As the Western wildfires burn ever more profoundly with horrific effects for the lives of so many people, they also have catastrophic impacts on the mountain wildlife and ecology. I started this song back in the late 1970's while living in Colorado in the midst of the push to mine shale oil in the Rocky Mountains. Since then the challenges have grown ever more complex as climate change leads to much longer wildfire seasons, more intense burns, and the deaths of millions of trees in mountain areas, including those in Yosemite, due to invasive species. This song is my "Prayer For The Mountains" in the face of our headlong rush to destroy what is left of the remaining natural areas of our nation and our planet.
Lyrics/Music by Mike Bressler
Long time ago, when the west was young and free,
Buffalo herds roamed the plains as far as the eye could see.
Then progress came its way and by the millions cut ‘em down,
Hides were packed for sale and skulls were piled upon the ground.
And mighty herds soon vanished from the land.
Chorus:
Well, say a prayer for the mountains so tall
As the long western winds come to blow.
For tomorrow, will they stand so proud at all
Or follow the way of the old buffalo.
Now many years have gone, times have come to change,
Automobiles roam the lands the buffalo herds did range.
They make our traveling easier and carry us right along.
So we scour the earth for ways and means to keep them rolling on.
With scarce a thought to where it all will end.
Repeat Chorus:
And many clever companies and bales of dollar bills,
Are racing to the mountains with dynamite and drills.
And they say it’s for our country and claim it’s what we need,
And they always call it progress though many blame man’s greed,
As they work their ways across the mountain lands.
Repeat Chorus:
And when tomorrow’s winds have blown and days to come have gone,
Will monuments then mark the trails the pronghorn had run upon?
Will evergreens have given way to prime suburban lands?
Will wild flames and climate change have left unhealing brands?
As they work their ways across the mountain lands.
Repeat Chorus:
© M. Bressler
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This tune has long been used in struggles for justice, whether in John Brown's Body, Battle Hymn of the Republic, or Ralph Parson's Solidarity Forever. Song of the Resistance is a prayer as well as a song celebrating those opposed to the direction our political system has been taking. Lyrics by Mike Bressler/Music - Traditional
Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord,
He’d loosed the fateful lightning of his terrible swift sword.
He was filled with mighty fury at deeds done in his name,
As these words he proclaimed:
Chorus:
Glory, Glory Hallelujah,
Don’t let the Trump party fool ya.
Oh, they know their lines so good
But they don’t mean quite what they should
Half-truths go marching on.
He’d seen through all the pretense when they shouted out for war.
The host of shady campaigns where they showed their moral core.
The mighty zeal for power, and the massive mess they made,
And these words he hath said
Repeat Chorus:
Well media hordes were marching forth to orders from their kings,
Talk show hosts ranted like some parrots on a fling.
But the Lord almighty roared in wrath, then laughed at what he’d seen,
As these words he did say.
Repeat Chorus:
So, we’ll stand up for our country, and freedoms that we prize,
In the face of all the fear-mongers’ richly worded lies.
Keep watchfires blazing ‘til the dawn of brighter days,
And these words we shall say:
Repeat Chorus:
Glory, Glory Hallelujah,
Don’t let the Trump party fool ya.
Oh, their tweets are mighty good
But they don’t mean quite what they should
Half-truths go marching on.
© Mike Bressler
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So many mind blowing and almost unimaginable things going down nowadays, it has to make you wonder - Can You Say That's Ok? And the answer better be NO WAY! Or we're really screwed.
Lyrics/Music by Mike Bressler-
Tides are turning, fires burning, all across the land
Hustlers grin and hucksters spin and say they understand.
All across the whole creation fools are fueling desolation,
Taking in their payoffs from a world they set aflame
Chorus
Can you say that’s ok?
No Way!
Junk spamming, Trump scamming, every single day.
Gears jamming, doors slamming, block most every way.
Paradise burned to the ground, polar ice melting down
In a world of heave and hurry with heads buried in the sand.
Can you say that’s ok?
No Way!
Time’s flying, cons lying, right over the top.
Dripping spite and bigot blight that never seems to stop!
The Cult screams 'cause they lost,
On hands and knees to Trump their boss,
Believing sharks and oligarchs who’ve sold their souls away
Can you say that’s ok?
No Way!
Denial rules fakes and fools and charlatans of gold
All hail the lout who’s all freaked out his story might get told.
Bag the money, hide the bucks, drag the country through the muck
To bring home lots of bacon for some bellyaching billionaires
Can you say that’s ok?
No Way!
Tons of cheats and Trumped up tweets bringing this world down
Take a stand, give a hand, to get it turned around
Demagogues running loose, and dinosaurs out for loot,
Leave this world so much the worse with every dawning day.
Can you say that’s ok?
No Way!
© Mike Bressler
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This song started life as a bumper sticker I thought of making - “Greed, Oilbucks, and Pollution, That's the GOP Solution”. Sing it twice and that's the chorus! Unfortunately, it seems to only get more true with time.
Lyrics / Music by Mike Bressler
Times are tough in this town
Prices up and pay is down
Works are jammed, nothing goes
Just brown-nose crooked CEOs
What’s the Grand Old Party doing?
Chorus
Greed, Oilbucks and Pollution,That’s the GOP solution
Greed, Oilbucks and Pollution,That’s the GOP solution
Mass deception, no relief!
Vanity beyond belief!
Bless the rich and bash the poor,
Trash the planet to its core,
What’s the Grand Old Party brewin'?
Repeat Chorus:
Smearing sprees and homilies,
Needless war and casualties,
Cover up each new disgrace,
Shove it up the human race.
What’s the Grand Old Party proven?
Repeat Chorus:
© Michael Bressler
Our big question, regarding what we are doing to the world we inherited, and our legacy to those whose times are to come.
Lyrics and Music by Michael Bressler
A bright shining tropic sea, gleaming wide and blue,
Kaleidoscopic harmony alive in every hue.
Eyes light in disbelief, wondrous realms of coral reef,
Schools of splendid neon fish fool away the time.
Further ‘long, picture’s wrong,
Reefs are bleached and fish are gone,
Water's grown way too warm with the planet’s changing clime.
Chorus
What will be our legacy set to dawn down the bend?
The vision that’s been brought to be, or a gift we pawned and brought to end
Where prisons, fakes and fools unfold an earth ablaze for oil and gold?
Blinding lies and dying tides, right before our eyes,
What will be our reply?
A mighty flow of ice and snow tumbles to the sea,
A monument of cold and white and bracing majesty.
A glacier reaches past the shore, greets the ocean with a roar,
Leaves a chain of ice caps, the restless waves to ply.
But swiftly now they all go down
Ancient glaciers turn around,
In a world grown way too warm with the planet’s changing clime.
Chorus
What will be our legacy set to dawn down the bend?
The vision that’s been brought to be, or a gift we pawned and brought to end
Where tyrants reign and dark clouds roll an earth in chain for oil and gold?
Ice sheets slide and oceans rise, right before our eyes,
What will be our reply?‘
Neath Northern Lights and Midnight Sun an Inuit family’s home
On wild and windswept tundra where caribou herds still roam.
They span the timeless arctic land, pry some food from nature’s hand,
Share in what the earth provides each soul passing by.
But troubled times are setting in, ice and game are getting thin,
In a land grown way too warm with the planet’s changing clime.
Chorus
What will be our legacy set to dawn down the bend?
The vision that’s been brought to be, or a gift we pawned and brought to end
Where sirens wail and storm winds blow, an earth betrayed for oil and gold?
Dice roll live through northern skies, right before our eyes,
What will be our reply?
© Michael Bressler
A takeoff on the great classic song of the '60s "Me and Bobbi McGee," written by Kris Kristofferson, the indomitable Rhodes Scholar poet and country songwriter.
Lyrics revised by Mike Bressler / Music by Kris Kristofferson
Busted flat in Baton Rouge, waiting out the rains.
Feeling nearly faded as my jeans.
When I seen that Trump was sayin’ something, made me feel so fine,
Seemed the sun was ‘bout to shine again.
He said he’d be so dutiful, he'd make life all so beautiful,
He’s got such great big hands and bucks and brains!
He’s done wonders for the planet, grabbed the women in his cabinet, and he'll build a huge casino in Bahrain,
To Make America Great Again
.
Chorus:
Trump is just another word for nothing left but lies,
Words that ain’t worth nothing but they’re free.
And if you’re feeling you believe him Lord well don’t get too surprised,
When you finally find you wind up getting played, while someone goes Trumping on their way.
From the coal mines of Kentucky to the California sun,
Ol’ Trump he up and finished number two.
But though he wound up second place,
The bastard thinks he won the race, and thinks he should be President any-who.
And now he’s busy lootin' since he owes his good friend Putin, for the many fine favors he obtained.
And I know that there just ain’t a doubt that everything will be worked out
With these two buddies walking hand in hand,
To Make America Great Again
Chorus:
Song by Mike Bressler, based on Lyrics and Words by Kris Kristofferson in “Me and Bobby McGee
© Mike Bressler