Songbook
“All of my songs, for free, right here.”
Click on a title below for streaming audio, lyrics, and often other things such as sheet music, videos, and links to online albums. CSA members and members of the press please feel free to request a link to folder(s) to download multiple songs or albums at one time.
116 Degrees
Portland, Oregon, in the summer of 2021
1492
The year the Ottoman Empire rescued 800,000 or so European refugees
15
$15 an hour — campaign for a living wage
1848
A great year for pitchforks
1933
The year Hitler entered the government in Germany
30 Seconds
Attention spans
A Biden Ballad
Whatever else might be said about the family, they’re corrupt
A Brief History of Jerusalem
Crusaders, new and old
A Brief History of the Orange Line
Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts — a neighborhood saved by the Anti-Highway Movement
A Christmas Song
A protest song against having to listen to so much Christmas music
A Coup That Wasn’t A Coup
Egypt, 2013
A Dream Foreclosed
Foreclosure crisis, shattered American dreams
A Luta Continua
One of the best things about the phrase “the struggle continues” in Portuguese is how “struggle” resembles “loot” in English
A Penny A Play
Fantasies of music streaming justice
A Song for Laurel (music by Virtual Bird)
A song for Laurel Krause, whose sister Allison was killed at Kent State
A Song for My Professor
Peter Bohmer was my professor because the FBI failed to assassinate him, for one thing
Across the Ocean Wide (When the Winnipeg Set Sail)
In 1939, when Pablo Neruda helped Spanish refugees get to safety in Chile
Adelaide
A love song
After Friday Prayers
During the Great March of Return, the Israeli military committed a massacre of civilians every Friday afternoon
After the Revolution
Imagining how some things could be
After We Torture Our Prisoners
Then we’ll give them democracy
Age of Oil
It’s a surreal time to be alive, in the age of fossil fuels and collective suicide
Age of the Robber Barons
It was an age of progress and poverty
Airdrop
In 1948 the Allies airlifted 5 to 20 thousand tons of aid to West Berlin every day
Aleppo
For the 71 refugees found dead in the back of the truck in Austria on August 27th, 2015
All that Didn’t Change With 9-1-1
Reflections on the 20th anniversary of September 11th, 2001
All The Ghosts That Walk This Earth
A song about missing my friend Eric Mark
All the News That’s Fit To Sing
The title track to the album that Phil Ochs never wrote
Alligator Song
A humorous take on the dioxin that is making their genitalia shrink (and ours as well)
America Has Never Been So Great
If it had been, then it wouldn’t be such a tall order to Make America Great Again
American Dream Ponzi Scheme (music by Virtual Bird)
The American Dream, with its forever-rising costs, is a Ponzi scheme, no doubt
American Way
There is a profound hypocrisy in US policy towards Ukraine
American Rag
American patriotism is a strange and distressing thing
Anarchist Jurisdiction
When Portland and Seattle were officially declared by Trump’s Attorney General to be “anarchist jurisdictions”
And the Earth Spins Round Again
Everything else may change, but some things are consistent
Angry White American Man
With a gun, who killed three Palestinian students in Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Another World
A hopeful song based around a hopeful quote
Anthony Hill
Killed by Atlanta cop for being Black, while unarmed and naked
Anthony’s Wiener
Former Congressman from New York City, Anthony Wiener, sexts
Antisemite
All critics of Israeli policies are antisemites, aren’t they?
Anti-Israel Boycott Act
Major sentences for those who dare boycott Israel
Aotearoa
When so much of the world was locked down, but New Zealand wasn’t
Apocalypse
Wars all over the place, millions of refugees, daily massacres, massive forest fires — check!
The Apocalypse Will Be Televised
At an unspeakable cost for all of the Palestinian journalists
As I Walk On By
Covid-19 has been such an isolating pandemic
As I Watch Minneapolis Burn
When George Floyd was murdered
As the Bombs Rain Down
The first song of the Gaza 2023 song cycle, from October 13th
As the Planet Floods and Burns
Everything else that happens does so within the context of the global climate catastrophe
Assata
Assata Shakur, the FBI’s Most Wanted Terrorist
At the End of World War 3
Written soon after the Russian invasion of Ukraine in early 2022
Atif and Sebastian
Two men imprisoned for a crime they didn’t commit
Aurora Massacre
Poem for those killed in the movie theater in Aurora, Colorado
Babies Are A Mess (kids)
Fun song about making a mess
Baby in a Bag (kids)
How my daughter Leila liked to be carried around when she was small enough
Baby Jesus Lying in the Rubble
He died in his mother’s arms in Gaza
The Ball is Round
Song for the Palestinian national football team
Ballad of a Cluster Bomb
Story of a cluster bomb in the first person
Ballad of a Dung Beetle (kids)
What would it be like to be a dung beetle who was allergic to poop?
Ballad of a Touring Musician (Playing Music In My Living Room)
Another effort at coping with pandemic lockdown in song
Ballad of A Wobbly
Came to the US, got exploited, organized a union, got deported in the Palmer Raids
Ballad of Alvaro Luna Hernandez
Anti-police brutality activist Alvaro Luna Hernandez has been prison in Texas since 1996
Ballad of CeCe McDonald
If you’re black and trans and try to “stand your ground” you go to prison
Ballad of Eola Park
Food Not Bombs activists arrested again
Ballad of HB 2004 (Democratic Landlord Senators of Salem)
It started out as being a pro-renter bill, then the landlord lobby bribed the Democrats again
Ballad of Lachlan Macquarie
Stephen Langford was charged with a crime for putting a Macquarie quote on the man’s own statue in Sydney, Australia
Ballad of John McCain
Sometimes you have to speak ill of the dead
Ballad of Saed Bannoura
Paraplegic veteran of the First Intifada but still going strong
Ballad of the Columbia Eagle
When Al Glatkowski and Clyde McKay led a mutiny on the high seas
Ballad of the Green Cities Corporation
Written for a successful effort to get this landlord corporation to rescind an outrageous rent increase
Ballad of the Oregon Employment Department
I called every day for months and months and got nothing but busy signals
Ballad of the TikTok Ban
American billionaires are apparently better than Chinese ones…?
Ballad of Woodspring Apartments and Hamilton-Zanze
Woodspring Apartments’ residents thought they lived in rent-controlled senior housing
Barack Obama
One of a series of derisive songs about the president
Barbara Lee
In praise of the one person in the Congress who stood up that day in September, 2001
Battle of Blair Mountain
The seminal event of the Coal Mine Wars of 1920-21 in West Virginia
Before the Oil Wells Ran Dry
Another song about the surreal nature of living at the end of the oil age
Before the War Came Home
Charlie Hebdo massacre, January, 2015
Before Their Ship Arrived
Refugees coming to a nation of refugees — Australia, in this case
The Begging (Revised)
Surviving as a musician
Behind Closed Doors
Written during the Ford-Kavanaugh hearings
Behind the Barricades
Interpersonal love and solidarity is central to any successful social movement
Behind These Prison Walls
Free Julian Assange
Beneath These Stars
A song for a campfire
Berkshire Hills
Shays Rebellion was a rebellion of tenant farmers in western Massachusetts that began in 1786
Berlin
A picture of the skyline of Berlin after World War 2
Bernie
I like Bernie Sanders OK, but I don’t like the Democratic Party he’s recently embraced
Bernie 2020
A campaign song
The Best Democracy Money Can Buy
This isn’t an election, this is an auction
Between You and that Harpoon
A song glorifying the exploits of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society
Bevar Christiania
A love song for the biggest urban commune in Europe, Christiania
Beyond the Mall
One of a series of songs about suburban sprawl and big box madness
Bicycle Song
A simple song promoting bicycle-riding
The Biggest Landlord
Just after Trump’s election
The Biggest Windmill
The first industrial-scale windmill, Tvindkraft, was built in the 1970’s by Danish hippies
Black Flag Flying
The Golden Age of Piracy, 1716-1726, was a revolutionary period
Bluegrass Fiddler of London
A love song for an English bluegrass fiddle player
Bomb Ourselves
A satirical take on the War on Terror, and which targets qualify for bombing
Bonobo Song
We humans are just as closely related to the affectionate bonobos as we are to the chimps
Boogers (kids)
Boogers are gross, and therefore a great subject for a children’s song
The Books of Howard Zinn
Trump held a little White House conference on history in order to condemn this historian
Born On The Fourth of July
The United States of America’s creation myth began
Bought and Sold
Oregon’s Democratic Senators
Brad
For my dear friend Brad Will, killed with a camera in his hand on October 27th, 2006
Breivik
On July 22nd, 2011, neofascist Anders Behring Breivik killed 76 people in Norway
Bubbling Up
Scarlet Johansson decided she’d rather represent Israeli apartheid than Oxfam
Bullies (kids)
Union organizing for children 101
Burn It Down
Singing the chorus to this song is technically illegal in the US
Busking in the Metaverse
What’s left after the pandemic shuts down all the venues
Butcher For Hire
A piss-take of the former police chief of Miami and Philadelphia, John Timoney
By the Time They Nuke DC
Before the terrorists nuke DC, a song about how nice it would be if we don’t let that happen
Caleb for the Council
Song for Nick Caleb’s campaign for Portland, Oregon City Council
Cannabis Cafe
An enthusiastically pro-cannabis song
Captain Kruger is a Nazi
There is a Nazi in the ranks of the Portland, Oregon police department
Centralia
During the course of the Palmer Raids, there was armed resistance
Cheese and Bread
The Merthyr Rising in Wales in 1831 was the first time the red flag was flown as a symbol of revolution
Children of Jerusalem
For the children killed by the Israeli military at the beginning of the Second Intifada
Christmas Eve in Bethlehem
The heartland of Christianity is a surreal place, given the massive wall that surrounds it
Christmas in a Tent
A lot of families are in tents for Christmas, but they’re not camping
Christmas in Australia
When everything burned
Church of the Sledgehammer Hymn #1
A hymn for a church which is mainly an inactive Facebook Page
Cinderella
She’s sleeping in her car on the streets of Orlando
City Workers Strike Song
Written when Portland, Oregon’s municipal employees prepared to strike in February, 2022
Comets of Kandahar
In appreciation of Bruce Cockburn and the Canadian occupation of Afghanistan
Commandante Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz
After Fidel died
The Commons
What is rightfully public, as opposed to private? Like air, water, land, music…
Contras, Kings and Generals
Antiwar song from the 1990’s movement to lift deadly UN sanctions against Iraq
Cordova
In August, 1993 the people of Cordova, Alaska blockaded Prince William Sound
Corona Virus Climate Catastrophe Fascist Empire 2020 Blues Massacree
The first of my pandemic songs
Corporations Are People, Too
Mitt Romney said it, and so did the Supreme Court — a corporate personhood song
Crashing Down
General song about things crashing down, thinking especially of empires and stock markets
Coup
A song for the coup Trump and his minions were plotting in 2021
Daddy’s Camper Van (kids)
An effort to indoctrinate children so that they enjoy camping
The Dam
The Icelandic environmental movement began with an explosion in August, 1970
David Rovics Is A Nazi
And if you believe that, I’ve got a bridge to sell you
Dead
For those killed during antiwar protests at Kent State University on May 4th, 1970
Deadhead in Prison
So many hippies serving extreme prison sentences for possession of drugs
The Death of David Chain
David “Gypsy” Chain was killed by an angry logger on September 17th, 1998
The Death of Rachel Corrie
Rachel Corrie was killed by an Israeli soldier driving an armored bulldozer on March 16th, 2003
The Death Threats and the Lawn Signs
2020 was very atmospheric
Democrats Make Me Wanna Vomit
A brief history of the Democratic Party’s foreign policy initiatives throughout US history
Denmark, 1943
In October 1943 the Danish underground ferried thousands of Danish Jews to Sweden
Disable the Compression
A lot of people learned how to disable the compression in 2020
Do Not Kill Your Landlord
A discussion of the pros and cons of different organizing tactics
Don’t Fall Into the Toilet (kids)
Falling into toilets is something to be avoided, though it’s hard when you’re small
Don’t Pay the Rent
When there’s a suspension on evictions and late fees and your landlord is a slumlord, it’s a no-brainer
Douglas MacLeod
The developer who is destroying my neighborhood in Portland, Oregon
The Draft Is Coming
It very much seemed like Bush was going to reinstate military conscription
Drink of the Death Squads
A satirical song about Coca-Cola, preferred drink of the Colombian death squads
DU
Depleted Uranium is actually not very depleted, and is in fact very deadly
The Dying Firefighter
Along with everybody else who died on 9/11 were a lot of firefighters
Dying on the Sidewalk (music by Virtual Bird)
Over a hundred die from living on the streets of Portland every year
Each Couch By the Street
There’s a reason why you see more of them at the end of the month
East of the 205
In Portland, Oregon, where the exurbs begin
Eagles of Death
Poem for those killed in Paris on November 13th, 2015
East Kilbride
When Rolls Royce workers in Scotland crippled the Chilean Air Force
East Palestine
Where political corruption led to another deadly, toxic train derailment
East Tennessee
Whoever blew up the mines in Appalachia in 1968 never got caught
Eat the Rich
I thought the Eat the Rich Festival in Trondheim, Norway needed a theme song
Egyptian Rag
In the 19th century they used Egyptian mummy wrappings for making paper in the US
Election
American democracy is a corrupt, money-soaked farce
Elijah Played the Violin
For Elijah McClain, who was killed for being Black
Essentially Expendable (the Death of Jason Hargrove)
One of the first essential workers to die of Covid-19 in the US was a bus driver from Detroit
Evening News
A piss-take on the propagandists that shape our minds
Every Minute of the Day
A sappy love song
Everything Can Change
Social change can happen so fast, once it gets going — optimism, folks
Everything Looks the Same
Another song about suburban sprawl
The Face of Victory
Another song about a traumatized, wounded war veteran
Facebook Song
A satirical look at Facebook and social media in general
Failed State
The USA
Fake News
There’s fake news, and then there’s fake news
Falluja
We had to destroy the city to save it
Famine and Disease
Before either began during the course of the Palestinian Holocaust of 2023, the humanitarian groups were ringing the alarm
Famine, Flood and Fire
Planet Earth, 2017
The First of May
It began with a massacre in 1886
Five Thousand Friends on Facebook, But
Being online and lonely
Flag Desecration Rag
A song about free speech, patriotism and flag desecration
The Flames of History (Scrabble Apocalypse)
As we wait for the wildfires to approach the city
Flight 800
On July 17th, 1996, TWA Flight 800 was shot down over Long Island
Floating Down the River
Poem for those killed in the wake of Hurricane Katrina in August, 2005
Fly Around the World (kids)
The world is an exciting place, and traveling around it can be lots of fun
The FOP On Fire
A song for the first time the kids successfully lit a fire in the police station during the 2020 uprising
Four Blank Slates
There are war memorials in the US with blank slates for future wars
Four More Years
Another song about President Obama’s shortcomings
Free
Written for former ELF prisoner, Jeffrey “Free” Luers of Eugene, Oregon
Free Abu Sakha
A popular Palestinian circus artist detained with no charges
Frieden und Freiheit
Franz Jacob was a communist city councilor in Hamburg, Germany who was executed by the Nazis in September, 1944
Friends
A love song
From Kabul to Khartoum
On August 21st, 1998 the US bombed Afghanistan and Sudan
From the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea
The very name of this song is banned in some places
Fruit That Got Away (kids)
What happens if the piece of fruit sprouts wings?
Gather Round
A contemporary labor song
Gaza
In response to Israeli bombing of Gaza that began on July 8th, 2014
Gentrification Town
For Portland, Oregon and all the other rapidly-gentrifying cities
The Ghost of Ethel Rosenberg
Turns out the government knew Ethel wasn’t a spy, but they executed her anyway
Glory and Fame
A brief history of the global working class
God Bless the USA
More satirical commentary on American patriotism
God’s Gift to the Caliphate
Donald Trump said he’d keep Muslims from emigrating to the US
The Golden Rule
The original boat that tried to stop nuclear testing in the Pacific
Good Kurds, Bad Kurds
An early attempt at disentangling the complex geopolitics of Kurdistan
Good-Bye, Portland
The gentrification process is well underway, and most of us are leaving
Gough Whitlam
A song for the Australian prime minister who was overthrown by a CIA coup in 1975
Government Shutdown
From October 1-16, 2013, the US federal government shut down
Greenwood
The Tulsa Race Massacre
Guanajuato
A would-be migrant from Guanajuato dies on the US-Mexican border
Guantanamo Bay
On stolen Cuban land there is a sort of US concentration camp
Halliburton Boardroom Massacre
Just an idea
Halloween Parade (kids)
For the Halloween Parade I attended in Bethel, Connecticut
Hambach Forest
They can call it an accident, but it was not
Hang A Flag In The Window
The correct response to 9/11, of course: blind patriotism
Has the Bombing Begun?
While waiting for the US to begin the bombing of Syria threatened in 2013
Hay-On-Wye
A love song
He Called Me Dad
A World War 2 veteran’s son got drafted and died in Vietnam
Helen Keller, Revisited
She did so much more than learn how to speak — she gave great speeches
Henk
Henk Streefkerk, Dutch resistance member, killed on September 13th, 1944
Henry Ford was a Fascist
Henry Ford was a leading anti-Semite and admirer of Adolf Hitler
Here At the End of the World
Reflection on living in a world teetering on the edge of the cataclysm
Here In the Matrix
Are we there already?
Hills of Tennessee
Mountaintop removal mining is incredibly destructive
Hiroshima
An attempt to imagine the destruction of August 6th, 1945
His Hands Were In The Air
Michael Brown, Jr was shot and killed by a cop in Ferguson, Missouri on August 9th, 2014
Hoarder Song
Hoarding Syndrome is a strange thing
Holy Land 5
The founders of the Holy Land Foundation are in prison for sending food and medicine to Palestinians
Hollywood Bread
A lot of unexplained things happened in Hollywood, Florida, just prior to 9/11/2001
Hot Tub Song
A love song for hot tubs and life
Houseboat
In one of these lives I’d like to live in a houseboat in England
Houses
What if nobody got two until everybody got one?
How Far Is It From Here To Nuremberg?
An exploration of the morality of modern US reality
Humanitarian Pause
After destroying half the buildings in Gaza and killing untold thousands, they took a week off
Hummer
They’re military targets, aren’t they?
I Can’t Breathe
On July 17th, 2014, a cop on Staten Island choked Eric Garner to death
I Dreamed I Saw Anne Feeney
My dear friend and occasional touring partner died of Covid-19 in 2020
I Have Seen the Enemy
Of words and bullets — an antiwar song for George W Bush
I Heard A Rumor
Another song about the toxicity of the cancel culture mentality
I Just Wanna Climb a Tree (kids)
That’s where I spent much of my childhood
I Know A Man
Marriage equality
I Remember Warsaw
The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising of April, 1943
I Think I Saw Somebody Die
Written with Ben Fraters of the Hague, who saw somebody die
I Turned 53 in Quarantine
Actually not really, but close enough
I Wanna Go Home
The simple message of the Palestinian refugee
I Was A Stranger
Following Matthew 25:35 can get you several felony charges
ICE
They take children away from their mothers
Iceland, 2008
When the Icelandic people rose up and told the bankers off
If A Song Could Make Your Troubles Go Away
Wouldn’t that be nice?
If A Song Could Raise An Army
We’d all march to free Palestine
If/Then
A moral argument for taking in refugees
If Clinton’s A Progressive
Hillary
If His Name Were Jamal Kashoggi
A song making inevitable comparisons between the cases of two journalists
If I Die Tomorrow
Don’t assume it was an accident, just because it looks like one
If I Had A Hammer
For Plowshares activists around the world (Queensland in particular)
If I Was A Dog (kids)
Here’s what I’d do
If I Were Captain of the Pirates
Another pirate fantasy
If It Were to Be
Some of the challenges of polyamory
If Only It Were True
A satirical take on the Republican view of President Obama
If Someone’s House Is Burning
After the fire in Santa Rosa, California
If There’s A Tomorrow
Whatever the future holds, what we need most is each other
If They Defunded the Police
Then how would the ruling class rule?
If This Were A War
Dallas shootings
If You Bomb Somebody
They might just bomb you back
If You’re Going to Santa Cruz
Santa Cruz wins the prize in terms of cities that criminalize poverty
I’m A Better Anarchist Than You
A satirical take on certain holier-than-thou anarchists
I’m Gonna Fly (kids)
Intergalactic flying is always the power I really wanted to have
I’m Running Away (kids)
Thinking about what a massive thought “running away” once was to me
I’m Taking Someone With Me When I Go
Getting into the mind of the perpetrator of the high school massacre
Impeach the Democrats, Too
The Trump impeachment show trial was such a display of hypocrisy
In One World
After all that, some people still want to try to live together
In ’68
A lot happened
In Between Milwaukee and Chicago
In the wake of the police shooting of Jacob Blake
In the Hills of Forest Grove (music by Virtual Bird)
Watch out for the police who might want to terrorize you at midnight for having a Black Lives Matter flag
In the Name of Freedom (En Nombre de la Libertad)
A song against US imperialism especially via-a-vis Cuba, with a chorus by Vicente Feliu and Simon Bolivar
In the Name of God
Dr George Tiller was assassinated while in church on May 31st, 2009
In Venezuela
Written after the latest US-backed coup attempt
Indiscriminate
Many have denounced Israel’s bombing campaign as indiscriminate, but it’s actually discriminating in favor of killing as many civilians as possible
International Terrorists
Who are the biggest terrorists?
Invasion
The description of invasions the west doesn’t like sound so much like invasions the western countries launch
Invisible Man
Homeless in Portland
IRV
A musical explanation of Instant Runoff Voting
Irish Spring
On April 24th, 1916 the Easter Rising began in Ireland
Is That A Girl Or A Boy?
For all the little boys in dresses
Israeli Geography 101
Israel is a country that refuses to tell us where its borders are
It’s Been A Year
On the first anniversary of Covid-19
It’s Christmas Eve
Song #2 in the 2023 series about alternative nativity scenes in Bethlehem
It’s Legal Now
Marijuana legalization is now reality in Colorado, Washington, Oregon+
It’s Not A Trade War
Ukraine, 2023
It’s So Windy (kids)
Inside a warm room, looking outside at the wind, fog and rain
Jar of Ashes
For the jar of ashes containing some of Joe Hill’s remains
Jenin
After Israel’s invasion of Jenin in 2002 there was a suicide bombing
Jeremy Corbyn
A campaign song
Jewel of Bucharest
A love song
Jill Stein
Green Party presidential candidate
Jock
Australian traveler Jock Palfreeman spent over a decade in prison in Bulgaria for defending people against fascists in Sofia one night
Join the Mob
Dreaming of the renters uprising
Joe Hill
For the 100th anniversary of the execution of Joe Hill in 1915
John Brown
For the militant abolitionist executed in Virginia in 1859
Judi Bari
For the Earth First! and IWW organizer
Judy
A love song
Just A Dream
Career fantasies of an independent musician
Just A Renter
Why have a vested interest in a society that has no vested interest in you?
Just Humans
Lessons from Lola Aglialoro
Just Like the Nazis Did
About some of the many parallels between Israeli fascism of 2023 and Nazi Germany
Kelly Butte (music by Virtual Bird)
Now a park, it was once a prison rock quarry that was used to pave Portland with indigent labor
The Key
So many elderly Palestinian refugees have keys around their necks
Khader Adnan, Bobby Sands
One current hunger striker from Jenin who remembers another from Belfast
Kick It While It’s Down
Capitalism
Killing the Messenger (Free Julian Assange)
The US/UK plan for political prisoner, Julian Assange
Kobane
For the heroic resistance of Rojava
Korea
Memories of the murderous US war in Korea in the 1950’s
Laissez les Bon Temps Rouler
Many Louisiana refugees from the 2010 oil spill were descended from Canadian refugees
Land and Freedom
If it’s a struggle for national liberation and someone tells you it’s about something else, they’re lying to you
Land Day
More massacres in 2018 on a day marked by a massacre
Landlord
The Rent Strike Wars of 1939-1948 that led to the Homestead Act of 1862
The Last Lincoln Veteran
For Bob Steck and all the others who fought in the International Brigades in Spain
The Last Time the US Invaded Russia
Russia has been often invaded, including just after the revolution in 1918-19
The Last Words of Kevin Zeese
A song for a brilliant organizer and friend who died in 2020
Lebanon 2006
Poem for the thousands killed when Israel bombed Lebanon in 2006
Leila and Majnun
For Omid and his partner in detention in Nauru
Leila’s Birthday Song (kids)
An alternative birthday zipper song — just insert your child’s name!
Leila’s 10th
I wrote a poem for my daughter’s 10th birthday
Lesser Evil
Agonizing over who to vote for
Letter to My Landlord
After he massively increased the rent for the 9th year in a row, I wrote this song
Liberty and Justice for All
Immediately after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, internment of Japanese-Americans began
Life Is Beautiful
A love song
Like I Think About You
Remembering a strangely estranged old friend
Lines Are Drawn
Which side are you on? Gaza, 2024
The Lives of Children
For the teachers who strike for us all
Living On the Streets of LA
In 2019, around 1,000 people died, homeless, on the streets of Los Angeles County
Lola Aglialoro
My babysitter was a magnetically wonderful woman, and she was a refugee
London Is Burning
Mark Duggan was killed by a cop on August 4th, 2011 — riots across England followed
Luddite Song
Feral fantasies
Luis Posada
Rightwing Cuban terrorist protected by the US government
Make It So
For Captain Jean-Luc Picard and Star Trek
Make the Planet Earth Great Again
A much better, more inclusive idea
Mama’s Royal Cafe
A love song
The Man Who Burned the White House Down
General Robert Ross burned down the White House on August 24th, 1814
Margot Black
City Council campaign song for my friend and comrade
Mawda Was Her Name
Mawda Shawri was shot by police while in a van full of refugees that was trying to get to Antwerp, on a Belgian highway
May The Force Be With You
For Elijah Simpson-Sundell, who died
Meanwhile in Afghanistan
In May, 2012 protesters at Chicago NATO summit were charged with terrorism
Mi Amor
A love song
Miami
In November, 2003 police in Miami rioted against FTAA protesters
Minami Sanriku
On March 11th, 2011 a massive tsunami wiped out this Japanese village
Minimum Wage Strike
A bluegrassy fantasy about a general strike of low-wage workers
Mitch Daniels
The former Indiana governor that banned Howard Zinn’s books
Moazzam
Former Guantanamo detainee Moazzam Begg was arrested in London in 2014
More Gardens Song
For all the guerrilla gardeners of the world
Morning at Minnehaha
For the Minnehaha Free State in Minneapolis in the late 1990’s
Moron
A Canadian government minister called George W Bush a moron
Mudslide
On March 22nd, 2014 a mudslide in Oso, Washington killed 56 people
My Backyard (kids)
All the adventure a small child needs can often be found there
My Daughter
For all the children killed during the 1990’s sanctions and bombing of Iraq
My Great Grandparents
As with the vast majority of white Americans, most of my ancestors were refugees, not immigrants
Names and Addresses
Grenfell Tower Fire, London, 2017
Neither King Nor Kaiser
For the antiwar movement around the world during World War 1
New Orleans
Racism and neglect killed many more people there than Hurricane Katrina
Next Attack
US foreign policy makes the next terrorist attack inevitable
No Fracking Way
Protest song against fracking
No One Is Illegal
Tear down the borders
Normandy
What did they all die for, I often wonder
November 17
When Dmitris Koufontinas went on hunger strike in Athens, Greece
November 2020
It was a big month, it easily deserved its own song
Now That You’re Gone
A love song
Occupation
It’s the occupation, stupid — a song about the Israeli occupation of Palestine
Occupy Wall Street
I sang this at lots of OWS encampments in 2011
Oil Blockade
The act of war that was the precursor for the bombing of Pearl Harbor was the US Navy’s oil blockade against the Japanese Empire
Oil Train
On July 6th, 2013 an oil train derailed and exploded in Quebec
Oklahoma, 1917
The Green Corn Uprising
On the Sidewalk
Living in a tent
On the Streets of Copenhagen
Maastricht Treaty, 1993
On The Train
For Fletcher, Meche, Best
Once the Last Palestinian’s Killed
They’ll open a Palestinian Holocaust Museum
Once This Pandemic Is Over
Trying to imagine a future
One Day in Kenya
Muslim bus passengers risked their lives to save Christians
One Night In Greece
A Libyan student named Osama took down a flag
Operation Iraqi Liberation
Satirical take on Iraq occupation co-written by George W Bush
Oppositional Defiant Disorder
This is what they diagnose the punks with
Orlando
Who? Why?
Osama Bin Laden is Dead
And now we’ve won the War on Terror, right?
Our Imagination
If we can’t imagine it, we can’t achieve it
Outside Agitator
They wouldn’t let me into Canada in 2002
Owie (kids)
Owies suck!
Owl Dream (kids)
A lullaby
Palestine
Song for a survivor
The Pandemic of 1918
The parallels are really striking
The Panic Is On
At some point in 2023 a bunch of banks failed and I got hopeful
Paradise Lost
A city was destroyed by fire in California
Parking Lots and Strip Malls
Another song about strip malls
Patreon
My savior, in the post-merch, collapse-of-the-music-industry era
Paul Wolfowitz
The embodiment of the connection between capitalism and imperialism
Pawns (The Great Divide)
The liberal and conservative media has been manipulating us, and now we’re having shootouts on the streets of America
Pebble Mine
Protest song against building a very big mine in Alaska
PDX Houseless Radicals Collective
A song for the houseless radicals of Portland
Pedie Perez
Killed by the police in Richmond, California
Pipeline
Protest against building a very big oil pipeline across the US and Canada
Pirate Radio Song
A fight song in favor of pirate radio
Pirate Santa
What if Santa Claus joined the pirates of Somalia?
Pirate Song (kids)
A basic, kid-oriented pro-pirate song
Pirates of Somalia
A basic, adult-oriented pro-pirate song
The Pogroms of 1969
Thousands of Catholics were forced to flee towns and cities throughout the occupied counties of Northern Ireland in 1969, among many other occasions
The Pogroms of Judea and Samaria
Along with the 2023 genocide in Gaza, the Occupied West Bank is regularly in flames
Polyamory Song
The logic of open relationships
Pray for the Dead and Fight Like Hell for the Living
A fight song inspired by Mother Jones
Precipice
Another song for 2020
Pretty Puppies (kids)
Pooping in the park
Prime Group (Hot Tub Rat Song)
For the slumlords who own Portland’s Wimbledom apartment complexes
Prism
In June, 2013 Edward Snowden revealed the NSA’s Prism Program to the world
Promised Land
9/11 from the perspective of a hijacker
Pull These Statues to the Ground
A lot of statues were pulled down that really needed to come down in 2020
Puritan Slaughter
From the Witch Trials to the killings of massage parlor workers in Georgia
Punk Rock Baby (kids)
Nominally a kid song
Ram Mohamed Singh Azad
The assassin whose name was so powerful, he’s still mostly known as Shaheed Udham Singh
Rasmea Odeh
Poem for Palestinian activist facing deportation in Chicago in 2015
Reality Winner
In prison for trying to expose election meddling
Reichstag Fire
Exploration of 9/11
Rent Control
Did you know that rent control is illegal in 48 out of 50 US states?
Rent Party (the Randall Group)
Having a monthly party to raise money for rent is a longstanding tradition, getting more popular all the time
Resign (Ballad of Tear Gas Ted)
A song for the mayor of a city with a totally out-of-control police force
Resistance
The powers-that-be always have a name for their current “enemy within”
Return
Poem for Palestine
Rinky Dink
There is an amazing bicycle in England
Riot Dog
For Loukanikos, the most militant leftwing dog in Greece
Rocking in a Rocking Chair (kids)
Fine place to spend the afternoon
Rod Monroe Campaign Song
Oregon’s chief landlord Senator
Rojava
For the people of Rojava
Roller Coaster Train (kids)
What if the train became a roller coaster?
RPG
That’s rocket-propelled grenade
Russian Influence
The accusations against the Uhuru Movement are patently outrageous
Sachin
Sachin Tendulkar is the God of Cricket
Santiago
On September 11th, 1973, a CIA-led coup overthrew Chile’s democracy
Say Their Names
A song about a pattern of racist police murders
Scar Upon Your Face
A love song
Send Them Back
Similarities between media coverage of refugees in 1939 vs 2015 are striking
Shoplifting at Whole Foods (music by Virtual Bird)
It’s a very fashionable pastime, especially since they were bought by Bezos
Shut Them Down
Around the turn of the 21st century, the anti-capitalist movement was
Sit Down To Piss
A fine leftwing German tradition that should spread
Sixty Thousand More
Automobiles are very deadly
Smashing Elbit Systems
A tale of the factories Palestine Action has smashed with sledgehammers
So Many Years Ago
A love song
So This Is What It’s Like
To live in a country that puts children in cages
So You Wanna Flip A House
In the gentrifying cities of the US, this is the yuppie fashion — house-flipping
The Solution to the Toilet Paper Shortage
A public service announcement for water
Someday (On Burnside)
Homeless in Portland, Oregon
Someone’s Got Their Ear
A lot of politicians are very corrupt
Sometimes I Walk the Aisles
On September 3rd, 1991, 25 workers at a Tyson chicken nuggets factory died
Somewhere On Spotify
What if artists were remunerated fairly by the world’s biggest music streaming platform?
Song for A Refugee
I am and therefore I have human rights
Song for Aaron Bushnell
He demonstrated literally what is being done to the children of Gaza in 2024
Song for Al Grierson
Al was a good friend, a songwriter who lived in Texas and died in a flash flood
Song for Alistair
Reminiscences of touring together with Alistair Hulett
Song for Ana Belen Montes
A heroine of many, locked up for 25 years for spying for Cuba
Song for Basra
For the long-suffering people of Basra, written during the sanctions era
Song for Big Mountain
In 1974 the authorities began relocating Navajos (again)
Song for Boxcar Betty
One of the more colorful IWW organizers back in the early 20th century
Song for Chelsea Manning
Whistle-blower against US war crimes in Iraq
Song for Cindy Sheehan
Her son was killed in Iraq and she started Camp Casey outside of Bush’s ranch
Song for Eric (Eric Mark)
My dear friend and housemate was killed on May 1st, 1993
Song for Ginger Goodwin
Ginger Goodwin was killed on July 27th, 1918 for opposing World War 1
Song for Hugh Thompson
Hugh Thompson and his helicopter crew put an end to the My Lai Massacre
Song for Hugo Chavez
In praise of Venezuela’s popular socialist president, up until his untimely death
Song for My Broken Heart
A love song
Song for Oscar Grant
Oscar Grant was killed by a BART cop on January 1st, 2009 in Oakland, California
Song for Pelican Bay
In July, 2013 tens of thousands of California prisoners went on hunger strike
Song for the BBB
The Biotic Baking Brigade used to throw a lot of pies in a lot of faces
Song for the ELF
In praise of the Earth Liberation Front (at least the idea of it)
Song for the Eureka Stockade
In December, 1854 British troops massacred gold diggers in Ballarat, Australia
Song for the Houthi Army
The most moral army in the world
Song for the Mavi Marmara
In May, 2010 Israeli troops killed 9 people on a Turkish humanitarian aid ship
Song for Michael Reinoehl
Michael Reinoehl was assassinated in broad daylight by police from multiple agencies, none of whom had their bodycams on
Song for the SOA
The School of the Americas teaches Latin American military officers how to torture
Song for the SOA #2
A second song for the torture school in Columbus, Georgia
Song the Songbird Sings
On November 7th, 2003, Mahmud Al-Qayyed, age 10, killed by Israeli sniper
Spanish Journalist Strike
Spanish journalists dramatically walked off the job during 2003 press conference
Spies Are Reading My Blog
In August, 2013 I was prevented from entering New Zealand
Spread the Strike
Just before the pandemic hit, there was the University of California grad students’ strike
St. Patrick Battalion
When the US invaded Mexico in 1846, 202 Irish US soldiers joined the Mexican Army
Standing Rock
Where they resisted the pipeline
The State House Lawn
On June 17th, 2015, 9 people were killed during a church service in Charleston, SC
Statue in the Harbor
The Statue of Liberty is such a nice idea (kind of like western civilization)
Steal This MP3
What’s good for EMI is not necessarily good for the rest of us
Still Waiting for the Change
Another frustrated song about President Obama
Stock Exchange
In March, 1918, syndicalists marched from Folkets Huset and took over the stock exchange in Copenhagen
Stolpersteine
An amazing public art project you’ll find throughout Germany, remembering the dead
Stop the Genocide
The second song I wrote after the beginning of the October 2023 Palestinian Holocaust
Stranded in Tokyo
After being denied entry to New Zealand, I was
Strike A Blow Against The Empire
A fight song
Sugihara
In 1941 this Japanese diplomat saved the lives of thousands of European Jews
Sunset Laws
The territory, and later the state, of Oregon was founded as a “white homeland”
Sunshine
A love song
Supply and Demand
The Highland Clearances were a capitalist phenomenon, among other things
Syria, 2013
There was a poison gas attack and aborted plans for US-UK-French bombing
Syrian Princess
A love song
T-Stop Cafe
The life of a busker (street musician)
Take Me Away
When you meet someone and that’s your first thought, as it happens
Taking to the Waves
For the Freedom Flotilla
Tappety Tippety (kids)
Most parents do it too much
Tax the Rich
A fight song in favor of taxing the rich and cutting the military budget
Tax the Sun
In 2014 the Oklahoma legislature instituted a “sun tax”
Terror In The Skies
Antiwar song against NATO bombing of Yugoslavia in 1999
Terrorist in Chief
Making sense of President Obama’s September 11th speech in 2014
Text Messages of the Apocalypse
It began with a flood in Florida and a simultaneous fire in Oregon
There Is A Cage (music by Virtual Bird)
The San Francisco police have cages in which they torture their prisoners, ask Keith McHenry
There’s Water On The Moon
Among all the dismal events of 2020, the discovery of water on the moon
They All Sang the Internationale
On May 1st, 1945, Katharina Jacob was liberated from the Nazis
They Couldn’t Stand By
The antiwar movement of the late 1960’s was very impressive
They Lied
Some of the folks who don’t believe in Covid or vaccines are skeptical of the government because they’ve been lied to so much
They Say We’re Being Violent
A riot from a rioter’s perspective
They Were Raising A White Flag
The three Israeli hostages that day, among others, were raising white flags when they were killed
They’re Building A Wall
The Apartheid Wall that Israel built
They’re Killing Off the Journalists in Gaza
Journalists have been among the professions targeted for assassination in Gaza, no doubt
They’re Planning To Steal The Election
One of the songs for Trump’s coup efforts
This Is Genocide
Gaza, 2024
This Machine
A song for a motto on a guitar, but also about Twitter trolls
This Rage
Living under the regime of gentrification
Time For You To Go
A love song
Times Gone By
A love song
The Time to Act (Song for Will Van Spronsen)
At what point do you try to free the detained from detention?
To Agree With the DNC
The Democratic National Committee would rather have a fascist than a socialist in power, for sure
To All the Jared Kushners of the World
Billionaire son of a billionaire landlord Jared Kushner was preparing to evict thousands of people as soon as the eviction moratorium ended
Today in Charlottesville
19 injured, 1 killed
Today in Yemen
Written on the day a Saudi air strike on a market in Yemen killed 44 children, with a US-made bomb, dropped by a US-made plane
Together (kids)
Working together can be much better than competing
Tolpuddle
In 1834 there was a trial of 6 farmworkers, and a national movement that came to their defense
Too Proud to Beg
For a homeless veteran killed in a heat wave
Torches and Pitchforks
At what point do we declare it a failed state and get out the torches and pitchforks?
Tortuguita’s Playlist
I was one of the most featured artists on Tortuguita’s playlist, before he was killed in a hail of bullets in Georgia at the future site of Cop City
TPP 101
A thorough explanation of why TPP/TTIP is bad
Trade War
In 1839 the UK declared war on China for refusing to import opium
Trading with the Enemy
In 1961 the US imposed an embargo on Cuba
Trafalgar Square
On February 15th, 2003 a statue of George W Bush was toppled in London
Travelodge
A love song
Trayvon
On February 26th, 2012, 17-year old Trayvon Martin was killed
Tsunami
In December, 2004 a giant tsunami struck Asia
Tunisia 2011
In January, 2011 the president of Tunisia fled his country
Twitter Troll Jig
There’s someone out there who spends all his waking hours trying to ruin my life
Two Mommies and Two Daddies (kids)
Nontraditional families can be even more fun than traditional ones
Ungdomshuset’s Microphone
Poem for the Danish rebels of the House of Youth
Union Makes Us Strong
Stories from the Great Depression
Unknown Soldier
A love song for an FMLN guerrilla
Up The Provos
Ballad of IRA hunger striker Francis Hughes
Upon Our Shores
For Aylan Kurdi and all the other children washing up on the shores
US Embassy
Where do they orchestrate all the military coups?
Used To Be A City
And then it became a post-industrial shell
Vaccine (A Love Song)
A love song for the Covid-19 vaccines, when they were announced
Vanguard
Poking fun at sectarianism
Vanunu
For Mordechai Vanunu, who blew the whistle on Israel’s nuclear weapons program
Vasili
For Vasili Arkhipov, Soviet officer who saved the world in October, 1962
The Village Where Nothing Happened
In December, 2001 the US Air Force killed 115 people in Kama Ado, Afghanistan
Viral Solidarity
The second song I wrote about the Covid-19 pandemic
Waiting for the Fall
Hiding in the Green Zone of Baghdad, Iraq during the insurgency
Waiting for the Hurricane
Literally and figuratively
Waiting for Their Checks to Come
Due to the antiquated computer systems most state unemployment departments still use, the checks often took more than 6 months to arrive during the pandemic
Wal-Mart
An evil corporation
Walking on the Ceiling (kids)
A song about physics — or not
The War Is Over
On May 1st, 2003 George W Bush said “mission accomplished” in Iraq
Watch Out for the Cops
Portland, Oregon has the deadliest cops in the US, if you’re black
Watch the Buildings Crumble
For the collapsing towers of Gaza
We Are Everywhere
It was a popular notion during the anti-capitalist movement circa 2000
We Just Want the World
An environmentalist song
We Will Win (Song for Wisconsin)
In January, 2011 there were big protests in Wisconsin against Governor Walker
Wear A Mask
A pandemic public service announcement
Welcome to the European Union
A satirical look at the EU as it gets more and more like the US
Welcome to the Working Class
A satirical look at the strange concept of “the middle class”
We’re In This Together (Ballad of Covid-19)
It became a meaningless concept, but it proved to be very true, as well — like it or not
Wet’suwet’en
When folks across Canada blocked all the train tracks
What Am I Doing Here
Being on the road can be lonely, especially on the nights when the gigs suck
What Do You Call It
There are a few parallels between modern Israel and Nazi Germany
What I Learned from the Hasbara Trolls
It’s been quite an education in the pro-genocide narrative
What If You Knew
If knowledge were power and the truth could set you free
What’s Gonna Happen?
Just before Trump’s inauguration
When Chevron Came to Ecuador
Chevron destroyed much of Ecuador, lost a $7 billion lawsuit, and then jailed the lawyer instead of paying a dime
When I’m Elected President
I’ve got a campaign song just in case
When Jesus Came to Laurelhurst Park (music by Virtual Bird)
He said let’s go burn down the banks
When Johnny Came Marching Home
Homeless, traumatized veterans panhandling
When Julian Met Stella
Julian and Stella Assange met each other under unusual circumstances
When That Kitten Started Playing (kids)
A song about one of my earliest memories
When the Nazis Came to Rotherham
Police in Rotherham provoked a confrontation and then framed Muslims guys for it
When the Shooting Ended
Another song from massacre-land
When the Students Took the Embassy
They found out a lot about how much the CIA had been running their country
When the West Was Won
The history of the White Homeland of Oregon includes multiple massacres of Chinese miners, and no justice
When the Workers of the World Combine
A love song for May 1st
When This Fertile Valley Was Stolen
All of the indigenous people of the Willamette Valley were forced onto a desolate reservation
Where Did All These Terrorists Come From?
A satirical poem written after one of Netanyahu’s press conferences
Who Will Tell the People
Another song in appreciation of the alternative media
Who Would Jesus Bomb?
Antiwar song
Whoever Wins In November
Another song about our farcical US democracy
Why Don’t They Play You On The Radio?
Payola still rules, more than ever, and it still sucks
Winnipeg
A song written in time for the centenary celebration of the Winnipeg General Strike of 1919
With Masks Upon Their Faces and Leaf-Blowers In Their Hands
Another love song for the protesters of 2020
Without Henry Kissinger
After 100 years too many, the global butcher died
Wookey Hole Inn
A love song
World of Broken Dreams
A love song
Wounded Child — No Surviving Family
WCNSF has been written on countless children’s bodies in Gaza in 2023
You Can Keep Your Fillings
After the Danish parliament said refugees’ valuables should be confiscated
Yuan
A love song
Yuppie Scum
A growing percentage of the population of Portland, Oregon