Songs and limericks about Liberty
[Created: 18 Nov. 2010]
[Updated: January 31, 2023 ] |
I have gathered here a few songs and limericks I have written about liberty. I hope you find them amusing.
About Frédéric Bastiat
There once was an arch anti-statist,
Who thought the state's dangers were greatest,
When those whom it favoured,
Oppressed those whom it fettered,
With statutes that made them the strongest.
There once was a critic of tariffs,
Who argued restrictions are rip offs,
Consumers are plundered,
Trade rivals are hindered,
And commerce in all quarters drops off.
“Freddie and the Free Traders” - a retro-50s Rock N’ Roll Band
I proposed that we form a retro-50s rock n' roll band who would do cover versions of famous songs about liberty:
- “I can’t get no Liberation” (to the tune of the Rolling Stones “I can’t get no satisfaction”)
- “Laissez-faire” (to the tune of the Beatles’ “Let it Be”) [see below for the lyrics]
- “Stairway to Freedom” (to the tune of Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven”)
- “Crazy little thing called trade” (to the tune of Freddie Mercury and Queen’s “Crazy little thing called love”)
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“Freddie and the Free Traders” singing “Crazy little thing called trade” |
A Song in Honour of the Great Austrian Economist Ludwig von Mises (1881-1973):
"Laissez-faire" (to the tune of the Beatles' song "Let it Be"):
LET IT BE When I find myself in times of trouble And in my hour of darkness Let it be, let it be And when the brokenhearted people For though they may be parted Let it be, let it be Let it be, let it be Let it be, let it be And when the night is cloudy I wake up to the sound of music Yeah, let it be, let it be Let it be, let it be | LAISSEZ FAIRE When I find myself in times of trouble And in my hour of darkness Laissez faire, laissez faire And when the regulated people For though they may be ruined Laissez faire, laissez faire Laissez faire, laissez faire Laissez faire, laissez faire And when the night is cloudy I wake up to the sound of freedom Yeah, laissez faire, laissez faire Laissez faire, laissez faire |
This one is not by me but very clever:
4. Patriotic Songs which invoke
God [Date, 2010] |
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The publication in the Atlantic Monthly of
Julia Ward Howe's "Battle Hymn of the Republic" (1862) |
A cartoon in Life, Feb. 1901 of
Mark Twain as "The American Lion of St. Marks" scattering
the American imperialists. In the same month MT wrote an "updated" version
of the "Battle Hymn of the Republic" to take into account
the American war in the Philippines. |
Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord: I have seen Him in the watch-fires of a hundred circling camps, I have read a fiery gospel writ in burnished rows of steel: He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat; In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea, He is coming like the glory of the morning on the wave, |
Mine eyes have seen the glory of the launching of the
Sword; I have seen him in the watch-fires of a hundred circling camps; I have read his bandit gospel writ in burnished rows of steel: We have legalized the strumpet and are guarding her retreat;* In a sordid slime harmonious Greed was born in yonder ditch, * NOTE: In Manila the Government has placed a certain industry under the protection of our flag. (M.T.) |
| Observations on patriotic songs which assert that "god is on our side": It is a truism that all countries claim that they are God's chosen people, that they alone have been especially blessed with his favour; that their leaders have special access to God and therefore know his will; and that all those who fight in their country's cause do so knowing that justice and goodness are on their side. An obvious contradiction occurs when both sides to a conflict assert the same thing. Either one or both of them have to be wrong. A particularly glaring example of this occured during the American Civil War when the Union forces went so far as to put the slogan that "In God We Trust" on their coinage and individuals like Howe wrote appalling lyrics like the "Battle Hymn of the Republic" which was quickly adopted by the Union soldiers and is still sung with gusto by Americans today. The sad thing is that the tune was taken from an admirable abolitionist song, "John Brown's Body", and used for other less noble purposes. The Confederate forces did likewise by using the phrase "Deo invice" (With God as our champion) on their great seal - also done in 1862. In 1901 Mark Twain had become increasingly critical of the American invasion of the Philippines (a Catholic nation under the Spanish). What had been touted as a "war of liberation" of the Philippine people had turned quickly into a standard European-style conquest of a would-be colony with Protestant American boys killing Catholic Philippino resistance fighters leaving hundreds of thousands dead. So he felt it was time to update Howe's patriotic song with some new lyrics better suited to the new century. Note his condemnation of the Americans as "faithless son(s) of Freedom" and that he retains some of the original, namely the refrain "Our god is marching on" (admittedly in lower not upper case this time around). Twain's reworking of the hymn should be compared to his equally devastating "The War Prayer" (1905) in which he shows that the opposite side of the coin to praying to God for swift and glorious victory for one side is the eqaully swift though inglorious death and suffering of the defeated enemy. Praying for victory for oneself implies praying for the death and suffering for others - but this is never mentioned in polite company. | |