General Discussion

Ken Burch

(50,254 posts)

27. This song seems fitting

Fri Dec 26, 2014, 12:54 AM

Dec 2014

(can't find a video to link to a performance of it, but the amazing English a cappella traditional singer Frankie Armstrong has recorded it:

ANTI-CAROL
(John Pole)

It weren't no picnic
It weren't no picture post card
It was cold as 'taters in the mould
When the couple come lookin' for a room
Cold shouldered they were when the landlords looked at her
And saw the baby in her womb
Cold comfort they got
Was there a room? There was not
The town was crowded for a start
And it was cold, cold. cold, cold
Cold as a beggar boy's heart

It could have been in Jo'burg, Detroit. Chittagong, Calcutta
So long since it happened
I'm wrong! It happened yesterday
It happens now more and more...
Then somebody said he could lend them a shed
Crashing down on the floor
Just concrete and iron and a blanket to lie on
They'd been walkin' all day
And their home was such a long, long, long. long
Long way away

They never heard no angels
Just the big police siren
When the light come fumblin' through the night
Her waters broke. the kid begun to come
"Is there a doctor?" "No fear,
Only poor people here
What would you pay him with,. chum?"
There war ice on the door.
she sweated, he swore
He saw the head of his child
And then together him and her
Helped it into the world

There weren't no cattle watching
Just a rat and twenty cockroach
The kid cried. his dad soon had him washed and dried
When his mother woke she give him breast
He shared his parents' love
And he was heir to their poverty
It war all they possessed
And then the rumors got 'round
There were soldiers in town
With orders "Search and Destroy"
They didn't want to get wasted
They left town a bit hasty
The man, his wife and their boy. boy, boy, boy
Young wife and new baby boy

He was theirs they made him
Out of love. hope. and suff'ring
God's son? Or just another one!
More like millions born to slave. starve. and die
Oh p'raps when he grows and sees how the world goes
He'll help to change it by and by
Let's hope the soldiers don't hang this new son of man
Like they done one before ...
Will he bring peace or a gun?
When his kingdom does come
It'll belong to the poor. poor, poor, poor.
The homeless and poor

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Christmas questions: How did it EVER become acceptable in this country... [View all] Ken Burch Dec 2014 OP

It always has been, since the beginning Spider Jerusalem Dec 2014 #1

I call that tangible justification. If there is a better name for it please let me know. Sweeney Dec 2014 #18

"Predestination of the elect" (those not among the elect were "reprobates"). Spider Jerusalem Dec 2014 #21

agreed. he as born, lived in, helped, died for the poor. roguevalley Dec 2014 #41

Puritan work ethic Jesus Malverde Dec 2014 #2

Nail meets hammer swilton Dec 2014 #10

Good book, read it. Got it. Sweeney Dec 2014 #19

In modern times: Jimmy Bakker, Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell and their idol Ronald Reagan. jwirr Dec 2014 #3

Reagan(in a speech in liberal Olympia, Washington, of all places) Ken Burch Dec 2014 #4

Thank you. His speech on the value of greed and hate. Imagine what we would be if that man had jwirr Dec 2014 #6

"I am not my brother's keeper" was first said by history's first murderer, Cain, to cover up the world wide wally Dec 2014 #9

Of course but that did not make it wrong. His murdering ways did. What he said was fact - he did jwirr Dec 2014 #38

I've always considered Mormonism another step down that same road: truebluegreen Dec 2014 #11

I would guess that somewhere in the Morman roots there was a deep connection to Calvinism. I jwirr Dec 2014 #39

Even regular people who are alright financially show indifference or outright contempt appalachiablue Dec 2014 #16

it's almost as if to say sweetapogee Dec 2014 #24

What they believe, Jesus never said. Sweeney Dec 2014 #22

One quibble, I don't think the wealthy do that so much as the treestar Dec 2014 #5

Public Charity is a reflection of private caring. Sweeney Dec 2014 #23

Great wealth is a direct result of immense immorality. Dont call me Shirley Dec 2014 #30

No doubt Sweeney Dec 2014 #35

Christ was not raised in poverty. former9thward Dec 2014 #7

He did, however, have something to say about the poor and marginalized. delrem Dec 2014 #12

By the time of John's Gospel Sweeney Dec 2014 #15

Well, y'know, I don't really give a shit. delrem Dec 2014 #20

Bible history is more fascinating than the Bible itself. Sweeney Dec 2014 #26

i just googled that book, which I'd never heard of, and am now planning or reading it. yodermon Dec 2014 #37

One of the few books I ever made time to read twice. Sweeney Dec 2014 #47

This song seems fitting Ken Burch Dec 2014 #27

There was a class of people descended from Phineas Sweeney Dec 2014 #25

They stayed in a stable because they couldn't afford an inn. and jews were under the NewDeal_Dem Dec 2014 #33

The inns were full, no place left but the stables, iirc. Lars39 Dec 2014 #36

There was a census going on which was why Joseph was in Bethlehem. former9thward Dec 2014 #40

There were also all those expensive gifts from the wise men. nt. Mariana Dec 2014 #43

Which really kinda says something about how we treat a lot of tradesmen these days Posteritatis Dec 2014 #44

In those days skilled manual labor was something people aspired to. former9thward Dec 2014 #45

'wealth is acquired in direct proportion to virtue and rectitude' elleng Dec 2014 #8

Actually, tangible justification, Sweeney Dec 2014 #17

Wealthy people focus on the "king of kings" crap.... Spitfire of ATJ Dec 2014 #13

+1 Dont call me Shirley Dec 2014 #31

Honestum is moral good Sweeney Dec 2014 #14

In other words you can't make many Americans reason, because it's their religious or cultural belief AZ Progressive Dec 2014 #28

Like Erasmus told Luther: Sweeney Dec 2014 #49

The biggest "secret" about Christmas is that we are all miracles. Life is miraculous. Dont call me Shirley Dec 2014 #29

Shirley you want to be my friend. Sweeney Dec 2014 #50

Surely. :-) Dont call me Shirley Dec 2014 #51

Like I told my grandaughter Sweeney Dec 2014 #53

Since about 1517. WinkyDink Dec 2014 #32

Pete Townshend said it this way: Manifestor_of_Light Dec 2014 #34

How did it become acceptable? JEB Dec 2014 #42

Swift's "A Modest Proposal" did not invent the meme. Orsino Dec 2014 #46

The funny thing about Swift's satire is that so many educated people took it seriously. Sweeney Dec 2014 #48

Aren't you sort of surrendering to the very viewpoint you would fight? True Blue Door Dec 2014 #52