’s the rule today
Well, if you match your words and deeds
You’ll likely walk unaccompanied
An honest man’s a lonely man today
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