This one was sent by Laura Mueller. We have an entrenched corporate run political system that keeps money in power. So this parody poses the simple question: Who will stop their reign?
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LYRICS to WHO’LL STOP THEIR REIGN?
Lyrics by Laura Mueller
Long as I remember, the world’s people are put down,
With shrouds of history pouring confusion all around.
Good folk of all ages are lost while the richest gain,
And I wonder, still I wonder, who’ll stop their reign?
In cities and the border,
they’re wrecking shelter from the storm.
Beyond all law and order, the tower of plunder grown.
Tax breaks and the trade deals, citizens in chains,
And I wonder, still I wonder, who’ll stop their reign?
Their propaganda playing seven-day and twenty-four,
They own the means of income and continue to take more.
Police and military fighting never-ending war,
So I wonder, still I wonder, who’ll stop their reign?
The climate is in crisis,
threatening every life we know,
They still despoil the land and choke the waters in their flow,
When the time is used up, even they must go.
And I wonder, still I wonder, who’ll stop their reign?
Now the fearful leader
proclaims himself a god.
Says he is the chosen.
His apostles all applaud
Says he’s King of the Jews,
quick to self-ordain.
And I wonder, still I wonder, who’ll stop his reign?
ABOUT THE SOURCE MATERIAL
“Who’ll Stop the Rain” is a song written by John Fogerty and originally recorded by Creedence Clearwater Revival for their 1970 album “Cosmo’s Factory.”
Backed with “Travelin’ Band”, it was one of three double-sided singles from that album to reach the top five on the Billboard Pop Singles chart and the first of two to reach the #2 spot on the American charts, alongside “Lookin’ Out My Back Door”. In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked it #188 on its “500 Greatest Songs of All Time” list.
Musically, in contrast to the 1950s-Rock-inspired “Travelin’ Band”, “Who’ll Stop the Rain” has more of an acoustic, folk-rock feel to it. Like many folk-rock songs, it starts off with a ringing acoustic guitar riff, though the backing throughout has more of a roots rock sound than that heard on more standard folk-rock recordings.
Interpreting the song in its time period (1970), and the resigned but somewhat angry feeling of the song, many see “Who’ll Stop the Rain” as a thinly veiled protest against the Vietnam War, with the final verse lyrics and its references to music, large crowds, rain, and crowds trying to keep warm being about the band’s experience at the Woodstock Festival in August 1969.
For his part, when asked by Rolling Stone about the meaning of the song’s lyrics, John Fogerty was quoted as saying,
“Certainly, I was talking about Washington, when I wrote the song, but I remember bringing the master version of the song home and playing it. My son Josh was four years old at the time, and after he heard it, he said, ‘Daddy stop the rain.’ And my wife and I looked at each other and said, ‘Well, not quite.’ ”
In 2007 during a concert in Shelburne, Vermont, he said the following about the song:
“Well, this next song has a bit of a fable surrounding it. A lot of folks seem to think I sang this song at Woodstock way back then. No. I was at Woodstock 1969. I think. It was a nice event. I’m a California kid. I went up there and saw a whole bunch of really nice young people. Hairy. Colorful. It started to rain, and got really muddy, and then (yelling) half a million people took their clothes off!!! (Normal voice again) Boomer generation making its presence known I guess. Anyway, then I went home and wrote this song.
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