Please Do What You Can

words by Paul SPencer, 2006
to the tune of The Ham-Fat Man

Now come on all you workers and listen to my song,
I'm very rich and busy so I won't detain you long,
We're trying to oppress you without a lot of fuss,
And we're asking for your help to do the job for us.

The Brisk Young Worker

to the tune of The Brisk Young Tailor (trad)

It's of a brisk young worker, whose story I'll relate,
He lived beneath the government of Howard and his mate,
Oh Howard was in charge and the other was Costell,
And taking workers' rights away they loved exceeding well,
Oh well, oh well, oh well my boys oh well,
And taking workers' rights away they loved exceeding well.

The Economic God Song

words by Paul Spencer
traditional Australian tune The Lachalan Tigers

G - - - / G - - - / Am - - - / Am - - - /
Am - - - /Em - - - /Am - - - / E - - - /
Am - - - / F - - - /C - - - / G - - - /
C - (B) - /Am - - - / E - - - /Am - - -/

1. A frantic, zealous guru with a mighty, mystic mind,
Beseeches us to leave our unenlightened ways behind,
“Feel the power of the mighty Stock Exchange!”,
Arms wide open and his eyes are very strange

words and music by Paul Spencer, 2005

Verse:
G - - /Bm - - /Em - - /D - - /D - - /
G - - /G - - /Em - - /D - - /D - - /
G - - /Bm - - /Em - - /D - - /D - - /
G - /G - /D - /G - /

Chorus:
G - /G - /C - /Am - /
D - /Em - /D - /D - /
C- /G - /D - /C - /
G C /G D /G - /G - /

Poor people starve from the moment they're born,
Working all day growing soya and corn,
At the end of the year they're still broke and forlorn,
And the food gets eaten by cows and pigs.

words by Paul Spencer, 2003
traditional Irish tune The Disused Railway

Bm - - /Bm - A /G - - /Bm F#m Bm /
Bm - - /Bm - A /G - - /Bm F#m Bm /

D - - /D - A /D - - /Bm - - /
D - - /A - - /G - - /Bm F#m Bm /

Watching telly hypnotically,
Spending money neurotically,
Making choices robotically,
Turning into a slave.
School to make me employable,
Work to make me reliable,
Just when life gets enjoyable,
Lay me into my grave.

words by Paul Spencer, 1996
traditional Irish tune I’m Leaving Tipperary

G - - - /C - G - /G - - - /D - - - /
G - - - /C- G - /G - D - /G - - - /
G - - - /C - G - /G - - - /D - - - /
G - - - /C- G - /G - D - /G - - - /

G - - - / G - - - /G - - - /D - - - /
G - - - / Em - - - /C - D - /G - - - /
G - - - /Em - - - /A7 - - - /D7 - - - /
G - D - /C - G - /C - D - /G - C D/

Although we live beneath the cloud of greedy corporations,
We must believe we will achieve our proper liberation,
The world of business marches on as though it can’t be halted,
But tyrants past have fallen down when peasants have revolted.

words and music by Paul Spencer, 2004

C - - - / Dm - - - /
Em - - - / Em - - - / F - - - / G - - - /
C - - - / F - - - / G - - - /
C - - - / C - Em - / Em - - - /
Dm - - - / Dm - - - /
F - - - / F - - - /
C - - - / C - - - / Dm - - - / Dm - - - /
G - - - / G - - - / C - - - / Em - - - / Am - - - / Am - - - /

You can see them sometimes staring,
Looking to the future with a far-away gaze,
CHORUS: Dreamers, so out of touch
Or eyes ablaze, inciting you to war,
CHORUS: Could be dangerous,
Or sometimes just proclaiming things,
Bad ideas you've heard and laughed at twenty times before,
CHORUS: Such ideals, poor, sad fools.

words and music by Paul Spencer, 2003

G - - - / G - - - / C - - - / G - - - /
D - - - / D - - - /
G - - - / G - - - / G - - - / G - - -/
C - D - / G - - - / (repeat)

Em - - - / Em - - - / Em - - - / Em - - - /
D - - - / Bm - - - / Em - - - / Em - - - /
D - - - / D - - - / C - - - / C - - - /
Bm - - - /Bm - - - /Am - - - / D - - - /
D - - - /

It's an endless cosmic journey on the path of brilliant light,
And every lifetime's learning,
Sees the summit ever nearer and my third eye's vision clearer,
Through the darkest time of night.

Fear
words and music by Paul Spencer, 2000

D - - - / C#dim7 - - - / D - - - / D - - - /
D - - - / Bm - - - / Bm - - - /
Em - - - / Cmaj7 - - - / F#m - - - / F#m - - - /
Adim7 - - - / B7 - - - / B7 - - - /
Em - - - / A - G - / D - - - / D - - - /

Fear comes down up on me in the dark,
Though not quite unexpected,
My impulse is to run, hide away,
Hope I’m not detected,
I can’t escape, the fear is in my heart.

Scampering I leave my friends behind,
The fear I carry with me,
Now it has me totally entranced,
My resistance fails swiftly,

words and music by Paul Spencer, 1999

Bm - - - / D - - - / Bm - - - / Bm - - - /
Em - - - / A - - - / G - - - /E - E7 - /
A - - - / E - E7 - / A - - - / A - - - /
Bm - - - / C#m - - - / D - Bm - / D - - - /

A - - - / Bm - C#m - / A - - - / A - - - /
E - - - / A - - - /Bm - - - / E - - - /
C#m - - - / C#m - - - / C#m - - - / C#m - - - /
D - - - / D - - - / A - - - / D - - - /

G - / G - / A - / A - /
D - / G D / G Em / A - /
Bm - / Em - / G - / G - /
D - / G Em / D A / D - /

1.There are strange people living in the city,
They shave their chins and armpits and dress up like cement,
Their nervous eyes evoke a sense of pity,
They’ve bought themselves a prison, which was never their intent.

words by Paul Spencer, 2005
English music-hall tune We’re Bound for Botany Bay

1. Farewell to the notion of liberty,
Farewell to our welfare as well,
Farewell to our well-known irreverence,
That once used to serve us so well.

words by Paul Spencer, 2004
traditional Irish tune “Pat Horgan’s Polka (#1)”

1. They say that when your childhood ends,
Then girls and boys can't just be friends,
For then your basic instinct tends,
To curse you like a hex.

It's not the only thing they say,
This forceful but elusive "they",
I came across a whole array,
Of strange ideas on sex.

words and music by Paul Spencer, 1996

1. I’m an ethical consumer, that’s a nineties thing to be,
So it’s hydrocarbon aerosols instead of CFCs,
And now that Macca’s uses those recycled paper trays,
My care for our environment can last for days and days.
In oh! So many ways,
My care for our environment can last for days and days.

tune and original words “I Was Only 19”, by Redgum
parodied by Paul Spencer, 2003

C - - - /Eb - - - /Bb - - - /F - - - /C - - - /Bb - - - /C - - - /C - - - /
C - - - /Eb - - - /Bb - - - /F - - - /C - - - /Bb - - - /C - - - /C - - - /

G - - - /G - - - /F - - - /C - - - /G - - - /G - - - /F - - - /C - - - /
Am - - - /Em - - -/F - - - /Em - - - /G - - - /G - - -/G Am - G /F - - -/

Mum and Dad and Karen saw me getting on the train to go to Sydney,
It was the one that leaves at 12,
I enrolled at Sydney Uni in a bachelor of science,
Did it suit me? It was really hard to tell.

And posters lined the footpaths where the activists had been,
And when I came across them I was young and fresh and keen,
And that's how I met Marxists at a meeting of the greens,
God help me, I was only 18.

words and music by Paul Spencer, 2006

1. Plague and fire, drought and storm,
CHORUS: Doom, death and destruction,
Ain’t the planet nice and warm?
CHORUS: Everything’s crap. Its’ really bad.