Ochs Phil

HERE'S TO THE STATE OF RICHARD NIXON


by Phil Ochs





This song is a rewrite of his earlier song "Here's to the State of Mississippi"


submitted by Andrea Baroni (baroni_andrea@hotmail.com)





Standard tuning





Intro: C Am C





C             Am               G


Here's to the state of Richard Nixon


    C                          Bb


For underneath his borders the devil draws no line


       C                              Bb


If you drag his muddy rivers nameless bodies you will find


        C                            Bb


And the fat trees of the forest have hid a thousand crimes


        C           Am            Em                G


And the calendar is lyin' when it reads the present time


    C             Am          F            C


Oh, here's to the land you've torn out the heart of


C                      Am                G        C


Richard Nixon, find yourself another country to be part of





And here's to the schools Richard Nixon


Where they're teachin' all the children that they don't have to care


All the rudiments of hatred are present everywhere


And every single classroom is a factory of despair


And there's nobody learnin' such a foreign word as fair


Oh, here's to the land you've torn out the heart of


Richard Nixon, find yourself another country to be part of





And here's to the laws Richard Nixon


Where the wars are fought in secret, Pearl Harbor everyday


He punishes with income tax that he don't have to pay


And he's tapping his own brother just to hear what he would say


But corruption can be classic in the Richard Nixon way


Oh, here's to the land you've torn out the heart of


Richard Nixon, find yourself another country to be part of





And here's to the churches Richard Nixon and Billy Graham


Where the cross, once made of silver, now is caked with rust


And the Sunday morning sermons pander to their lust


All the fallen face of Jesus is chokin' in the dust


And Heaven only knows in which God they can trust


Oh, here's to the land you've torn out the heart of


Richard Nixon, find yourself another country to be part of





And here's to the government Richard Nixon


In the swamp of their bureaucracy their always boggin' down


And criminals are posing as advisors to the crown


And they hope that no one sees the sights and no one hears the sound


And the speeches of the President are the ravings of a clown


Oh, here's to the land you've torn out the heart of


Richard Nixon find yourself another country to be part of