Love Me, I'm a Liberal

By Phil Ochs

  E               A           E     A
I cried when they shot Medgar Evers
E                   C#m
Tears ran down my spine
   E              A          E
I cried when they shot Mr. Kennedy
               F#7             B7
As though I'd lost a father of mine
     E        A              E
But Malcolm X got what was coming
   G#m                        A
He got what he asked for this time
   E        C#m      A        B7    E
So love me, love me, love me, I'm a liberal

I go to civil rights rallies
And I put down the old D.A.R.
I love Harry and Sidney and Sammy
I hope every colored boy becomes a star
But don't talk about revolution
That's going a little bit too far
So love me, love me, love me, I'm a liberal

I cheered when Humphrey was chosen
My faith in the system restored
I'm glad the commies were thrown out
of the A.F.L. C.I.O. board
I love Puerto Ricans and Negros
as long as they don't move next door
So love me, love me, love me, I'm a liberal

The people of old Mississippi
Should all hang their heads in shame
I can't understand how their minds work
What's the matter don't they watch Les Crain?
But if you ask me to bus my children
I hope the cops take down your name
So love me, love me, love me, I'm a liberal

I read New republic and Nation
I've learned to take every view
You know, I've memorized Lerner and Golden
I feel like I'm almost a Jew
But when it comes to times like korea
There's no one more red, white and blue
So love me, love me, love me, I'm a liberal

I vote for the democtratic party
They want the U.N. to be strong
I go to all the Pete Seeger concerts
He sure gets me singing those songs
I'll send all the money you ask for
But don't ask me to come on along
So love me, love me, love me, I'm a liberal

Once I was young and impulsive
I wore every conceivable pin
Even went to the socialist meetings
Learned all the old union hymns
But I've grown older and wiser
And that's why I'm turning you in
So love me, love me, love me, I'm a liberal

Notes:

Lerner & Golden were both columnists with left-leaning tendencies. Harry
Golden, a humorist, wrote some marvelous books and short stories. One I
recall is his plan for integration in schools in the south (this was back
when). Since the Southerners didn't mind blacks standing next to whites
when making purchases in stores, he proposed that they take out all the
chairs in the schools and let the students stand to learn. He called this
"vertical integration".

Les Crane had a talk show in the south. (Nothing virulent like the current
ones!)

-- SonnyOchs@aol.com

Jello Biafra and Mojo Nixon did a cover of this song with some updated
lyrics. Mojo Nixon sang this updated version solo on Comedy Central during
their 1996 State of the Union show.

Chords supplied by Guy Matz and corrected by James Barnett.
Last modified 20 Dec 98 by trent