We Will Not Be Divided

From the halls of Montezuma
Down to the coal mines of Beaver Falls
Socialist Workers, MoveOn.org, Greenpeace, the Capital Mall
International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, United Fruit, the PTA

We will not be divided, my friends
We will not be divided
We will not be divided, my friends
We will not be divided

That’s the opening verse and refrain of an exceptional, anthemic new song by singer-songwriter Dan Bern.  I’ve had him listed in the “musically” section of my link roll all along, and mentioned him in the blog’s Opening Day entry, but otherwise said little here about Dan.  He’s a scathing social critic, profane and angry, hilarious and wrenching.  If forced into metaphor, I’d suggest thinking of Dan as a combination of early Dylan, Tom Lehrer, and Billy Bragg.  Righteous anger, word play, historical references, progressive politics…

From the clashing cliffs of Big Sur
To the white sands of the Keys
Massapequa, Sausalito, the sound of the Puget breeze
The bloody ground of Gettysburg, to the wild Wyoming fields

We will not be divided, my friends
We will not be divided

You can separate a worker from his rightful dollar
His peso, his euro, his yen
Trample his freedom, his restitution, his constitution, my friend
Steal his loot and take it to some island retreat
You can run, but you cannot hide

We will not be divided, my friends
We will not be divided

Dan’s recording outlet, Messenger Records, is now making several of his recent compositions freely available for download.  I strongly urge you to take advantage of this opportunity and grab those .mp3s.  To my ear, We Will Not Be Divided is the most inspiring of them, though the dirge-like Bush Must Be Defeated is, of course, drawing more attention these days.  I chuckle every time I hear President.

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