Songtext Here's to the state of richard nixon (live) Phil Ochs

Here's to the state of richard nixon (live)

Here's to the state of Richard Nixon.
Where underneath his borders
The Devil draws no lines.
If you drag his muddy rivers
Nameless bodies you will find
And the fat trees of the forest
Have hid a thousand crimes,
And the calendar is lying
When it reads the present time.

[Chorus]
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 schools of Richard Nixon.
Where they're teaching 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.
There's nobody learning
Such a foreign word as "fair."

[Chorus]

And here's to the laws of Richard Nixon.
Where the wars are fought in secret,
Pearl Harbor every day.
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.

[Chorus]

And here's to the churches of 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,
And the fallen face of Jesus
Is choking in the dust,
And Heaven only knows
In which God they can trust.

[Chorus]

And here's to the government of Richard Nixon.
In the swamp of their bureaucracy
They're always bogging down,
And criminals are posing
As advisors to the crown,
And they hope that no one sees the sights
And no one hears the sounds,
And the speeches of the president
Are the ravings of a clown.

[Chorus]