Proud to Be An Anarchist
By Joe Carr

Written to the music of Lee Greenwood’s propagandistic “Proud to be an American”.
download MP3 (recorded in Amman, Jordan)
download lyrics in Word

This system is oppressive

It’s rotten to its core

It’s time for revolution

There’s a world worth dying for

There’s no governments and no rulers

No bosses and no cops

No money no McDonalds and no free trade

And no GMO crops

I am proud to be an Anarchist

So at least I’ll know when I’m free

And I won’t forget those who’ve died

Tearing down hierarchies

And I’ll gladly stand up against the man

In the name of community

Cause there aint no doubt I love this land

Raise your fist for Anarchy

From the streets of mid-Seattle

To the squats of Amsterdam

From Quebec down to Miami

In tears we’ll take our stand

From Palestine to Genoa

From DC to LA

There’s pride in every anarchist heart

And its time we stand and say

That I am proud to be an anarchist

So at least I’ll know when I’m free

And I won’t forget those who’ve died

Fighting down the tyranny

And I’ll gladly stand up against the man

In defense of liberty

Cause their aint no doubt I love this land

Yes I’ll gladly stand up next to you

In one solidarity

Cause their aint no doubt I love this land

Raise your fist for Anarchy

Plant the Olive Branch
By Joe Carr

 Recorded without drum on "Plant the Olive Branch", click here to order)
download MP3 (recorded in Amman, Jordan)
download lyrics in Word

You never got a chance to plant the olive branch

Your planting crew was under curfew

They shot and beat you as you dug

I fall to my knees on the broken earth

Like a ripped up prayer rug

And behold

The hole

The hole

Where they turned their plowshares into swords

And made soldiers of their souls

You never got the chance to plant the olive branch

And let the seed grow to tree

So we could see the free flow of peace

But though the dove’s been released

They’re shooting it down

Olive trees uprooted from the ground

Destroyed and bulldozed

So they can build condos for refugees

Making refugees to house refugees?

Refusing peace

Removing Trees

The olive gives so we can all receive  

The olive tree

So we can all live in peace

All live in peace

So plant the olive branch

Evacuate the states of hate

Stop stealing land

For only then can we negotiate

As two free peoples

One fruit to another

Olive to olive to all live with roots as brothers

Roots

With our mothers’ branches

Branches carried far away bringing light to all nations

Giving chances of life and of creation

So plant the olive branch

And help it grow

Let’s melt the mountains of Justice snow

Let the rivers of peace free flow

Passed the damns, walls, checkpoints, and blocked roads

WE must open the flood gates

Let it rush through the desert valleys

Let it wash the blood and oil from the land

Families of Abraham

Time to take Rachel’s hand extending out of the sand

And plant the Olive branch

Plant it for the Planet

Plant that branch

She Was My Sister
By Joe Carr

Inspired by the life and death of Rachel Corrie.
Written to the music of Simon and Garfunkle’s “He Was My Brother”.b
download lyrics in Word

She was my sister

Two years older than I

She was my sister

23 years old the day she died

Freedom Fighter

They cursed my sister to her face

Go home outsider

Rafah is ganna be your burying place

She was praying on her knees

When a war machine came along

He crushed my sister dead

Because she hated what was wrong

She was my sister

Tears can’t bring her back to me

She was my sister

And she died so her sisters could be free

She died so her sisters could be free

Let’s Dance
By Joe Carr

“If I can’t dance, I don’t want to be a part of your revolution” –Emma Goldman
download lyrics in Word

Chorus:

If I can’t Dance

I won’t be in your revolution

If I can’t sing, then it aint my thing

If I can’t laugh I’ll find me a new solution

Cause if we don’t have fun

Then they’ve already won

Sitting at a consensus meeting for hours

Discussing and debating, frustrated with scowls and scowers

But when the business is done, the party’s begun

Pass the beer the bowl and the flowers

Cause freedom aint free if we aint free to be fun

Chorus

I see you alone working your fingers to the bone

Making those posters and flyers

Calling the press and going to protests

But you’re always grumpy and tired

What’s the point of saving the world if losing your soul’s required

So lessen the pace

Fuck the activist rat race

Chorus

Che schooled love is the greatest tool of a revolutionary

So organize into the skis but realize your friends and family

Cause people around you need just as much saving Iraqis and Afghanis

The greatest defense against hate and violence is love

Chorus

So if work and competition are your only intentions

Go join the corporations and be earning a pension

Cause this is a revolution baby

It aint a sweatshop!

So lets dance and we’ll have us a revolution

Lets sing and we’ll change everything

Lets laugh, for that’s the true solution

Cause if we’re having fun, then we’ve already won

Anti-Racism Rap
By Joe Carr (white male)

About white privilege and my appropriation of a black art form
download lyrics in Word

I'd like to thank the black race
for setting the pace
and giving me a taste
of that African grace
and for pulling the wool from my face and my eyes
cleaning the mace that was my white lies
now I realize
that though we’re equally wise
that I get sent to Stanford
while you’re flipping hamburgers and fries
and while I'm devouring pies and ignoring your cries
but my privilege is just oppression in disguise
its like a ton of bricks, concrete and sticks
built up by my fathers, their rich white male clique
now down on you it will press and cause you stress to excess
and though I’m in a chariot I’ve got to carry it none the less
and though I may like the privilege I am given cause of my skin
like not being watched in every store I go in
and seeing positive portrayals of my people on TV
I’m never treated as the other
and only asked to speak for me
and I like not being beaten and harassed by the police
and knowing I can get a job, into a school, and any lease
though it’s time to let go of these
I know I must show release
I’ve come to embrace the phrase:
No justice, No peace!
No justice, No peace!
Oppression is aggression
No justice, No peace!

I'm an anti-racist white
and I will be putting up a fight
to see my privileges are rights
whether you're light or dark as night
I am an anti-racist white

I admit that I have guilt
for the blood my race has spilt
but this needless guilt is mute
I must make up for the jilt
I will share and serve and sacrifice
I will listen and not talk
cause I’ve much to do and much to learn
from all you black folk
and what I’ve learned so far I have taken to heart
and I’ve come to know and love everything that you are
now I know you aren’t all the same
you've different names and different claims
with different faces and frames
from different places and games
but the basis of my praise
are the aims your race embraces
your emphasis on family
poetry, humanity
and how you endear each other
sister and brother
and have the utmost respect for your deserving mothers
and how there's unity in your community
you got each other's back, when you're under attack
and you will see
that the love that you share, is like the locks in your hair
hand in hand you will stand in times of joy or despair
and you don't care what other's think about
you ain’t afraid to holler out
I love how you will scream and shout and raise your praise out loud

and I love the way you talk
though I can't imitate it
I love the way you walk
though I was raised to hate it
and god I love your music
and I try to create it
though I know I can't relate it to the life I’ve demonstrated
I know who it belongs to
and I won't hesitate to state it
I won't be a vulture of culture!
and just appropriate it
I may incline to incorporate it
and attempt to appreciate it
but the fact that you let me right and rhyme makes me so belated
and it can't be debated whether your musical memory has faded
its a fact that your impact can never be annihilated
It started in Africa with the Jembe
Gong gong gong
Ga da, gi di gong, ga da
and the Dun Dun, dun dun, Ba
Kinkene and the Samba
to America and the gospel
the lyrical miracle
historical spiritual
then the horns, the keys, and guitar strings
big bands working it with their thing
with the swing, the jazz, and the blues queens
like Bessie, Ella, and Louis and BB King
Then ole rock and role
was stole from your soul
you never got your toll
you weren't on the pay role
then the funk and disco
was yours everyone knows
but did it say in the stores?
well you know that's how it goes
then the reggae
and the Jamaican beats
those Afro-Cuban treats
makin’ me movin’ my feets
and now we've come to the hip hop
R&B, rap, and B-bob
of the charts you'll remain at the top
and we'll never see the legacy stop
no no

no we'll never see the legacy stop
so we'll mop up the cops
and pop the prison locks
drop our stocks, our cocks and our talks
that are the basis for our racist oasis
that is a crock!
and its tasteless
how we turn our faces
cause we think that the disgraces
somehow do not face us
while we’re winning all the races
and thinking its just god's graces
my thesis is this thinking is the problem today
no it’s not the neo-nazis or the KKK
its these quote "color blind" white liberals thinking everything's ok
while they try and paint the world in hazy shades of grey
"these are only black problems" you might hear them say
but I say "every white has racist ways they think and behave
cause we are raised with institutions
that fill us with delusions
our media dependency
gives us the tendency
to stereotype and act condescendingly
so it’s our responsibility
to see that the end will be
that we are all free
yes yes that we, that we are all free 
cause this system was made by and for the white male
so it should be no surprise he never fails to prevail
but its time to tip the scales and
who better to derail them
than the privileged and empowered the oppressor himself
so I promise you that I am dedicated
to racism being eradicated
and to serving those that are oppressed and hated
and to challenging those that that hatred created
and I acknowledge your right to have much frustration
irritation and even aggravation
at my generalizations and over-simplifications
that may be just as racist as the Arian Nation
I’ve still a long way to go
that's the purpose of this rap
but you shouldn't have to tolerate me flapping my trap
and it sure aint up to you to help me deal with my crap
though I would gladly cling, to anything you toss in my lap
and I give thanks that I can bear my heart
with art that is yours
and know that every time I write a rap I’ll think of your cause

I'll be an anti-racist white
and I will put up a fight
to see my privileges are rights
whether you're light or dark as night
I am an anti-racist white!
 

The Contest
By Joe Carr

Based off an ancient African folk tale
download lyrics in Word

The animals decided they’d have a contest

To see which one of them was the strongest

The contest was elephant’s idea

She said “On Wednesday all you animals appear,

And we’ll see who’s stronger than all the rest”

So they all said they’d come and put their strength to the test

Chimp showed up first jumping all about

He said “my arms are strength” and chimp sat down

Bushbuck came next lowing his horns

They were long they were strong they were sharp as thorns

He said “See these horns, what could be stronger?”

And Bushbuck sat down to wait a little longer

Dear leaped in jumping all around

She said “my legs are strength” and dear sat down

In came leopard growling and showing her claws

“I’ve got 3 three inches of strength extending from my paws,

I know I’m the strongest” she said with a growl

She showed them her teeth and then leopard sat down

Slowly in tramped elephant an her thousands of pounds

With each step she took she shook the ground

“El-e-phant” means strength and elephant sat down

They waited, they waited one more animal to come

They waited, they waited one more animal to come

Finally in ran man saying “I’m the strongest one!”

Man had brought something else and hid it that’s why he was late

“I’m here now we can start” he said “lets get this underway”

Elephant said “chimp you came first, show us your might”

Chimp jumped up and climbed a tree of great height

He bent it over and tied it in a knot

Then he swung from branch to branch with all the strength that he’s got

He jumped back down and said “Well what do ya think?”

The animals agreed, “Strength, strength that’s strength”.

Bushbuck jumped up saying “see the strength I wield”

Then his horns plowed a road through a giant cane field

He plowed a road right back, it was 2 miles in length

The animals concluded “Strength, strength that’s strength”.

Dear ran five miles into the woods and five miles back

She leaped over a tree, gracefully not even out of breath

The animals concurred, “Strength, strength that’s strength”.

Leopard jumped out and started scraping away at a tree

Bark and wood flew and when it fell she grabbed it in her teach

She carried it high into another tree and jumped back down

“Now wasn’t that strength?” She said with a growl.

The animals jumped back, they were frightened now

“Well wasn’t that strength?” there was definitely now doubt

“Strength, strength that’s strength”

Elephant stepped up and moved to the center

She leaned against the trees like they were tiny splinters

Her huge body showed the power of her grunt

And the tress fell down with a loud KAPLUNG!

The animals consulted, they were highly impressed

There was only one conclusion “Strength, strength that’s strength”.

Man jumped up and started whirling around

He did cartwheels, handsprings, summersaults and then he turned to the crowd

“Well that was exciting” they said, “but does strength it constitute?”

“We’ve seen chimp tumble better, is there anything else you can do?”

Man said “Well, watch this” and then he ran and climbed a tree

He threw down nuts and fruits then he climbed back down and said “See”

“Leopard did that” they said, “and carried another tree too”

“That’s not really strength, is there anything else you can do?”

Now man was pissed he said ,”You want strength, I’ll show you strength”.

Man ran to the woods and got that thing

He got that thing and ran back

He pointed that thing at elephant

He pulled the trigger, Ka Blam!

Elephant fell down

Dead, dead, elephant was dead

Dead, dead, elephant was dead

“I am the strongest of them all!” Man loudly said

But when he looked around, he quickly found, the animals had fled

They reconvened far away and talked, “Did you see that?”

“Was that strength? Was that strength? No, that was death”

That was death

Death

Death

Death

The animals all decided that from that day on

When man enters the forest, he has to walk alone

But the animals still talk of him, that strange creature man

The one who can’t tell the difference

Between strength and death

He cannot tell the difference

Between strength and death

Death

Death

Death

TERRORISM BLUES- high quality wave file