Wednesday, November 01, 2006

The Yellow Rose of Democracy

Here's your head-trip for the day: the last song in the They Might Be Giants Podcast 9A is an anthem for the Democratic Party, sung by a men's chorus to the tune of "The Yellow Rose of Texas."

I'm sure I don't have to spell out the irony for you.

The recording quality sounds like something from the early 20th century, so I don't feel bad about transcribing the lyrics here:
Oh, the Democratic Party
is for you and you and you
it works for all the people
and not for just a few

For(?) the barman in the city
for the big man and the small
oh, the Democratic Party
is the only one for all

(bridge)
From the north and south
from east and west we come
Singing the donkey's(?) serenade
c'mon and beat that drum

We'll march along together
and on Election Day
we're voting Democratic
'cause we're voting for the U.S.A.!

~CKL

1 comment:

Drew Thaler said...

I'd love to find out some more about this song. Is it a TMBG original? Or did they lift it from some dusty archive? Is it their performance or someone else's?

They like to cover old songs for fun -- In the Middle, Why Does The Sun Shine, and even Tippecanoe and Tyler Too. But they're not above just making a song *sound* old, either -- e.g. I Can Hear You.