This week’s song is “Public Service Announcement with Guitar,” the first authorized leak from my forthcoming solo album My Name Is Will. As indicated above, the track is my ode to the whistleblower. Lyrics are as follows:
Daniel Ellsberg was a true Cold Warrior And he helped build the Doomsday Machine But when he saw the Pentagon's plans for Vietnam He had to get his conscience clean And they put Katharine Gun in the dock, y'all For trying to stop the Iraq War She shared those official secrets And proved that Blair was Bush's whore Hey now Whistleblower Stand up for what's right Grab that whistle and blow it Don't give up the fight And what about Edward Snowden? If not for him how would we even know That Big Brother's always watching? For telling the truth Ed will die in Moscow And of course it was Chelsea Manning Who leaked the video they wanted to hide Now we've all seen "Collateral Murder" Obama tortured her till she almost died Hey now Whistleblower Stand up for what's right Grab that whistle and blow it Don't give up the fight And at this very moment Mr. Julian Assange is in jail For the crime of journalism And Uncle Joe won't grant him bail And we salute those other brave souls Like Thomas Drake, Daniel Hale, John Kiriakou Frank Serpico, Karen Silkwood, Erin Brockovich And of course Mordecai Vanunu Hey now Whistleblower Stand up for what's right Grab that whistle and blow it Don't give up the fight I said hey now Whistleblower Stand up for what's right Grab that whistle and blow it Don't give up the fight
I wrote the tune according to Van Morrison’s formula of “three chords & the truth” and during the verses I’m doing my Lou Reed impression, but at least one listener finds “PSA w/ GTR” to be Zappaesque. What do you think? And do you get the Clash allusion? Let a poor singer-songwriter know.
Wicked...