Raging Grannies Recent Songs

Recent Songs

Note: We have tried to list the names or organizations of those who wrote the words to these songs. We apologize if there are errors, and would appreciate your corrections and information about missing acknowledgements. See “Contact Us” for the web e-mail address.

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Recent Songs 1

Raging Grannies Theme Songs. 2

DOO DAH. 2

GAGGLE AGAINST CUTS (See Social Justice) 2

GAGGLE AGAINST G.E. Foods (See Environment) 2

GAGGLE AGAINST GREED (See Consumers) 2

GAGGLE AGAINST GUNS (See Violence) 2

GAGGLE AGAINST WAR (corrected) (See Peace/War) 2

GAGGLE AGAINST HATE

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Consumers/Greed. 3

BUY, BUY OUR BRAND (See Health) 3

GAGGLE AGAINST GREED. 3

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Dreams of a Better World. 4

LET THE WHOLE WORLD SING.. 4

LOOK AROUND YOU. 4

VOLUNTEER SONG.. 5

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Discrimination/Human Rights/Drug War 6

THE BUSH BARREL POLKA. 6

SAINTS--HUMAN RIGHTS 8

WHEN HE WAS A LAD. 9

SOMEONE TO WATCH OVER ME

YANKEE DOODLE

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Economic Justice Corporate Welfare/WTO.. 10

CORPORATE FREE SCHOOLS. 10

DEMOCRACY’S A DREAM.. 10

FREE MARKET TROT. 10

IT AIN’T NECESSARILY SO.. 11

SANTA BUSH. 13

QATAR WTO.. 14

DIVERSITY, HUMANITY

SANTA BUSH 2003
SECURITIES, SECURITAS!

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Environment/Toxics. 15

CHEMICAL RESTAURANT. 15

CLEARCUT THE FOREST. 15

DIOXIN—WHAT A TOXIN! 16

FISHIES. 16

GAGGLE AGAINST G.E.S (Genetically Engineered Food) 17

GM FOODS ARE GOOD FOR ME. 17

IT AIN’T GONNA RAIN NO MORE. 18

GOT GAS?. 19

MONSANTO’S CHEMICAL RESTAURANT (See Chemical Restaurant) 20

SAINTS—ENVIRONMENT. 20

RADICAL ENVIRONMENTALISTS. 20

THE SYSTEM.. 21

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Health/Mental Health. 22

BUY, BUY OUR BRAND! 22

LITTLE BROWN DRUG.. 22

ODE TO THE MENTALLY ILL. 23

ON THE STREETS WHERE WE LIVE. 23

SAINTS--HEALTH/MENTAL HEALTH. 24

SINGLE PAYER BLUES. 24

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Labor/Sweatshops. 26

MY LEAST FAVORITE THINGS. 26

SAINTS—LABOR. 26

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Nuclear/Hanford. 27

CELEBRATE. 27

HANFORD VICTORY PARTY (January 28, 2002) 27

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Peace/War 28

AFGHAN SMART BOMBS. 28

AXIS OF EVIL. 28

GAGGLE AGAINST WAR. 29

IRAQ SANCTIONS. 29

MISSILE SHIELD. 30

OH, LITTLE TOWN OF BETHLEHEM.. 31

PACK UP YOUR MISSILES. 31

PEACE IN THE WORLD. 31

PEACE, PEACE. 32

SAINTS—WAR. 32

THERE’S NO BUSINESS LIKE WAR BUSINESS. 33

WASTEFUL MILITARY SPENDING.. 33

YELLOW SUBMARINE.. 33

DON'T MAKE WAR ON THE "AXIS"
EIGHTY-SEVEN BILLION
HANG DOWN YOUR HEAD
HOW MUCH IS THIS WAR GOING TO COST US?
IRAQ SMART BOMBS
LIBERATION RAP
SCHOOL OF THE ASSASINS
TAKE DOWN THE WALL
THERE'S NO BUSINESS LIKE WAR BUSINESS
THE WALL
WAKE UP, AMERICA
WAR HAWKS
WE AIN'T GONNA WAR NO MORE!
WHERE ARE THE WEAPONS?

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Social Justice/Welfare. 35

GAGGLE AGAINST CUTS. 35

HOUSING SONG.. 35

MOCKINGBIRD SCHOOLS. 36

SAINTS—WELFARE. 36

WELFARE CLOCK. 37

WHOSE WELFARE?. 37

WORK FIRST LAMENT. 38

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Women’s Issues. 39

DANGER IN THE NIGHT. 39

OH, DEAR, WHAT CAN THE MATTER BE?. 39

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE

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Violence/Guns. 41

GAGGLE AGAINST GUNS. 41

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Other

EAST TIMOR INDEPENDANCE
FIDEL
VOTING SONG

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Recent Songs

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Raging Grannies Theme Songs

DOO DAH

(tune: Camptown Racetrack)

Chorus:

We’re the Raging Grannies

Singing our songs.

Doo dah, doo dah.

We’re the Raging Grannies

Singing our songs

All the doo dah day!

Gonna rage and roar,

Gonna stop all war.

We’re the Raging Grannies

Singing our songs

All the doo dah day!

Chorus

Gonna roar all night,

Gonna rage all day.

Together we’ll build a better world—

Let’s make a start today!

(The Raging Grannies Songbook, 1993)

GAGGLE AGAINST CUTS (See Social Justice)

GAGGLE AGAINST G.E. Foods (See Environment)

GAGGLE AGAINST GREED (See Consumers)

GAGGLE AGAINST GUNS (See Violence)

GAGGLE AGAINST WAR (See Peace/War)

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Consumers/Greed

BUY, BUY OUR BRAND (See Health)

GAGGLE AGAINST GREED

(tune: Side by Side)

Oh, we’re a gaggle of Grannies,

Urging you off of your fannies,

We’re raising our voice

We want a new choice—

NO MORE GREED!

With the starving wages they’re paying

To workers sweating and slaving,

The owners all thrive,

Can workers survive?

NO MORE GREED!

We’re sick of this tradition--

Paying wages that aren’t fair.

Boycott sweatshop products.

SHOW THAT YOU REALLY CARE!

Soooo, join this gaggle of Grannies.

Get up off of your fannies!

We’re telling you now,

We’re angry and how!

NO MORE GREED!

We really mean it—NO MORE GREED!

We mean precisely—NO MORE GREED!

We will say it very nicely—NO MORE GREED!

READ OUR LIPS! (mouth silently, No more greed!)

(The Raging Grannies Songbook, 1993, adapted by Kay Thode)

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Dreams of a Better World

LET THE WHOLE WORLD SING

(tune: I Want the Whole Wide World to Sing)

I want to hear the whole world sing

In perfect harmony,

To hear the song of birds, not guns,

Let music set us free.

Free to love and give up hate,

Embrace all humankind.

Let’s start today with songs of peace,

Let them fill our minds.

Let’s start a revolution,

Of song and love and light,

Let every person on the earth

Lift voices clear and bright.

Let’s end the killing and the wars,

And let our songs take flight.

We’ll make a peaceful world where all

Live without war and fright.

I want to hear the whole world sing

In perfect harmony,

To hear the song of birds, not guns,

Let music set us free.

Free to love and give up hate,

Embrace all humankind.

Let’s start today with songs of peace,

Let them fill our minds.

(Kay Thode)

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LOOK AROUND YOU

(tune: Clementine)

Look around you, see the people

Who are working everyday

For the kind of world we all want,

Where healthy children laught and play

A world with no more nuclear arms,

Guns are banned and want is rare,

Where all races live together,

Everyone has good health care.

Equal rights and equal wages,

Social justice on the earth,

No pollution on the planet,

A new world will come to birth.

Look around you see the people

Who are working everyday

For a world of peace and plenty

Where the grandkids laugh and play.

(Shirley Morrison and Kay Thode)

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VOLUNTEER SONG

(tune: Hi Lili, Hi Lili, Hi Lo)

A volunteer sings a new song

To help the weary go on.

A volunteer is that extra spark

To move the world along.

A volunteer is the sound of hope

When things could start to go wrong.

We look round this place and we name the names

Of those who have gone forth and done.

Today as we meet here and through the years

You’ve given, you’ve been there, well done.

(Canadian Grannies)

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Discrimination/Human Rights/Drug War

THE BUSH BARREL POLKA

(tune: Beer Barrel Polka)

Throw out the baby,

And then the bathwater too.

Who needs Bin Laden

When our own fascists will do?

Our Constitution

Needs some revision because

Now’s the time to give up freedom

And seek safety’s flaws!

When you hear that rumble at the door

It’s the CIA or FBI.

Don’t call your lawyer or implore

To know the charge or reason why.

Down with due process!

Why would you ever need that?

You’re safe and comfy.

Liberty’s only old hat.

Just give up freedom.

Card us and search us, too.

Now’s the time to call the army—

Secret justice for you!

(Monica Zucker)

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CLASSISM

(tune: Ten Little Indians)

Class-ism, age-ism, sex-ism, rac-ism

Any old kind of slap-in-the-face-ism,

Got no sci-ent-if-ic base-ism

BANISH THEM FOR GOOD!

(Edmonton Grannies, as adapted)

GETTING TOGETHER

(tune: I'm Looking Over A Four-Leaf Clover)

What's been preventing

The world from getting

Together as friend to friend?

Could it be language?

We'll learn to translate.

Might be religion--

No reason to hate..

Couldn't be color

With all of the wonderful

Shades of the human skin?

Let's be forgetting

What’s been preventing

And invite the whole world in!

(Canadian Grannies, as adapted)

DREAMING

(tune: White Christmas)

I’m dreaming of a white country,

Just like the fairy tales we knew,

Where the whole world’s Christian,

And children listen,

And do what you tell them to.

I’m dreaming we can block entry

Of those whose skin’s a different hue.

Asians, Arabs, others—

They’re not our brothers—

They could be Muslim or Hindu!

I’m certain that our whole nation

Should always look and think the same.

If religions vary

From the ordinary

Then we should kick them off our plane.

I’m dreaming of those secret closets

Where all the homosexuals stay,

And if bashers pick fights

Gays don’t demand rights,

They just don’t tell us that they’re gay.

I’m dreaming that there’s no more homeless.

Why can’t we sweep them off the street?

They don’t get my pity

If they mess my city.

Freedom’s fine—but not on my concrete.

I’m dreaming of a white nation,

Where the majority is right.

May our suburbs be merry and bright!

And may all our neighborhoods be white!

(Monica Zucker)

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A PROFILING OPERA

(Tune: Mack the Knife)

Oh, police have perfect vision

To distinguish wrong from right.

Their decisions are made easy—

It’s like telling black from white.

Oh, the drug war gives incentive

For a thousand stops a day.

First they cuff you, then they search you.

You’re not guilty, but you pay.

Don’t commute on the Jersey Turnpike

If your skin’s a darker hue.

Could be many weary hours

’Til their fruitless search is through.

Don’t go driving in the evening

In a white suburban block

With your shiny new red auto

Or they’ll put you in the dock.

If they stop you on suspicion,

Don’t talk back or try to run.

You could end up on a morgue slab—

“We were sure he had a gun.”

(Monica Zucker)

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SAINTS--HUMAN RIGHTS

(tune: When the Saints Come Marching In)

When everyone has equal rights,

How I want to be in that number,

When everyone has equal rights.

Variations:

When immigrants are treated fair…

When health care is a right for all…

When corporate rule is history…

When the wealthy pay their tax…

When Congress speaks for you and me…

When streets are safe for us to walk…

When gays are free to live their lives…

When users get treatment not jail…

When taxes go for schools, not jails…

When racism has been wiped out…

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WHEN HE WAS A LAD

(tunes: from Pinafore, Gilbert & Sullivan)

(Solo) When he was a lad of twenty-three

He said Ma, I’m gay, and I gotta be me.

She said, son, you’re the apple of my eye—

Gay or straight, you’re my kind of guy.

He conquered life’s hurdles, and now you see

He’s a VIP in the community.

(All) He conquered life’s hurdles so perfectly

That he’s taught us all a lesson in liberty!

He was first in his troop to be Eagle Scout—

Now the BSA says “Sorry, you’re out!”

The Army beckoned. “Don’t ask, don’t tell.”

That wasn’t his dish—and that’s just as well.

He conquered life’s hurdles, and now you see

He’s a VIP in the community.

(All) He conquered life’s hurdles so perfectly

That he’s taught us all a lesson in liberty!

(Solo) When you judge a person on the basis of sex

You use a very narrow and warped index.

Lesbians and gays are in every field

And their human rights can never be repealed.

(All) And they are your children and your uncles and your friends,

(Left) And your pastors and your bankers—

(Right) And the captains of oil tankers—

(Left) And your lawyers and your doctors—

(Right) And your tight ends and your blockers—

(All) And your sisters and your cousins—

Whom you number by the dozens—

And your aunts!

(Monica Zucker)

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Economic Justice Corporate Welfare/WTO

CORPORATE FREE SCHOOLS

(tune: Jingle Bells)

Junk food in the halls,

And Pepsi machines too.

Does the school board think

These are good for you?

Rotting our kids’ teeth,

Making kids obese!

It isn’t nice to push caffeine

‘Cause of a corporate lease!

Chorus: Oh, no logos, no more ads!

Get them out of schools.

That isn’t education

And we’re not corporate tools!

Repeat

Have a tax revolt

For a progressive tax,

Raise the bucks for schools,

Give corporate lease the axe!

No more corporate ads,

Or junk food in our schools.

What fun to have organic foods—

That will be really cool!

Chorus

(Kay Thode)

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DEMOCRACY’S A DREAM

(tune: Row, Row, Row Your Boat)

WTO controls the world—

That’s the corporate scheme.

Profit and profits and profits and profits,

Democracy’s a dream.

(Hinda Kipnis)

FREE MARKET TROT

(tune: Put Your Arms around Me, Honey)

Market shares have risen, honey—ain’t it great!

Ten thousand workers were laid off, but—that’s their fate.

O, free markets are so nice,

But the workers pay the price.

Jobs have been exported to a—cross the seas.

Wages there are so much lower—if you please.

Who cares if wages are down,

In your old home town.

Oh, when the workers lose, the markets—rise and rise.

Profits are the only thing to—maximize.

Oh, oh, don’t you agree

That this shouldn’t be.

Wake up, workers, now it’s time to—rise and fight

NAFTA and FTAA with all your might.

Oh, free markets are so nice.

But the workers pay the price.

So if you want the workers to have—their fair share,

Join exploited workers here and—everywhere.

Fight for what is your due—

It is up to you!

(Kay Thode)

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IT AIN’T NECESSARILY SO

CHORUS

It ain’t necessarily so,

It ain’t necessarily so.

The corporate media

Would like to mislead ya,

It ain’t necessarily so,

(Environment)

Salt Spring’s not gone to the dogs.

Trees are just unemployed logs.

We mustn’t get madder

Just ‘cause Taxada

Is trashing our watershed bogs.

Don’t worry about greenhouse gas--

The doom and gloom won’t come to pass.

Remember the looting

We get from polluting

All goes to the governing class.

CHORUS

(Food)

Genetically modified food

Is certified legally good.

Ignore all the rumors—

Just be good consumers.

Don’t ask all those questions—it’s rude.

Hormone-laced beef is just swell.

Just look at our own NHL.

No need for inspection

Of bovine injection—

Don’t you want to be macho as well?

(Big Business)

We always promote human rights.

We worry, and can’t sleep at nights.

But sooner or later

The gangster dictators

Who buy our arms must see the light.

Our banks are the best ever seen.

The profits they make aren’t obscene.

We like the adoption

Of enormous stock options

For CEOs fleeing the scene.

Drug company profits are small.

They’re lobbying hardly at all.

When they hear generics

They go into hysterics

For fear that the share prices will fall.

Africa’s dying of AIDS,

But drug barons got to get paid.

They say they feel saddened,

But they hold the patent.

Take aspirin and sit in the shade.

Free trade’s the best way to go.

Only subversives say no.

We’ll follow the factories

South and drink daiquiris.

Viva Low Wage Mexico!

CHORUS

(Schools)

Our school rooms are all well-supplied.

Whoever denies it has lied.

They depend for kids’ readers

On corporate leaders

Who peddle their Pepsi inside.

(Health)

Health care is our most sacred trust.

We’ll give you some time to adjust.

In a matter of urgency

Camp in Emergency

And sit till you’re gathering dust.

CHORUS

(WTO)

Quebec’s got a Big Business Fair.

It’ll be just like Tienamin Square

They admit it’s a pity

To barb-wire the city,

But people might try to get there.

(Defenses)

Women should man submarines,

‘Cause women are fighting machines.

If the ship isn’t celibate

The brass won’t think well of it

Unless there are separate latrines.

CHORUS

(Finally)

We sing ‘cause we don’t want to curse.

We’re alive, and we don’t need a hearse.

But if there’s a screw-up

We plan to wake you up

Or everything’s sure to get worse.

(Note: The full title of this song is “All

Purpose Comprehensive Rant about

Everything That Is Wrong with the

Whole World.” Seattle Grannies

may make up verses for occasions.)

(Lyrics by Salt Spring Raging Grannies of Canada to Tune by George Gershwin)

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SANTA BUSH

(tune: Santa Claus Is Coming to Town)

There’ll be a tax cut, we’ve got a surplus,

But who’s gonna get it—surely not us!

Santa Bush is coming to town.

He says the big cash will trickle on down—

That voodoo bunk of Reagan renown.

Santa Bush is coming to town.

Won’t spend on education,

Won’t spend it for our health.

He’ll spend it on a missile shield

And subsidize big wealth.

You better not cry, you better not pout.

“Compassion” is in, society’s out.

Santa Bush is coming

Santa Bush is coming to town!

(Monica Zucker)

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QATAR WTO

(tune: When Johnny Comes Marching Home)

WTO has met again, this time Qatar.

The Persian Gulf’s an unlikely place—it’s quite bizarre.

They don’t want protesters to have their say.

They chose a site that is far, far away,

But they got our message: We demand fair trade!

Third World countries are put on the spot—what else is new?

They want more markets and balance of power, wouldn’t you?

Agriculture and textiles were pulled from the talks;

Those critical matters would be deadlocked.

So much for free trade: Do it our way or not!

The message from Brussels and Washington is liberalize,

While we in the West protect our own and subsidize.

Dirty water, poverty, pricey drugs

Should no longer be sanctioned and swept under rugs.

Give us fair trade, union made! Share in the common lot.

(Kay Thode)

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Environment/Toxics

CHEMICAL RESTAURANT

(tune: Alice’s Restaurant)

They won’t say what they’re cooking today

At the Chemical Restaurant

Maybe it’s beans with monkey genes

At the Chemical Restaurant

You got one sore breast, or maybe both?

Maybe the milk is full of Bovine Growth

They won’t say what they’re cooking today

At the Chemical Restaurant

They won’t say what they’re zapping today

At the Chemical Restaurant

They can’t wait to irradiate

At the Chemical Restaurant

Thanks, Monsanto, it looks so good

We mustn’t bitch if it tastes like wood

They won’t say what they’re zapping today

At the Chemical Restaurant

They won’t say what they’re cooking today

At the Chemical Restaurant

Those almighty sods are playing God

At the Chemical Restaurant

They’re patenting seeds—you know what’s next?

If we don’t stop ‘em they’ll be patenting sex!

They won’t say what they’re zapping today

At the Chemical Restaurant

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CLEARCUT THE FOREST

(tune: My Favorite Things)

Clearcut the forest and kill all the fishes.

Denude the hillsides against all our wishes.

Who cares if all of our trees disappear?

We can grow more in about eighty years!

Who needs green trees?

Who needs clear streams?

Who needs oxygen?

We’re fooling around with the health of our Earth--

It may not heal again!

If no one knows it,

Let’s expose it,

Make it go away.

Refuse to buy wood that’s

Not cut as it should.

Let us begin today!

(The Raging Grannies Songbook, 1993)

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DIOXIN—WHAT A TOXIN!

(Spoken)

Oh dioxin—what a toxin!

It helps make our paper look just right.

Never gritty,

Oh, so pretty.

Keeps our toilet tissue soft and white.

Carcinogenics are misunderstood.

They may kill us off,

But it’s for our own good!

O, dioxin—what a toxin!

There’ve been traces found in Puget Sound, they say,

In the shellfish—

What a swell dish!

Could be served with mercury flambé!

Jobs are important, we all can agree,

But who’ll pay the price

Once we’ve poisoned the sea?

Oh, dioxin—what a toxin!

(The Raging Grannies Songbook, 1993, adapted)

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FISHIES

(tune, Three Little Fishes)

Out in the ocean in a nice polluted sea

Swam a school of fishes, as happy as can be.

We’re going to the river where we all began—

But wait a minute, Fishies, they’ve got another plan.

Boop boop didum daddum waddum, choo!

Boop boop didum—your luck is overdrawn,

’Cause you’ll never make it up—the river to spawn!

What happened to the turbot, the herring and the cod

Is happening to the salmon—(Speak) DON’T BLAME IT ALL ON GOD!

The dams are killing salmon and they have got to go

Before the salmon are extinct and we are full of woe.

Boop boop didum daddum waddum, choo!

Boop boop didum—We’ve got to save those fish

Remove those damn dams before the salmon go squish!

Spawn, salmon! Spawn, salmon! Spaaaawn salmon!

(Victoria Grannies)

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GAGGLE AGAINST G.E.S (Genetically Engineered Food)

(tune: Side by Side)

Oh, we’re a gaggle of Grannies

Urging you off of your fannies,

We’re raising our voice,

We want a new choice—

NO G.E.s

With all the money they’re spending,

Splicing genes unending,

They’re wrecking our food

And spoiling our mood—

NO G.E.s

With all of their gene splicing,

There is no way to know

What damage they are doing.

Ges have got to go!

So, join this gaggle of Grannies!

Get up off of your fannies.

We’re telling you now

We’re angry and how,

NO G.E.s

We really mean it! NO G.E.s

We mean precisely! NO G.E.s

We will say it very nicely! NO G.E.s

Read our lips! (Mouth NO G.E.s)

(The Raging Grannies Songbook, 1993, adapted by Kay Thode

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GM FOODS ARE GOOD FOR ME

(tune, Yes, Jesus Loves Me, to be sung in little girl voices)

GM foods are good for me—

So say government agencies.

Sci-en-tists there do agree

GM foods won’t hu-urt me.

Chorus: Yes, scientists love me.

Yes, governments love me.

Yes, biotech loves me.

Spin doctors tell me so.

GM corn kills butterflies.

What are other GM lies?

Terminator, can’t you see,

Is good for In-di-a and me.

Chorus

(Halifax Grannies)

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