A year ago today I released my most recent album. Several weeks later I typed the lyrics and wrote mini-essays for the songs. I didn’t have a place to post them though.
I learned a lot writing and recording the songs. I set myself a double challenge: every song had to be in the key of C, and the songs all had to start on a different note of the 12-note chromatic scale. With 14 songs, there are two repeats, but all 12 notes have a spot as the first note of a melody — C, C#, D, E-flat, F — all the way up the scale, though not sequenced in order. The challenge stretched my chops with chords and with melodies. Really fun — for me, and, I hope at least subliminally, for the listener too — if almost certainly not as much fun for you as for me.
Here’s the album, if you want to hear it.
Free to stream; if you want to pay to download it, the money goes to Movement Voter PAC, a group devoted to registering people to vote and strategizing for progressive causes.
Eternal thanks to my collaborators: longtime friends and marvelous singers Jennifer Anspach, Robert Hinrix, and my son Nat Beaumon (who also did the cover art); friend-since-toddlerhood Jay Sherman-Godfrey for tasty guitars and vocals and harmonica on one song and for mastering the recordings, and also for mixing and arranging and sequencing advice; and my son Denny Beaumon for a spot-on spoken-word cameo.
And a year later, here are the “liner” notes (available also as a 6-page PDF; contact me if you’d like a copy).
It’s OK
Observations on the contemporary situation.
To support progressive groups working to get out the vote, consider donating to Movement Voter PAC. All proceeds from the sale of this album will go to Movement Voter PAC.
secure.actblue.com/donate/mvpac-why/?refcode=jshaw
We are the majority.
Released October 27, 2022
Jennifer Anspach -- vocals
Robert Hinrix -- vocals
Nat Beaumon -- vocals
Denny Beaumon -- spoken word cameo
Jay Sherman-Godfrey -- vocals, slide guitars, chromatic harmonica
John Shaw -- vocals, guitars, bass, percussion, keyboards, sampled loops
Arrangements by Polite Society
Album cover art by Nat Beaumon
Album notes by John
Recordings mastered by Jay Sherman-Godfrey
℗ © 2022 John Shaw, BMI. All rights reserved.
1. It’s OK (to Refer to the GOP as Fascist)
Periodically for several years, my friend Ted Byfield would pose the question on social media, "Is it OK in polite society to refer to the GOP as Fascist yet?" One day I replied, OK, that's it, I'm going to make a band, I'm going to call it Polite Society, and we're going to make an album, all about how it's OK to refer to the GOP as Fascist.
And so, I did, more or less.
Lyrics:
It's OK
to refer
to the GOP
as fascist.
When the truth
must be said,
don't worry about being polite
if it's accurate.
It's OK, it's OK
to refer to the GOP as fascist
Obstructing voting rights based on race, that's fascist.
Violence to impose minority rule, that's fascist.
Threatening dissenters with violence, that's fascist.
Refusing to abide by democracy, that's fascist.
Making your bid on a big, big lie, that's fascist.
Condoning lawlessness on your own side, that's fascist.
Stacking the courts with unscrupulous partisans, that's fascist.
Different legal outcomes based on skin color, that's fascist.
Extrajudicial state-approved killing, that's fascist.
Cheering on racist vigilantes, that's fascist.
It’s OK, it’s OK
To refer to the GOP as fascist.
It’s not OK, it’s not OK
That you can honestly refer to the GOP as fascist.
It’ll be OK, it’ll be OK
When we defeat, marginalize, and sideline the fascists – yeah.
Robert – backing vocals
John – everything else
2. That’s Not Legitimate Political Discourse
Written and mostly recorded February 5, 2022, in response to the news of February 4, 2022, that the Republican Party claimed that the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol was "legitimate political discourse." I made a video on February 6 and posted it. Robert later added backing vocals, and I rerecorded the drums and remixed it.
Lyrics:
Smashing windows to break into buildings, No!
That’s not legitimate political discourse.
Battering down doors to break in, No!
That’s not legitimate political discourse.
I don’t care what the GOP says.
They don’t mean it, anyway.
You try doing the January 6 on their headquarters.
Then we’ll listen to what they’ll say. They’ll say –
That kind of mess, that doesn’t run, No!
That’s not legitimate political discourse.
Putting a hundred fifty cops in the hospital, No!
That’s not legitimate political discourse.
I don’t care what the GOP says.
They don’t mean it, anyway.
You try doing any of that mess on anything that they care about,
Then we’ll listen to what they say.
Spreading feces on office walls, No!
That’s not legitimate political discourse.
Stealing stuff just because you feel like it, No!
That’s not legitimate political discourse.
I don’t care what the GOP says.
They don’t mean it, anyway.
They don’t really care nothing about nothing.
Just making things easier for rich people and harder for everybody else.
Harder for women trying to have an abortion –
They care about that. They’re working on that.
Harder for people to vote –
They’re working on that, they care about that.
Harder for immigrants –
They care about that, they wanna make things harder for immigrants.
Harder for students.
Harder for teachers.
Harder for people who rely on safe bridges, safe roads.
They just wanna make things hard.
For almost everybody.
Are they a legitimate political party?
Are they a legitimate political party?
Robert – backing vocals
John – everything else
3. I’m Afraid
Written and recorded before Biden referred to the GOP as semi-fascist. I've become persuaded that the Democrats do understand the threat that the GOP poses to democracy, human rights, the Constitution, and the general welfare of our society and planet. The media is, to my chagrin and vexation, another story. The third verse should probably be sung, "I'm afraid that the media underestimate the danger to our democracy."
Lyrics:
I'm afraid that the fascists want
fascism more than the democrats want democracy.
I'm afraid.
I'm afraid that the fascists will
do what they need to make fascism a reality.
I'm afraid.
I'm afraid that the democrats underestimate
the danger to our democracy.
I'm afraid.
We must do something about it.
We're gonna do something about it.
Jennifer – vocals
John – vocals and instruments
4. No Limits
It remains astonishing that a major US political party works openly with domestic terrorist groups. And it's beyond astonishing that the media act as though it's business as usual.
Lyrics:
When you're willing to lie, lie, lie
there's no limits.
When you're willing to commit violence
there's no limits.
When you work with terrorist groups
there's no limits.
No limits.
If the GOP returns to power
will they invent evidence
to jail their opponents?
Will people who criticize them
start to disappear
never to be seen again?
One day your co-worker
doesn't come to work.
Nobody knows why.
Whispers start to circulate,
"Maybe they did something wrong."
Maybe the co-worker is you.
When your lies inspire hate crimes
there's no limits.
When your lies inspire mass killings
there's no limits.
When you're unwilling to condemn terrorism
there's no limits.
No limits.
John – vocal, guitar, bass, synthesizers; drums sampled from a free beat source (the only sampled sounds on the album, whether that matters . . . )
5. Let’s Not Let the Second Amendment Martyrs Die in Vain
An acquaintance lost his father at the Highland Park Fourth of July massacre. It was an anti-Semitic attack fueled by anti-Semitic GOP rhetoric.
The GOP has misruled the United States for decades from their position as a party that represents a minority of the voters. Stricter gun laws would have overwhelming support, including about half of the GOP's voters.
I was rereading the Declaration of Independence and Lincoln's Gettysburg Address around the time I wrote this song.
Lyrics:
Let's not let the Second Amendment martyrs die in vain.
They lost their lives in consequence of our failure of democracy.
The majority wants stricter gun laws.
The majority wants to rid our streets of automatic weapons.
The GOP usurpers have taken power against the will of the people,
and they make unpopular and ruinous decisions
like despots without conscience.
Let's not let the Second Amendment martyrs die in vain.
Let's reassert our democracy and drive the despots out.
So America under the stars above can have a new birth of freedom.
So all of the mass shootings shall never come again.
John – vocal and guitar
6. Their Names Will Live in Infamy
I thought that the GOP Court members who installed George W. Bush as President should have been impeached. Only one of that lot is left and look at him now -- his wife helped plan the attempted coup against the federal government, and Clarence Thomas continues to do the bidding of the GOP insurrectionists.
We really need to neutralize the Supreme Court usurpers. It seems to me that there are at least three legal options for stripping them of their corrupt, anti-democratic usurpation:
1. Expand the court.
2. Impeach the liars who lied under oath during their confirmation hearings.
3. Really go back to the original text of the Constitution, and statutorily strip the Supreme Court of their authority to decide on Constitutionality – a power that, ironically, the Supreme Court bestowed upon itself in 1803.
Lyrics:
The GOP Supreme Court fascists claim to be originalists.
They lie so bad,
and they know
they lie.
They know
they lie.
Yes.
When the founders wrote the Constitution, abortion was legal.
Adultery was not.
Now the court
has turned things upside down
because of their
fringe, extreme religious dogma.
And please, tell me,
how did the words "a well-regulated militia"
come to have no meaning?
It makes no sense.
No.
They lie about guns,
they lie about abortion,
they lie about the separation of church and state,
they lie about voting rights,
they lie about the EPA,
and besides their lies,
more important than their lies,
is that their decisions
will cause immense suffering
for millions of people.
Their names will live in infamy,
infamy, I tell you,
for the suffering they cause
and their grotesque and shameless
intellectual dishonesty.
And it is incumbent upon us
to do what we must
to overturn their decisions,
and to rectify their wrongs.
John – vocals, guitars, bass
7. Against Resignationism
Resigning oneself to a perceived inevitability can be a self-fulfilling doom.
[Wordless song.]
Jay – vocals, slide guitars, chromatic harmonica
John – backing vocal, rhythm guitars, bass, percussion, melodica
8. The Power Pop Song
Yes, I'm aware that "populist" also means anti-elitist. It's a ridiculous designation for a party led by billionaires and Ivy League graduates, though.
After recording this one and something like a power ballad later in the album, it occurred to me that the genres "power pop" and "power ballad" – especially the former – were historically mostly white-identified styles. Unconscious agendas at work?
Lyrics:
Please don’t call their movement populist.
They know well that they’re unpopular.
They’re upset because their demographic’s shrinking.
Please don’t call their movement populist.
Though they act like they deserve the power
They’re not popular, no they’re not.
They’re not popular, they’re not pop.
Please don’t normalize their chronic lies.
Please don’t normalize contempt for truth.
They are trying to get rid of democracy.
This is not business as usual.
In the struggle for democracy
Both sides aren’t the same, no they’re not.
Both sides aren’t the same, no they’re not.
In the struggle for democracy
Both sides aren’t the same, no they’re not.
Both sides aren’t the same, no they’re not.
Populism is a misnomer,
Redolent of a nostalgia,
Nostalgic for straight, white male normativity.
Populism is a misnomer.
Though they act like they deserve the power
They’re not popular, no they’re not.
They’re not popular, they’re not pop.
They’re not popular, no they’re not.
They’re not popular, they’re not pop.
Robert – lead vocal
Jennifer – backing vocal
Nat – backing vocal
Denny – spoken word cameo
John – lead and backing vocals, instruments
9. Open Letter to Editors Running Stories on Polls
We have to deal with the hegemony of the disinformation networks. Their enormous influence might kill the country -- and the planet -- and the idea that they're inevitable and eternal, and that there's nothing we can do about them -- that's gotta go. Other democracies don't protect professional slander, libel, and anti-patriotic propaganda as "free speech," and they still protect the free exchange of legitimate ideas. Other democracies don't grant broadcast licenses to entities trying to bring them down.
This song doesn't get into the mechanisms necessary to bring the anti-American disinformation and propaganda networks to heel. But their anti-Covid propaganda led to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Americans. Those actions should have consequences.
Lyrics:
If you wonder why Biden’s numbers are in the tank,
We have the disinformation networks to thank.
They lie and lie about what’s going on.
They undermine success of everyone (who’s not a Republican).
And anything good the Democrats do,
They lie about or simply ignore.
It’s gotten to the point, we simply expect it.
They root against the country’s well-being
if it goes against their partisan interest.
Putting party before country isn’t patriotic.
So if you are reporting on the polls
And you’re not taking into account
The disinformation networks, you are not doing your job.
John – vocals and instruments
10. Some Kind of Social Catastrophe
Mass homelessness is a national disgrace. That solutions will be complex and difficult to achieve is no excuse. We have the resources, were we to prioritize addressing the problem.
Lyrics:
If you have a job
You should be able to live comfortably.
If you’re unable to work
You should be able to live comfortably.
Anything else is barbarous.
Anything else is cruel.
And I’m afraid, my dears, that history will judge us harshly
If we don’t do something about it.
We have enough
For everybody to live comfortably.
It shouldn’t be hard to arrange
For everybody to live comfortably.
Anything else is barbarous.
Anything else is cruel.
And I’m afraid, my dears, that history will judge us harshly
If we don’t do something about it.
Hundreds of thousands of people living on the streets.
It’s some kind of social catastrophe.
Hundreds of thousands of people living on the streets.
It’s some kind of systemic failure.
Hundreds of thousands of people living on the streets.
It’s some kind of economic collapse.
Hundreds of thousands of people living on the streets.
It’s some kind of human disaster.
Robert – vocals
John – vocals and instruments
11. Debt
. . . it's socially awkward that
some people for almost no reason
have money, and some don't.
-- Ted Berrigan
Lyrics:
Why should I work for you because you have inherited wealth?
Why should you be able to lord it over everyone else?
Debt!
Why should I be buried in debt?
Why should I in your debt
Just because you have unearned wealth?
Why should college doom someone to enormous piles of debt?
When loans are guaranteed, the interest is
Something close to legalized theft.
Debt!
Why should I be buried in debt?
Why should I in your debt
Just because you have unearned wealth?
Robert – lead vocal
John – backing vocals and instruments
12. To Stay Kind and Connected
My friend Phillip says, "Stay calm, kind, and connected." Calm isn't always my bag, and it's OK. I didn't notice that he had been making a play on the phrase, "calm, cool, and collected," until my son Nat pointed it out. Well. OK then.
[Wordless song.]
John – instruments and vocals
13. Something New
We’re ready.
Lyrics:
I’m ready
and willing
and able too.
All gassed up
and revved up
for something new!
Dead habits,
bad patterns –
in the rearview!
And I’m taking out the garbage and throwing out the trash
And I’m ready.
And I’m opening the window and letting in the air
And I’m ready.
And my hair doesn’t need cutting, my nails don’t need a trim,
And I’m wearing the right outfit for going on a limb,
And I’m dancing on the ceiling, I’m scaling up the walls
And I’m ready
For something new.
They’re ready,
we’re ready,
and so are you.
Everyone
is ready
for something new!
So stand up
and shout out!
So much to do!
And clearing out the brambles and scattering the seed
And we’re ready.
And we’re making lots of contact and checking what we need
And we’re ready.
And we’re throwing off the shackles and stomping down the fears
And we’re opening our hearts and our minds and eyes and ears
And looking at the new day and listening for the new way
And we’re ready
For something new.
Nat – lead and backing vocals
Jennifer – lead and backing vocals
Robert – lead and backing vocals
John – lead and backing vocals, instruments
14. We Are the Majority
The media seems set on the idea that our country is divided 50/50. Not true. Not very close. We are the majority, the large majority. The anti-humanist, anti-democracy party swans around like they've got iron mandates. They don't. They're on their way out, and they know it. I wish the media described what's going on more realistically.
Lyrics:
We believe in the dignity of all people,
And we are the majority.
We believe in fair play for everybody,
And we are the majority.
We believe in the body autonomy of everyone,
And we are the large majority.
And we believe that we’re all in this life together.
And we are the majority.
We believe that we all have much more in common than what divides us,
And we are the majority.
And we believe that we’re all in this life together.
And we are the majority.
Jennifer – vocals
John – instruments
PS Nov. ’22: I started this album in Nov. ‘21 & was mostly done writing by Spring. Things change, & now, post-mid-terms, they’ve changed again. Thanks for listening & good luck to us all.