Thursday, September 24, 2009

American Pie parody to reflect the Health care crisis

Long long time ago
I still remember
How those stories used to make me smile
And I knew if I had my chance
That I could make my mama dance
And may be she'd be happy for a while

But September gives me shivers
In every speech he delivers
Bad news on Capitol Hill
I couldn't read one more bill

I can't remember if I cried
When I really saw his dark side
Something touched me deep inside
The day health care died

So bye, bye Hope and Change oh my
Cast my vote at the booth but t'was all a big lie
Chicago boys drinking whiskey and rye
Singing this will be the day that you die
This will be the day that you die

Do you remember waiting in that line
With no insurance, you got that fine
If Cigna tells you so?
Do you believe in the corporate role
Can profits save your mortal soul
I've no more to give after all they stole

I knew they worked you to the bone
In the night I heard you softly moan
But you never really let me on
Always smiling when you woke me up at dawn

I was a lonely kid trying to make a buck
Cos my mama, she died on that pick-up truck
And I knew I was out of luck
The day healthcare died

I started singing... Bye bye Hope and Change oh my
Cast my vote at the booth but t'was all a big lie
Chicago boys drinking whiskey and rye
Singing this will be the day that you die
This will be the day that you die

Now for eight years we got nothing but pain
And we waited for some healing rain
But that's not how it came to be...
When the House caved in to Wall Street
Homes lay rotting on Main Street
Bail outs for some, pink slips for you an me...

And while the left lay beaten down
The right wing took their thorny crown
The Congress was adjourned
No verdict was returned

And while Moore read a book of Marx
The House knocked that right out of the park
The homeless shivered in the dark
The day health care died

And we were singing... Bye bye Hope and Change oh my
Cast my vote at the booth but t'was all a big lie
Chicago boys drinking whiskey and rye
Singing this will be the day that you die
This will be the day that you die

Cuts to Medicare won't pass muster
Unmanned drones better take shelter
Was high on hope now falling fast
Politics as usual, it's come to pass
Voters protesting in a mass
Cops with batons from a distant past

Post-election air was sweet perfume
While the bankers played a marching tune
We all got up to dance
Oh, but we never got the chance!
'Cos the voters tried to take the field
And the corporations refused to yield
Do you recall what was revealed
The day health care died

And there we were all in one place
A generation lost in space
No time left to start again
So Barack be nimble, Barack be quick
Don't go for that half-way fix
Those are lies you won't ever mend

Oh, as I watched him on the stage
My hands were clenched in fists of rage
No statesman born in Hell
Could break that Satan's spell

And as the flames climbed high into the night
Teddy looked down upon our plight
Rush Limbaugh was shrieking in delight
The day health care died

He was singing... Bye bye Hope and Change oh my
Cast my vote at the booth but t'was all a big lie
Chicago boys drinking whiskey and rye
Singing this will be the day that you die
This will be the day that you die

I met a girl who lost her sight
Thanks in part to the insurer's might
She smiled and sent me on my way...
I hobbled along to the old drug store
An armed guard stopped me at the door
Asked me if I had insurance, if I could pay...

In the iphone, the apps got banned
Single Payer - not on this land
But not a word was spoken, People's will was broken
And the three men I admire the most
Marx, Engels and Trotsky's Ghost
They took the last train to the coast
The day healthcare died

1 comments:

Paul and Mina said...

Very good, Khushara. Send it to McClean. The poem has the tone of a saddened admirer, which is the tone I have always found in 'bye bye...'

But more than just a saddened admirer, real life is affected by the sad dissolution of a hoped for change from the Obama Admin on healthcare. Now is the time to shout, write and stand firm to show teh White House that 'we the people' want single payer fair healthcare, need to show the world how to break the status quo ante chains of meekly following greed-based systems.