I'm Proud to Be a Socialist

The very rich are people too or so I have been told
They're a lot like me & you, except for all their gold
I'd like to take their gold away & spread it all around today
But they can have some too & there's the twist, they just won't be first on the list
They'll say "You first , please I insist!" I'm proud to be a socialist
C - - G / - - - C / - E7 Am F (pause) / G - - - / - - FG C 

The very rich were children once & they shall be again
And when they learn to love the world, the world will be their friend
Caring for the common good with the innocence of childhood
No more greedy clenching fist when classism is dismissed
And somehow we’ll all co-exist - I'm proud to be a socialist

(bridge #1) I used to think that they should all just burn in hell
But I don’t believe in Hell & I guess that’s just as well
F - C - / E7 - Am - (pause)

Still, I'd like to see the very rich down on their hands & knees
Scrubbing floors, doing chores & planting flowers & trees
They'll walk the trails & fill their pails get dirt under their fingernails
Just like gorillas in the mist their lordly ways will not persist
They'll have their cake, but they’ll grind the grist - I'm proud to be a socialist

We'll all care for each other & we'll all be cared about
Everyone will be as one; no one will be shut out
Slaves & masters, rich & poor we won't need these words anymore
No more shackles round our wrist, cooperation - that's the gist
And though I’m more than just a little bit pissed - I'm proud to be a socialist

(bridge #2) I used to think that they should all just burn in hell
But I don’t believe in Hell & I guess that’s just as well
No I don't believe in heaven or hell 'cept what we make our own damn selves
F - C - / E7 - Am - / C E7 Am F - (pause)

Still, I don’t much like those billionaires who hoard their gold & put on airs
So if Satan took ‘em all downstairs & fed their brains to grizzly bears
And squeezed their eyes between his thighs baked their privates into cute little pies
Fed to hungry demon spawn & on & on & on & on  
Upon their skin it would be carved the names of children who have starved
He’d hang them from their dainty toes & pull their guts out through their nose
No caviar nor fine champagne, it would probably drive them all insane
We’d have our sweet revenge, its true, although it’s long past overdue
And then I remember with a sigh “There but for fortune go you or I”
C - - G / - - - C :// (4x) C E7 Am F (pause)

And if I had a billion in my purse, who knows? I might have been worse
So I let it go & there's the twist although it’s so hard to resist
Cooperation: that’s the gist & somehow we’ll all coexist
And though it hurts to be as nice as this, I'm proud to be a socialist!
G - - - (3x) G - - C 

- lyrics & music by Jay Mankita
© author. All rights reserved. Used by permission of author.