Day 1024, Old Virginny?  (1) 

 

Let’s not go back to old Virginny,

Back to the Jim Crow times or slaves and Civil War,

Back when we led the founding of our nation,

We threw out a tyrant then; let’s rise once more.

 

Who wants to labor and support the Donald,

Day after day, incoherent government?

We were born here and we love it sincerely.

But from the White House, we just smell excrement.

 

Let’s not go back to old Virginny,

Back to the Jim Crow times or slaves and Civil War.

Now a new tyrant’s threatening our nation,

Threatening democracy; we’ll stand no more.

 

Voters rose up in old Virginny.

We shall not sit ‘til we wither and decay.

Trump’s swamp is stocked with snakes and alligators;

We cannot rest ‘til Trump’s snakes slither away.

 

Washington, Jefferson lived here before me.

What would they say if we meet on heaven’s shore?

“Gird up your loins; don’t count on one election.

“You won this round but there are more fights in store.

 

Let’s not go back to old Virginny,

Back to the Jim Crow times or slaves and Civil War.

Mass shootings are a scourge that must be ended.

It’s time for sane gun control; slaughter no more.

 

Let’s not go back to old Virginny,

Back to the Jim Crow times or slaves and Civil War.

Let’s ratify the Equal Rights Amendment,

Equal rights for everyone; open the door.

 

(1)  May be sung to “Carry Me Back to Old Virginny,” James Bland, 1878. A free black man, Bland wrote this song partially to protest the life of the recently emancipated negroes in the North, where they still encountered a lot of racial animus.  It was the state song of Virginia from 1940 until 1997 when it was “retired,” due to its use of words like “darkey” and descriptions of the life of a slave. There are many recordings. I like the recording by Tom Roush best. Ray Charles did a very upbeat, jazzy version, which I think misses the point of the song.  My version celebrates the recent conversion of Virginia from red to blue.