1. |
Bread and Roses
01:46
|
|
||
|
As we go marching marching in the beauty of the day
A million darkened kitchens, a thousand mill lots gray
Are brightened by the beauty that a sudden sun discloses
For the people here are singing bread and roses, bread and roses
As we go marching marching we battle too for men
For they are in this struggle and together we can win
Our lives shall not be sweated from birth until life closes
Hearts can starve as well as bodies, give us bread but give us roses
As we go marching marching, unnumbered women dead
Go crying through our singing their ancient cry for bread
Small art and love and beauty their drudging spirits knew
Yes its bread that we fight for but we fight for roses too
As we go marching marching we’re standing proud and tall
The rising of the women means the rising of us all
No more the drudge and the idler ten that toil where one reposes
But a sharing of life’s glories bread and roses, bread and roses
|
||||
2. |
Revolution on TV
02:03
|
|
||
|
All the poets that surround me are damned damned damned
But what we see holy imagery
Our only power to intercede
In the TV screen talking head scene
Yeah the mind control of this media machine is 500 years deep here
And every sub/counter culture has been bought and sold
And cross marketing it is the only way to go
We all drink Che cola and wear fight the system ts
We’re all watching it play by play on our new television screens
Yeah the revolution is televised widely advertised
Clever marketing schemes on that idealized dream
And if the masses want their self destruction who am I to say
Distrust your tv screens distrust authority
And brand name anything
Socially we think we are so advanced everyone is a practitioner of PC
While behind our backs we’re buying tickets to that Hollywood comedy
And we laugh at rape laugh at violence laugh at hate
Because laughter is the best medicine to keep us doped up and unenlightened
Meanwhile we let the conservative right-wingers
Put the queers through their righteous voting poll ringers
While we sit at home and watch TV so we know what to wear how to think
What to do if our neighbor starts looking like a terrorist
|
||||
3. |
|
|||
|
Who’s gonna shoe your pretty little foot
Who’s gonna glove your hand
Who’s gonna kiss your ruby red lips
Who’s gonna be your man
Papa’s gonna shoe my pretty little foot
Mama’s gonna glove my hand
Sister can kiss my ruby red lips
I don’t need no man
I don’t need no man oh boy
No I don’t need no man
Sister can kiss my ruby red lips
I don’t need no man
The longest day I ever knew
was the day we said goodbye
You asked me if I loved you more than this rambling life
and I just could not lie
Tell me who’s gonna shoe your pretty little foot
Who’s gonna glove your hand
Who’s gonna kiss your ruby red lips
Who’s gonna be your man
I can shoe my pretty little foot
And I can glove my hand
My sister can kiss my ruby red lips
I don’t need no man
I don't need no man oh boy
I don't need no man
My sister can kiss my ruby red lips
I don't need no...
Who’s gonna shoe your pretty little foot
Who’s gonna glove your hand
Who’s gonna kiss your ruby red lips
Who’s gonna be your man
|
||||
4. |
Girly Embrace
02:21
|
|
||
|
My head is cradled between your breasts
And your fingers trace the contours of my face
And I could lie with you like this for a long time
Cradled between your breasts I tell you you are the best I've ever had
and we laugh until our sides hurt and then we fall into that same embrace
‘Cause you're the best I've ever had
You're the best I've ever had
Yeah you're the best I've ever had
I kiss your fingers, I kiss your eyes
You know you are the prettiest girl I know
And I wonder if anyone understands your beauty
Cradled between your breasts I tell you you are the best I've ever had
And we laugh until our sides hurt and then we fall into that same embrace
‘Cause you're the best I've ever had
You're the best I've ever had
Yeah, you're the best I've ever had
|
||||
5. |
The House Burnt Down
00:56
|
|
||
|
The house burnt down
Not to the ground but it might as well have
And I was so angry at probability
Why was it Wednesday
Why not Tuesday or Monday
Or any day that I did not have band at school
Any day that my clarinet wasn’t safe at school
I just wanted it to die
Die in the fire like it should have died
Like my kitty cat
Like my mom’s old photographs
Like my Dad’s comic book stash
Like my brother’s innocence
The house burnt down
Not to the ground but it might as well have
|
||||
6. |
Sylvia Plath
01:31
|
|
||
|
I could have been your housewife baby
I could have been your cheerleader
And you could have been a rock star baby
You could have owned this world
But the ghost of Elvis came to save us in your dreams
Said I want to teach you something I learned while I was king
Don’t mistake what you want for what the universe needs
And he said I’d ruin your life you’d ruin my life that’s all we could ever be
He said I’d ruin your life you’d ruin my life that’s all we could hope to be
I could have had your rockstar babies
I could have drown them in the bath
I could have been your muse
I could have been your Sylvia Plath
But the ghost of Elvis came to save us in your dreams
Said I want to teach you something I learned while I was king
Don’t mistake what you want for what the universe needs
And he said I’d ruin your life you’d ruin my life that’s all we could ever be
He said I’d ruin your life you’d ruin my life that’s all we could hope to be
Now I’m a rockstar not a stupid housewife
Not a stupid cheerleader
And I want to thank you
I want to thank you
I want to thank you for leaving me
|
||||
7. |
Martyr
02:36
|
|
||
|
Joanie could have saved her life
If she’d just put on a dress
And said Jesus the only child
Jesus is an only child
Jesus is the only child of god
Why would a god send a woman to do what men had always done
Why would she do that?
Joseph could have saved his life
If he’d just taken the pardon
Said I was guilty but now I’m free
Said I was guilty but now I’m free
Said I was guilty but now I’m free
Who needs fair trials anyway when freedom is all that we wage
Who’d die for that
I want to be a martyr
I want to die for this song
I want to be a martyr
I want to die for this song
Oh ohhhh yeah
Aileen could have saved her life
If she’d just got a respectable job
And said I don’t want to hook no more
I don’t want to hook no more
I don’t want to hook no more
The economy is looking fine
Plenty of good jobs you’ll find
For a poor uneducated white trash woman with no experience
I want to be a martyr
I want to die for this song
I want to be a martyr
I want to die for this song
Oh ohhhh yeah
|
||||
8. |
|
|||
9. |
Jane
03:49
|
|
||
|
It’s 2006 and we don’t give a shit
It’s 2006 and we don’t give a shit
That Roe v. Wade is crumbling
We can’t trust the government
A piece of legislation is all that stands between our freedom
And your commandments
It’s 2006 and we don’t give a shit that we have no alternatives
But imagine a time before Roe v. Wade
When they’d pick up scared scared women on the corner and they’d
Blindfold them and put them in a car
Drive round in circles til they didn’t know where they were
They didn’t know where they were
And they’d take them to a room where some sleazy man
Would say hey I’m a doctor and he’d put his hands on her
And say honey if you don’t have all the money it’s ok
You can suck my dick
I’ll let you suck my dick
And there’s a history unknown
In 1969 the women of Chicago rose and said we’re not gonna take this
They didn’t take it to the courts they didn’t picket in the street
They knew direct action was the only way choice is free.
They set up a clinic an abortion clinic
And no one was turned away just because they couldn’t pay
They performed over 11,000 abortions with kindness and compassion
They were just housewives and mothers
They were just students
There were no hospitals there were no doctors there were no nurses
And there were no men
And nobody died, nobody died, nobody died
How’s that for demystified
And there’s a history unknown
In 1969 the women of Chicago rose and said we’re not gonna take this
It’s 2006 and we don’t give a shit
It’s 2006 and we don’t give a shit
That Roe v. Wade is crumbling
We can’t trust the government
A piece of legislation is all that stands between our freedom
And your commandments
And with or without the legal right we’re not really free
No we’re not really free
Cuz the capitalist medical industry will never take care of you or me
And the patriarchic medical industry will never take care of you or me
Never take care of you or me
And the abortion industry is just legalized brutality
Power taken, knowledge withheld
A medical mystery upheld by science and little white men in little white coats
Little white men in little white coats
So we can’t leave this to the doctors we can’t leave this to the lawyers
We can’t leave this to the Christians we can’t leave this to the president
If we don’t decide the circumstances of our own lives
Then choice is just choosing to let someone else decide
And there’s a history unknown
In 1969 the women of Chicago rose and said we’re not gonna take this
|
||||
10. |
Daughter
03:29
|
|
||
|
Mother Jones never ran for office
Oh hell, you know she couldn't even vote
They told her women didn't speak in public
But she just smiled got up on her soap box and she spoke
Virginia Wolfe didn't march down the streets of London
There were too many untold her stories to tell
She was wrapped up in the rapture
of a feminism she knew so intimately well
I am a daughter born of a heart full of rage
I am a feminist standing at the dawn of a new day
And I'll be damned if I'm going to waste one more song
Reciting the angers of a past gone wrong
We are no longer barred from the ballot box
And the law declares us equal enough to men
But you know laws will never change attitudes
And attitudes are slow and hard to change
I am a daughter born of a heart full of rage
I am a feminist standing at the dawn of a new day
And I'll be damned if I'm going to waste one more song
Reciting the angers of a past gone wrong
The political sphere has been and still is of, by and for rich, white men
Some things are sure to change but until then
We've got to check our anger and put this energy to good use
Through outright subversion we've got to back to our roots
I am a daughter born of a heart full of rage
I am a feminist standing at the dawn of a new day
And I'll be damned if I'm going to waste one more song
Reciting the angers of a past gone wrong
Through the years they come to me
Through time and space they comfort me
Through humility and grace I see
We are only the stories that we tell
I am a daughter born of a heart full of rage
I am a feminist standing at the dawn of a new day
|
||||
11. |
|
|||
12. |
|
|||
13. |
|
|||
14. |
|
|||
15. |
|
|||
16. |
|
|||
17. |
|
|||
18. |
|
|||
19. |
|
|||
20. |
|
|||
Shannon Murray Bemidji, Minnesota
Shannon Murray is a folk/punk singer-songwriter. Tackling guitar playing, and songcraft like it’s a contact sport, their music is intensely political, and deeply personal. Shocking and delighting audiences everywhere with their quirky stories, passionate songs, quick wit, and contagious energy, Shannon has been making folk a threat again since 2001, and is proud to call Bemidji, MN home. ... more
If you like Shannon Murray, you may also like:
Beautifully played and full of moving vocal performances, the Bay Area singer/songwriter's latest is a stellar work of art.
go to album
Wry songs from this Washington artist that recall the homespun charm of early Mountain Goats.
go to album
Forever Only Idaho
by Harrison Lemke
Big, strummy songs that recall the heart-on-sleeve earnestness and lo-fi glory of early Mountain Goats.
go to album
Remember That I Love You
by Kimya Dawson
For the next week, proceeds from Kimya Dawson’s albums on Bandcamp will go to the family of Charleena Lyles.
go to album
More contemplative folk from the Minnesota singer-songwriter, sustained by raw full-band arrangements and philosophical lyrics.
go to album
Ruth's sophomore release explores sacred signs against a backdrop of folk melodies and acoustic guitar.
go to album
featured on Bandcamp Radio Oct 29, 2019
go to album
