I'm a republican, so I don't agree with a lot of what you say in your songs (I've listened to a few) but I can always appreciate it when someone is talented and uses their talent to speak out on what they believe in, whether I share their opinions or not.
@Pattypanpooch isnt what he said exactly what happened? i dont get why people want to be in the army with the stuff they have to deal with. and all for a country that lives on war.
i thought about joining the army in my country and than i thought to myself why would i fight for a person sitting safely at home while my country isnt even at risk.
we the "civilised" countries where the ones doing the attacking not the other way around.
and terrorists? the media already gave in to their demands
@ralfjacobs As a Vietnam vet, I know the bs the recruiters give the young people of our country. I also know what they don't tell 'em. They don't tell 'em about the very real prospect of dying way to young. Or that war isn't a video game where no one gets hurt or dies. Thanks for speaking for those folks in Iraq and Afghanistan Roy!
videos like this disgust me because they are a constant reminder that there is no justice or intelligence left in the American political system and the people who know what's going on and how to fix the problems are left penniless and powerless at the whim of corporate greed. we were promised a great future and were naive enough at the time to fall for the bullshit of the moneyed few.
For those confused by the thumbs down provided by a few folks....
There are many Americans who believe that Mammon won't shower them with money if they don't provide a steady stream of human sacrifices.They don't care if it's American Soldiers or brown people that don't speak English, are being slaughtered. They know Mammon doesn't care. He just wants human beings slaughtered.
And besides many people feel more important when other people go off to die so they can have cheap gasoline.
Roy this is my first listen to your music, caught your link on RTR.org this afternoon! Damn glad I did brother and a big Thank you to all you that have served and are currently serving! I say, "It's time we all get together and go kick the real asses that need kicking and none of them are in Iran, Iraq or Anywhere else for that matter but right here within the 50 States is where we start! Going to sub your channel here Roy, keep pickin' n grinnin' my friend...both thumbs up here!
What a great song! Makes my almost cry. Especially with what is going on now - the republicans only care about saving thier rich pals taxes, not our men and women dying over there.
now i NEVER feel the need to comment on the thumbs down.. but.. this is an exception,
look at this song, you 18 that gave thumbs down.. how can you do that to this song? This is a song for all the Vets out there... o well, i am one of the Thumb upers. Thanks for the support Vets, and good luck
@zev007 - They must! I don't watch Any lame-stream news here myself! Best step for everyone to make would be to boycott All the lame-stream media channels! Oh no people can't live without their daily truckloads of bullsh!t.....
Hey Faux News, CNN, Comedy Central and all the broadcasters out there. Get this guy some quality free speech time on your precious channels. We need to hear from non-pundits too!
An earlier poster likened you to Phil Ochs, and I would have to agree, but Roy, I don't know who YOU think your parents are, but I can tell you they must have adopted you because your musical DNA could only have come from Tom Lehrer and Joan Baez. Mark Russell must have been an uncle... Oh, by the way, I was yanked out of college to go fight in Viet Nam, and you touched me deeply with this song. From the bottom of my heart... Thank you
Your songs are great, Roy. We need voices like yours in this country. It is a sad fact that 3 years after this was posted, it is as relevant as ever. Keep on singing and protesting. Your talent, humor and insight are certainly appreciated. We all need to hear the truth as much and as often as possible.
Great work Roy, I just can't get enough of this song. Gonna fav this on youtube, make it a daily listener. My family is filled with servicemen and women, and on their behalf, thanks. Someone is listening.
Roy, you are the "Mark Twain" and "Phil Ochs" of our generation. Please keep sticking it to the current administration as they perpetuate the hawkish agendas of their predecessors. The left/right paradigm is a distraction--you need to call out BOTH sides of this rotten piece of baloney. We love your work, Roy, and we want to continue to respect your artistic integrity, but you really need to update your material... Call them out... Right or Left--wrong is wrong. Call them out...
"Now my wife is in a trailer, but she sent a kevlar vest. And I think of her only every time I bleed. Someday we will meet again at Walter Reed, the resort - of last resort." ...good writing... "In the final seconds you've a plan to win... let Jesus toss one in... from half court. Thanks for the support"
This guy reminds me ever so slightly of Timbuk 3. This song in particular, "Assholes on Parade." Not to say he's copying, I just wouldn't be surprised if there were some inspiration there. Good stuff.
not the funniest RZ song, but definitely my uncontested favorite. not many laughs, but roy more than makes up for it with hard-hitting words for everyone who says "support our troops" and then does nothing to support our guys and gals in uniform.
bhus hrushed us in to Iraq. MI6 told BBC that they had no evidence that showed that Iraq had WMP's. Colin just showed a bunch of blurry photos at the U.N, and Rice didn't want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud. So with all these people screaming war, and with peopel not asking questions they had no problems.
To add to that: not two years after Bush led us into a war in Iraq, he and his cronies started referring to it as the "War On Terror" (lumping it in with the war in Afghanistan). Sadly, a large percentage of Americans have already forgotten the "history" of this war and believe Iraq=Afghanistan=Those who attacked us on 9/11.
But I still don't know who to blame for this silliness: Bush for his lies, the media for spreading it, or the idiots who believe it...
We fought this war because bush wanted to end the job father started, and his father stopped in Kuwait because he knew what would happen. We also fought over oil, anhd i've had people who's father's are soilders admit this to me.
Well, I'm a vigorous sceptic about just about everything (particularly the proposition that anti-God is anti-America ;-D), and my faith in God gets stronger every day. Sometimes when you question, you do get affirmative answers...
Yeah, but here's the REAL irony: Roy could sing an anti-government song like this in Iraq today-Aug. 18, 2009--and get away with it. If he'd sung an anti-government song in Iraq on Aug 18, 2002--i.e., while Saddam was still in power--Roy would be dead now. Or, at the very least, rotting in Abu Ghraib missing his hands and his ability to play the guitar. Stop taking freedom for granted. And read Thomas Sowell to learn that the LAST thing the Left is about is freedom.
Sure, we liberals ought to show our appreciation for our freedom of speech and right to petition for redress of grievances by just shutting up and going along willingly with whatever it is the government wants to do.
I lose a little bit of my faith in humanity whenever I hear somebody make the argument that exercising the right to civil dissent means the dissenter is "taking freedom for granted."
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Nobody's saying that exercising the right to civil dissent is taking freedom for granted. The point is that liberals have not engaged in "civil dissent" where the Iraq war is concerned. When we went into Iraq liberals could not have bitched, moaned, whined or screeched any louder if Bush had invaded Mexico or Canada. That's not "civil dissent"; it's deceitful, hyperbolic garbage that has no relationship to the actual evidence on the issue. Which is what Roy's song here is.
yes, those DAMN LIBERALS!!! wanting liberty for everyone. Freedom is the right of the most power full nation, for Americans to be free everyone else must be enslaved and oppressed by our military!
you do know that Civil desenters were arrested during the bush administration? if you turned up in an anti-bush t-shirt the FBI would arrest you on suspicion. the Republican party is against freedom, what about Dick and that evidence that he ordered torture? or the truth about 9/11, the evidence is all classified, if it was just planes, why classify it?
Hey, I'm a "damn liberal" and against the war and all of that, but I've also been over there. I was in Iraq for a year, did my job, and came back disillusioned about why we were over there in the first place. Please, don't insult liberals by placing yourself with them and then saying "USA army sucks balls".
Do you know how many liberals served? And what do you have against the Army anyways? Whether or not we're over there for a good reason, it's not The Army's fault. Blame Bush, not us.
Let me Just ask you a question, is America winning?
I would hope so, considering the American army spends more than 50 times as much on its military than every group and country they are at war with. What a bunch on heroes...
The problem isn't with the soldiers themselves, it is with the "strategists", and the patheticly short training.
Yes I listened to it. The song is "anti-government" because its point is that Bush and the Republicans in Congress who called for the Iraq war--i.e, "the government"--as well as all the regular citizens who "supported the war" -and thus supported Bush and the Republicans in Congress-are hypocrites for not really "supporting the troops" while accusing the Left of not supporting the troops. A similar song in Iraq about Saddam and his Baathist supporters would have gotten Roy the death penalty.
My guess is your pretty "anti-government right now. Too many people draw their views strictly along party lines. I actually voted for Bush in 2000. I've voted democrat the last two elections but only because the Republican party has jumped the shark. The outrage about the war was because we erroneously attempted to link 9/11 to Iraq. If we were in Iraq strictly for humanitarian reasons there are African countries that need us a lot more. But there's no oil there...
You're right that "too many people draw their views strictly along party lines." The difference is between Franco-German political ideology (statism/socialism- Left, Dems, Liberal Repubs ) and Anglo-American ideology (individual freedom, rule of law, private property, free market-Conservatives and Libertarians). You're wrong that Bush " linked Iraq to 911". He linked Iraq to Al-Qaeda and there WERE links. And, anyway, NO ONE is saying that Libs should not have the right to criticize the govt.
You're kind of right. That was the original inference. But there are MANY clips of Bush and Cheney talking about 9/11 and Iraq with no mention of Al-Qaeda. There were terrorists hiding in Iraq but no real evidence that Saddam was aiding Al-Qaeda. There is FAR more evidence of the Saudi govt helping Al-Qaeda than there ever was for Iraq. But they're our "friends." So much of the rhetoric from the right is incomprehensible these days. I'm not even that far left but I feel like it.
We're getting awfully far afield of Roy's song--But consider this: A Dem is now President and Dems have run Congress since 2006. Have they tried to cut any ties with Saudi Arabia? And did you know that one of the biggest donors to the Clinton presidential library is the Saudis? You honestly believe that w/ Dems in power, they will do something different vis a vis the Saudis than Repubs did??
No I don't. As I said, I'm not a blanket democrat supporter. I don't hear any of that rhetoric from the right either. I hitched my cart to the best horse I saw in this election. The state of American politics is a sad landscape.
WHAT!!! If there is any other time to doubt your leaders it's during war. People like you caused us to race into iraq instead of waiting for the CUIA to collect intelligence. You've got over 4,000 deaths on your hands.
Sons of bitches. Sons of bitches, how they have screwed our servicemen and women, while hiding behind bullshit rhetoric. Two family members have served in Iraq, I know exactly the games that have been played with our vets. Thanks Roy, for being a voice speaking truth to power.
YEP - Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, and all the architects of that hideous war in Iraq should be brought to trial. But Obama wouldn't even consider it - he ticked me off terribly not bringing them to justice.
Our volunteer army is getting screwed by our government. They fight while everything they hold dear here at home is ruined. They come home and don't receive the health care they deserve. When they return home in a box the government restricts the press from showing the caskets. I have several friends who have had several tours of duty and have seen this all first hand. My heart hurts.
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The only thing i agree with about this song is the part about the democratic congress Bush was a hero regardless of critism he faught to protect the rights of every amercian and in retern he was riped apart
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Hitler and Bush, altho at a psychological level very different people, in terms of how they fit into the politics of their time and space are both very special heroes.
When the human race evolves beyond sheep, we will no longer suffer the tragedy that such heroes visit upon us.
If you haven't done it already, buy his album "Thanks For The Support". It's easily one of the funniest, most original and timely albums I've heard in years.
What was wrong with the jesus line? He was just saying that instead of planning and funding the war well, the government just hoped for a miracle. I don't think he was trying to offend Christians.
I know, and it's a shame he couldn't just say something like "Where is your jesus now" or "You stupid fools trusting in a god that doesn't exist". But I guess satire is enough..
It's less a dig at the religious than at those who seem to rely on a deus ex machina to bail them out, as the conservatives who try to wage 2 wars and wantonly cut taxes and expect everything to work out ok, just because of their piety.
Roy's lyrics don't disrespect religion, but the overly pious and/or hypocritical.
One of my favourite youtube videos of all time. I watch it at least once a week. And weep whenever I watch it. How the fuck could we let the Bush maladministration get away with crap like that?
It's not just the Bush administration, it's the industrial military complex. Where there is money to be made and a government to be wielded as a weapon, innocent people will suffer.
I've been in the Army for a couple years now. I was surprised to find out just how much people don't give a shit about soldiers. The media portrays servicemen to be heroes, when in fact all the decisions made by those with power disregard mutual respect and honor. Hypocrisy up the ass.
I think most people have too much to cope with to spend much time thinking about the soldiers. But I also believe that when it's brought to their attention most people DO care.
The people who really don't give a shit about the soldiers is the guys at the top. Rumsfeld regarded troops as "fungible" - meaning that when one becomes unserviceable you replace it with another.
You know, the neocons often relish saying that liberals hate the military, or hate America, but I say that this is a true song of patriotism, and a man who loves America, despite how low we've sunk since 2001.
This is definitely my favorite song of yours Roy. Great job.
neocon, or neo conservative. Basically a new strain of conservatism that instead of advocating smaller government like old conservatives, engages in wiretapping, attempting to define marriage...etc. Another defining characteristic of neocons is complete deregulation of the market- and we can see just how well that worked out. Neocons often hide behind religion, phrases like 'family values'...etc that are supposed to reel in rural families but their economic policies shows little regard for them.
we are all conservatives - its just that "liberals" want to conserve rain forests, liberal values and the 1960's. while "conservatives" want to conserve everything that happenned before 1960.
Neocons want to conserve everything that was in germany in the thirties - apart from the swastica and honest antisemitism.
more like were all liberals. i mean the people who founded our country didnt want to conserve the ways of the kings did they? no they were liberals who wanted change and thats what we got
in order to define yourself as liberal you resort to the COMFORTABLY FAMILIAR - define yourself in terms of being US citizen and confine yourself too easily to the heritage of wasps from two or three hundered years ago.
they did not conserve the power of the kings.. but did maintain the power of rich whites over niggers, men over women and sometimes blind dogma over reason.
We are all liberals.. but what you say implies the opposite.
maybe it is time to go outside the narrow bounds of politics in order to fully explore the whole philosophy of life/human condition - rather than let politicians play with our psycology and use our complacent political affiliations to serve the vested interests that hide behind the political labels. i think that we might agree that for the first time ever you might have a president who is doing this more than being full of the usual empty words and shit ..
When you're blabbing on about Everyone being a Conservative rather than a Liberal, you place the conversation in a political confine.
I'd argue that the first beings on earth to think about the world around them would likely see it as an opportunity with endless bounds, and not necessarily a view that would like to conserve anything.
How broad a spectrum would you like to talk about? If you'd defined that first rather than simply making the C v L claim it might be easier.
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no..everyone is a liberal AND a conservative.
What i have in mind are our founding mothers.
countless millions of years ago a monkey gave birth to something maybe more like a human. She was disguted by something so unusual and so killed it. Over millions of years this happenned many times until a liberal prolife mother felt that her love for her child overcame her conservative instincts. From a monkey perspective it turned into a huge disaster. From a human perspective we are left torn lib/con
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In order to make a conservative audience uncomfortable with conservativism and more open to liberal ideas, abbie hoffman used to expose them to the KKK.
It is thus interesting to note that when roy sings such a passionately unpatriotic song, some of his liberal fans become comfortable with the word "patriot".
This song makes my heart beat faster cos it implies if you love your country, its people and the values of those who make it a better place, you do not sheepishly kill /worship the flag.
I can't believe it was year ago when this was posted. What an amazing song, and what a year its been. I hope change is coming, maybe a period of economic instability will discourage spending on wars.
With this song you have climbed to a whole new level of greatness. The mark of a truly great satirist is the ability to shift gears from comedy to a razor-sharp righteous anger, and that's what you've done here.
The greatest song you've ever written, Roy. Long may you continue.
A very heartfelt, and passionitly performed song. i don't now anyone in Iraq but this song moved me in a way that no other songs have. Also my heart goes out to anyone who has a relitive or friend in Iraq.
This song is the most effective and moving anti-Iraq-war song I have heard. It's not a fair world when Neil Young's antiwar song gets more airplay than this well-written and passionately-performed song.
Thanks for this (and all) your wonderful songs and thanks for coming to NYC and singing live at the UnWined space. It was a thrill to hear you and speak with you after the show. I still want to get you on TV - you deserve the biggest possible audience.
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I agree fully that this whole 'War on Terror' is a senseless, half-hearted joke, but where does this bottomless pit of victimization sentiment for military personnel come from?
Of course they should be used as efficiently as possible, but it's not like it's the toughest job ever. Statistically, you're probably in greater harm being a truck driver nowadays than being in Fallujah. Most of em sit around all day drilling and getting 25% discounts on pizza.
I'm not gonna argue, because I don't actually know anything, but you got semi-balls to say that on the interbutts. Now if you said that in PUBLIC, you got big brass ones.
Wow. Thank you, Roy. About halfway through that I really felt the power of the song. Brilliant song, and brilliantly performed.
In honesty, Ive only just discovered your work tonight on YouTube, and enjoyed the jovial songs like 'Creation Science 101', but this is a whole new dimension.
Roy, we love you and we do not know why. Our inner spirit rubs up against our thoughts and whispers, "Those who speak of the universal justice are your only hope".
The word "progressive" is not just a word, it is a hint of the crimson dawn. A step forward in the evolution of consciousness and a human civilization worthy of the term "civilization". Thank you Roy, Keep your sword to the throat of injustice.
The song currently has a full 5 stars showing on the rating tool, which almost never happens no matter how good a video is. I absolutely love this song ^.^
Oh I so agree!
TheWildheartmuse 2 months ago
Hey, I'm Dutch and I, too, think this is an extremely powerful song. Well done Ted.
iamTheSnark 7 months ago
very zimmermann
liquidyodel 7 months ago
I'm a republican, so I don't agree with a lot of what you say in your songs (I've listened to a few) but I can always appreciate it when someone is talented and uses their talent to speak out on what they believe in, whether I share their opinions or not.
Pattypanpooch 8 months ago 5
@Pattypanpooch do you disagree because your a republican or are you a republican because you disagree with a lot of what he said?
ralfjacobs 7 months ago
@ralfjacobs
I disagree with a lot of what he said (more in his other videos than this one) *and* I am a republican.
What you asked are loaded questions.
Pattypanpooch 7 months ago
@Pattypanpooch isnt what he said exactly what happened? i dont get why people want to be in the army with the stuff they have to deal with. and all for a country that lives on war.
i thought about joining the army in my country and than i thought to myself why would i fight for a person sitting safely at home while my country isnt even at risk.
we the "civilised" countries where the ones doing the attacking not the other way around.
and terrorists? the media already gave in to their demands
ralfjacobs 7 months ago
@ralfjacobs As a Vietnam vet, I know the bs the recruiters give the young people of our country. I also know what they don't tell 'em. They don't tell 'em about the very real prospect of dying way to young. Or that war isn't a video game where no one gets hurt or dies. Thanks for speaking for those folks in Iraq and Afghanistan Roy!
iuudou2 6 months ago 5
I feel like I should say this. I'm Canadian, and even I think this an extremely poweful song. Well done, sir.
crazyguy43 8 months ago 5
videos like this disgust me because they are a constant reminder that there is no justice or intelligence left in the American political system and the people who know what's going on and how to fix the problems are left penniless and powerless at the whim of corporate greed. we were promised a great future and were naive enough at the time to fall for the bullshit of the moneyed few.
Theroha 8 months ago
Keep singing this one Roy! Here's a new stanza you might consider:
You take money for an insurance policy from our pay while we're gone,
Thanks for the support...
Then Prudential steals it from my family when I die, with blessings from the Pentagon,
Thanks for the support...
We're willing to make the ultimate sacrifice, for Nation, family, and flag,
and our reward is a brand new body bag, and widows and orphans waiting at the port.
Thanks for the support...
stereodreamer23 8 months ago 6
For those confused by the thumbs down provided by a few folks....
There are many Americans who believe that Mammon won't shower them with money if they don't provide a steady stream of human sacrifices.They don't care if it's American Soldiers or brown people that don't speak English, are being slaughtered. They know Mammon doesn't care. He just wants human beings slaughtered.
And besides many people feel more important when other people go off to die so they can have cheap gasoline.
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susenfredik 1 year ago
18 S.O.B. !
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d1phsycotic 1 year ago
Roy this is my first listen to your music, caught your link on RTR.org this afternoon! Damn glad I did brother and a big Thank you to all you that have served and are currently serving! I say, "It's time we all get together and go kick the real asses that need kicking and none of them are in Iran, Iraq or Anywhere else for that matter but right here within the 50 States is where we start! Going to sub your channel here Roy, keep pickin' n grinnin' my friend...both thumbs up here!
SurprizedDaily 1 year ago
What a great song! Makes my almost cry. Especially with what is going on now - the republicans only care about saving thier rich pals taxes, not our men and women dying over there.
vlopresto 1 year ago 3
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knuwan68 1 year ago
This is Roy's best work. "Ha ha"-funny might entertain for the moment, but this black humor really hits where it counts.
andhag 1 year ago 5
now i NEVER feel the need to comment on the thumbs down.. but.. this is an exception,
look at this song, you 18 that gave thumbs down.. how can you do that to this song? This is a song for all the Vets out there... o well, i am one of the Thumb upers. Thanks for the support Vets, and good luck
wensel911 1 year ago
@wensel911 18 people watch Fox News.
zev007 1 year ago 5
@zev007 - They must! I don't watch Any lame-stream news here myself! Best step for everyone to make would be to boycott All the lame-stream media channels! Oh no people can't live without their daily truckloads of bullsh!t.....
SurprizedDaily 1 year ago
I'm a new Roy Zimmerman fan. I think Bob would be proud to share the name.
lancethrustworthy 1 year ago
999 and 1000 thumbs up :-)
mattincinci 1 year ago
This was the first song of yours that I heard, Roy. I still think it's your best.
nscangal 1 year ago
As a Viet Vet, thanks for your song...... simple humanity comes from just paying attention......
samtzu1 1 year ago 15
this actually made me cry
rrgane 1 year ago
This song makes me almost cry.
Hey Faux News, CNN, Comedy Central and all the broadcasters out there. Get this guy some quality free speech time on your precious channels. We need to hear from non-pundits too!
drfoxcourt 1 year ago 7
An earlier poster likened you to Phil Ochs, and I would have to agree, but Roy, I don't know who YOU think your parents are, but I can tell you they must have adopted you because your musical DNA could only have come from Tom Lehrer and Joan Baez. Mark Russell must have been an uncle... Oh, by the way, I was yanked out of college to go fight in Viet Nam, and you touched me deeply with this song. From the bottom of my heart... Thank you
BrainFixer11 1 year ago 8
This seems to be the song Roy has put the most time. And it shows.
Thank you Roy.
KrustyFrank27 1 year ago
thanks Roy,,, your a real troubadour......why arent you on TV somewhere ???
crossingzero 1 year ago
Your songs are great, Roy. We need voices like yours in this country. It is a sad fact that 3 years after this was posted, it is as relevant as ever. Keep on singing and protesting. Your talent, humor and insight are certainly appreciated. We all need to hear the truth as much and as often as possible.
vlopresto 1 year ago 2
Your songs are always funny AND truthful
TehMonkeyz 1 year ago 2
Great work Roy, I just can't get enough of this song. Gonna fav this on youtube, make it a daily listener. My family is filled with servicemen and women, and on their behalf, thanks. Someone is listening.
aegis666420 1 year ago
What a song!
silverfuck 1 year ago
One of the saddest songs I know.
wimscheers 1 year ago 6
Roy, you are the "Mark Twain" and "Phil Ochs" of our generation. Please keep sticking it to the current administration as they perpetuate the hawkish agendas of their predecessors. The left/right paradigm is a distraction--you need to call out BOTH sides of this rotten piece of baloney. We love your work, Roy, and we want to continue to respect your artistic integrity, but you really need to update your material... Call them out... Right or Left--wrong is wrong. Call them out...
stereodreamer23 1 year ago 6
i love the like/dislike gauge...currently 913 to 15 respective.....hilarious... that people actually take the time to dislike the truth.
EnderZ13 1 year ago
sigh, still one of my favourite songs.
the bitter, pessimistic tone, the subtle, ironic black humour.
BrightRaven0 1 year ago 7
"Now my wife is in a trailer, but she sent a kevlar vest. And I think of her only every time I bleed. Someday we will meet again at Walter Reed, the resort - of last resort." ...good writing... "In the final seconds you've a plan to win... let Jesus toss one in... from half court. Thanks for the support"
TouchOfGreatness 1 year ago 2
While on a road trip I stopped at a rest stop to find two SUVs and a Hummer with yellow ribbon stickers.
szrgirl 2 years ago
Still can't find a good tab for the intro.
comface 2 years ago
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Liberal scum...
LOL JK
TheBabyRapist 2 years ago
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SexxyyAmber88 2 years ago
love his guitar playing
amjack11 2 years ago 7
Not exactly funny, because it's "making fun" of an american attitude that's not just silly, but actually quite cruel.
kwolf71 2 years ago 7
@kwolf71 It's pretty dark, yeah. He doesn't sing it in a silly way, though, it's very melancholic. Sadness. :\
Paraphrase1234 1 year ago 4
poor guitar,GREAT !!
koponenii 2 years ago
This guy reminds me ever so slightly of Timbuk 3. This song in particular, "Assholes on Parade." Not to say he's copying, I just wouldn't be surprised if there were some inspiration there. Good stuff.
LunaManar 2 years ago
not the funniest RZ song, but definitely my uncontested favorite. not many laughs, but roy more than makes up for it with hard-hitting words for everyone who says "support our troops" and then does nothing to support our guys and gals in uniform.
ATL45 2 years ago 21
bhus hrushed us in to Iraq. MI6 told BBC that they had no evidence that showed that Iraq had WMP's. Colin just showed a bunch of blurry photos at the U.N, and Rice didn't want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud. So with all these people screaming war, and with peopel not asking questions they had no problems.
TheDcrat 2 years ago 2
To add to that: not two years after Bush led us into a war in Iraq, he and his cronies started referring to it as the "War On Terror" (lumping it in with the war in Afghanistan). Sadly, a large percentage of Americans have already forgotten the "history" of this war and believe Iraq=Afghanistan=Those who attacked us on 9/11.
But I still don't know who to blame for this silliness: Bush for his lies, the media for spreading it, or the idiots who believe it...
Still need to get them home too...
Truthiness231 2 years ago 8
We fought this war because bush wanted to end the job father started, and his father stopped in Kuwait because he knew what would happen. We also fought over oil, anhd i've had people who's father's are soilders admit this to me.
TheDcrat 2 years ago 2
Well, I'm a vigorous sceptic about just about everything (particularly the proposition that anti-God is anti-America ;-D), and my faith in God gets stronger every day. Sometimes when you question, you do get affirmative answers...
DrunkenScribbler 2 years ago
Yeah, but here's the REAL irony: Roy could sing an anti-government song like this in Iraq today-Aug. 18, 2009--and get away with it. If he'd sung an anti-government song in Iraq on Aug 18, 2002--i.e., while Saddam was still in power--Roy would be dead now. Or, at the very least, rotting in Abu Ghraib missing his hands and his ability to play the guitar. Stop taking freedom for granted. And read Thomas Sowell to learn that the LAST thing the Left is about is freedom.
hlwashburn 2 years ago
Sure, we liberals ought to show our appreciation for our freedom of speech and right to petition for redress of grievances by just shutting up and going along willingly with whatever it is the government wants to do.
I lose a little bit of my faith in humanity whenever I hear somebody make the argument that exercising the right to civil dissent means the dissenter is "taking freedom for granted."
jimbosaurus 2 years ago 4
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Nobody's saying that exercising the right to civil dissent is taking freedom for granted. The point is that liberals have not engaged in "civil dissent" where the Iraq war is concerned. When we went into Iraq liberals could not have bitched, moaned, whined or screeched any louder if Bush had invaded Mexico or Canada. That's not "civil dissent"; it's deceitful, hyperbolic garbage that has no relationship to the actual evidence on the issue. Which is what Roy's song here is.
hlwashburn 2 years ago
sigh.
yes, those DAMN LIBERALS!!! wanting liberty for everyone. Freedom is the right of the most power full nation, for Americans to be free everyone else must be enslaved and oppressed by our military!
stupid republicans...
PS
USA army sucks balls.
BrightRaven0 2 years ago
You're making my point. Thank you! Case closed.
hlwashburn 2 years ago
uh-huh...
you do know that Civil desenters were arrested during the bush administration? if you turned up in an anti-bush t-shirt the FBI would arrest you on suspicion. the Republican party is against freedom, what about Dick and that evidence that he ordered torture? or the truth about 9/11, the evidence is all classified, if it was just planes, why classify it?
BrightRaven0 2 years ago 3
Keep talking. You're still making my point.
hlwashburn 2 years ago
Hey, I'm a "damn liberal" and against the war and all of that, but I've also been over there. I was in Iraq for a year, did my job, and came back disillusioned about why we were over there in the first place. Please, don't insult liberals by placing yourself with them and then saying "USA army sucks balls".
Do you know how many liberals served? And what do you have against the Army anyways? Whether or not we're over there for a good reason, it's not The Army's fault. Blame Bush, not us.
spcelo08 2 years ago 3
Let me Just ask you a question, is America winning?
I would hope so, considering the American army spends more than 50 times as much on its military than every group and country they are at war with. What a bunch on heroes...
The problem isn't with the soldiers themselves, it is with the "strategists", and the patheticly short training.
BrightRaven0 2 years ago
How on EARTH is this song "anti-government"? Did you even LISTEN to it?
KnoTalive515 2 years ago 4
Yes I listened to it. The song is "anti-government" because its point is that Bush and the Republicans in Congress who called for the Iraq war--i.e, "the government"--as well as all the regular citizens who "supported the war" -and thus supported Bush and the Republicans in Congress-are hypocrites for not really "supporting the troops" while accusing the Left of not supporting the troops. A similar song in Iraq about Saddam and his Baathist supporters would have gotten Roy the death penalty.
hlwashburn 2 years ago
My guess is your pretty "anti-government right now. Too many people draw their views strictly along party lines. I actually voted for Bush in 2000. I've voted democrat the last two elections but only because the Republican party has jumped the shark. The outrage about the war was because we erroneously attempted to link 9/11 to Iraq. If we were in Iraq strictly for humanitarian reasons there are African countries that need us a lot more. But there's no oil there...
Tcrowaf 2 years ago
You're right that "too many people draw their views strictly along party lines." The difference is between Franco-German political ideology (statism/socialism- Left, Dems, Liberal Repubs ) and Anglo-American ideology (individual freedom, rule of law, private property, free market-Conservatives and Libertarians). You're wrong that Bush " linked Iraq to 911". He linked Iraq to Al-Qaeda and there WERE links. And, anyway, NO ONE is saying that Libs should not have the right to criticize the govt.
hlwashburn 2 years ago
You're kind of right. That was the original inference. But there are MANY clips of Bush and Cheney talking about 9/11 and Iraq with no mention of Al-Qaeda. There were terrorists hiding in Iraq but no real evidence that Saddam was aiding Al-Qaeda. There is FAR more evidence of the Saudi govt helping Al-Qaeda than there ever was for Iraq. But they're our "friends." So much of the rhetoric from the right is incomprehensible these days. I'm not even that far left but I feel like it.
Tcrowaf 2 years ago
We're getting awfully far afield of Roy's song--But consider this: A Dem is now President and Dems have run Congress since 2006. Have they tried to cut any ties with Saudi Arabia? And did you know that one of the biggest donors to the Clinton presidential library is the Saudis? You honestly believe that w/ Dems in power, they will do something different vis a vis the Saudis than Repubs did??
hlwashburn 2 years ago
No I don't. As I said, I'm not a blanket democrat supporter. I don't hear any of that rhetoric from the right either. I hitched my cart to the best horse I saw in this election. The state of American politics is a sad landscape.
Tcrowaf 2 years ago
And how on EARTH is something anti-government just for questioning the government?
KnoTalive515 2 years ago 5
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To question is to doubt
Doubt leads to atheism
Anti god is anti America
therefore
To question, is to be ANTI AMERIKA!
BrightRaven0 2 years ago
I hope you're joking.
KnoTalive515 2 years ago
WHAT!!! If there is any other time to doubt your leaders it's during war. People like you caused us to race into iraq instead of waiting for the CUIA to collect intelligence. You've got over 4,000 deaths on your hands.
TheDcrat 2 years ago 4
... I was joking...
ever see Sean Glen Beck
watch?v=uLs4bcjkwfg&feature=channel_page
BrightRaven0 2 years ago
well - that song is not exactly funny - thanks BrightRaven0 for the compensation - though not asked for....
musstemalraus 2 years ago
gives me goosebumps every single time.
silverfuck 2 years ago 2
Beautiful. It still makes me cry even though I've heard it hundreds of times.
ArianneHermida 2 years ago 4
emotional, truthful, and brilliant
definitely my favorite Roy Zimmerman song
wonderbread36 2 years ago 6
Dylanesque.
colatf 2 years ago
no attempt at humour in this one, but still the same stingingly witty lyricism. very nice.
neomp5 2 years ago
Roy is a lyrical genius and I especially like this song.
phillipmannrx7 2 years ago 6
From a disabled Iraq War vet, Thank you.
BadBoyFLSTC 2 years ago 203
@BadBoyFLSTC God bless you man :)
bengnet2001 1 year ago
@BadBoyFLSTC And Thank You Bad Boy FLSTC
ApollosPlace 3 months ago
Great song, and great video!
mccainisthrough 2 years ago 11
Awesome!
carlosandjane 2 years ago 11
I tip my hat for you Mr. Zimmerman
classicallady 2 years ago 15
great sounding martin
stupidvideonut 2 years ago 10
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he's got a funny looking hairline, like someone attacked him with a buzzer
wafflethug 2 years ago
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art101tv 2 years ago
Stop looking at the hairline and listen to the message, wafflethug. Thanks for the support.
art101tv 2 years ago 20
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you mom's got a funny looking muff, like someone attacked it a little too rough.
capitalcontested 2 years ago
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nilco 2 years ago
Thank you Mr. Zimmerman.
dawgnpony 2 years ago 12
Classic!
im4wur 2 years ago 8
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zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!eeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!oooooooooooooooooooyyyyyyyyyyyhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhheeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa????????????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
marley7718 2 years ago
Great lyrics.
Amaevis 2 years ago 3
I cried like a baby when he played this live.
szrgirl 2 years ago 10
Sons of bitches. Sons of bitches, how they have screwed our servicemen and women, while hiding behind bullshit rhetoric. Two family members have served in Iraq, I know exactly the games that have been played with our vets. Thanks Roy, for being a voice speaking truth to power.
skelotan 2 years ago 105
@skelotan
YEP - Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, and all the architects of that hideous war in Iraq should be brought to trial. But Obama wouldn't even consider it - he ticked me off terribly not bringing them to justice.
paulncost 3 months ago
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I love Roy. I see him live this weekend.
Our volunteer army is getting screwed by our government. They fight while everything they hold dear here at home is ruined. They come home and don't receive the health care they deserve. When they return home in a box the government restricts the press from showing the caskets. I have several friends who have had several tours of duty and have seen this all first hand. My heart hurts.
szrgirl 2 years ago 14
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szrgirl 2 years ago
This is my favorite of your songs, and it you were everything I'd hoped for an more live.
I can't wait to see another one of your shows.
bhig3 2 years ago 4
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The only thing i agree with about this song is the part about the democratic congress Bush was a hero regardless of critism he faught to protect the rights of every amercian and in retern he was riped apart
romansparanoid 2 years ago
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Hitler and Bush, altho at a psychological level very different people, in terms of how they fit into the politics of their time and space are both very special heroes.
When the human race evolves beyond sheep, we will no longer suffer the tragedy that such heroes visit upon us.
suziecreamchease 2 years ago
romansparanoid, you need a proofreader.
It's criticism, not critism.
Fought, not faught.
American, not amercian.
Ripped, not riped.
And the Bush mentality is herd, not hero.
The Democratic congress gets slammed here because it failed to defy Bush!
mys11 2 years ago
If you haven't done it already, buy his album "Thanks For The Support". It's easily one of the funniest, most original and timely albums I've heard in years.
antic5 2 years ago 2
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Other than the jesus line, that was a kickass song.
Uberhilarious 2 years ago
What was wrong with the jesus line? He was just saying that instead of planning and funding the war well, the government just hoped for a miracle. I don't think he was trying to offend Christians.
jetboyJ22 2 years ago
I know, and it's a shame he couldn't just say something like "Where is your jesus now" or "You stupid fools trusting in a god that doesn't exist". But I guess satire is enough..
Uberhilarious 2 years ago 7
Yeah that would have been more to my liking too :)
jetboyJ22 2 years ago 2
It's less a dig at the religious than at those who seem to rely on a deus ex machina to bail them out, as the conservatives who try to wage 2 wars and wantonly cut taxes and expect everything to work out ok, just because of their piety.
Roy's lyrics don't disrespect religion, but the overly pious and/or hypocritical.
Pezmaster 2 years ago 3
Right... because the Democrats who won the majority three years have ended these wars?
Wake up.
BennyQuixote 2 years ago
One of my favourite youtube videos of all time. I watch it at least once a week. And weep whenever I watch it. How the fuck could we let the Bush maladministration get away with crap like that?
bdf2718 3 years ago 7
It's not just the Bush administration, it's the industrial military complex. Where there is money to be made and a government to be wielded as a weapon, innocent people will suffer.
I've been in the Army for a couple years now. I was surprised to find out just how much people don't give a shit about soldiers. The media portrays servicemen to be heroes, when in fact all the decisions made by those with power disregard mutual respect and honor. Hypocrisy up the ass.
empbac 3 years ago 5
I think most people have too much to cope with to spend much time thinking about the soldiers. But I also believe that when it's brought to their attention most people DO care.
The people who really don't give a shit about the soldiers is the guys at the top. Rumsfeld regarded troops as "fungible" - meaning that when one becomes unserviceable you replace it with another.
bdf2718 3 years ago 4
whoa...
samusarrann 3 years ago 2
Wow...I knew Roy could do funny, but this is amazingly sincere. Great song.
jetboyJ22 3 years ago 10
Shit....
You put Dylan in the shade..
sends a shiver down my spine..
suziecreamchease 3 years ago 7
this song still gives me chills
petitoeuf8 3 years ago 9
Wow, that's beautiful. I don't know whether to laugh, cry, or rage out on an inanimate object. Keep up the good artwork, Roy!
Flerndip22 3 years ago 7
great song :-0
elm15 3 years ago 3
You know, the neocons often relish saying that liberals hate the military, or hate America, but I say that this is a true song of patriotism, and a man who loves America, despite how low we've sunk since 2001.
This is definitely my favorite song of yours Roy. Great job.
DarkKokopelli 3 years ago 25
From Australia I'm wandering, what's a newcon?
Garethdparker 3 years ago 4
neocon, or neo conservative. Basically a new strain of conservatism that instead of advocating smaller government like old conservatives, engages in wiretapping, attempting to define marriage...etc. Another defining characteristic of neocons is complete deregulation of the market- and we can see just how well that worked out. Neocons often hide behind religion, phrases like 'family values'...etc that are supposed to reel in rural families but their economic policies shows little regard for them.
graaar 3 years ago 8
we are all conservatives - its just that "liberals" want to conserve rain forests, liberal values and the 1960's. while "conservatives" want to conserve everything that happenned before 1960.
Neocons want to conserve everything that was in germany in the thirties - apart from the swastica and honest antisemitism.
someone will disagree with me.
suziecreamchease 3 years ago
more like were all liberals. i mean the people who founded our country didnt want to conserve the ways of the kings did they? no they were liberals who wanted change and thats what we got
narutothedobe 3 years ago
reply to naruthedobe-
Your argument proves my point.
in order to define yourself as liberal you resort to the COMFORTABLY FAMILIAR - define yourself in terms of being US citizen and confine yourself too easily to the heritage of wasps from two or three hundered years ago.
they did not conserve the power of the kings.. but did maintain the power of rich whites over niggers, men over women and sometimes blind dogma over reason.
We are all liberals.. but what you say implies the opposite.
suziecreamchease 3 years ago
if you want to use the term that loosely, then sure. But if you're referring to politics then I'd have to disagree still.
bhig3 3 years ago
Reply to bhig3
maybe it is time to go outside the narrow bounds of politics in order to fully explore the whole philosophy of life/human condition - rather than let politicians play with our psycology and use our complacent political affiliations to serve the vested interests that hide behind the political labels. i think that we might agree that for the first time ever you might have a president who is doing this more than being full of the usual empty words and shit ..
suziecreamchease 3 years ago
When you're blabbing on about Everyone being a Conservative rather than a Liberal, you place the conversation in a political confine.
I'd argue that the first beings on earth to think about the world around them would likely see it as an opportunity with endless bounds, and not necessarily a view that would like to conserve anything.
How broad a spectrum would you like to talk about? If you'd defined that first rather than simply making the C v L claim it might be easier.
bhig3 3 years ago
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no..everyone is a liberal AND a conservative.
What i have in mind are our founding mothers.
countless millions of years ago a monkey gave birth to something maybe more like a human. She was disguted by something so unusual and so killed it. Over millions of years this happenned many times until a liberal prolife mother felt that her love for her child overcame her conservative instincts. From a monkey perspective it turned into a huge disaster. From a human perspective we are left torn lib/con
suziecreamchease 3 years ago
Like to echo everything you said, I couldn't have put it as well as you did.
CHEWDwivTHEinCrowd 3 years ago 3
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In order to make a conservative audience uncomfortable with conservativism and more open to liberal ideas, abbie hoffman used to expose them to the KKK.
It is thus interesting to note that when roy sings such a passionately unpatriotic song, some of his liberal fans become comfortable with the word "patriot".
This song makes my heart beat faster cos it implies if you love your country, its people and the values of those who make it a better place, you do not sheepishly kill /worship the flag.
suziecreamchease 3 years ago
I'm sorry, but I don't really understand how this song is unpatriotic... If you could please enlighten me, I'd appreciate it.
Cyrathil 3 years ago 5
tabs tabs tabs!!!
DsB3son 3 years ago 2
1.43min taHNKS FOR THE SUPPORT! F*ck bush.
imperialcereal 3 years ago 3
awesome CHORDS!
imperialcereal 3 years ago 2
I can't believe it was year ago when this was posted. What an amazing song, and what a year its been. I hope change is coming, maybe a period of economic instability will discourage spending on wars.
starsoftrackandfield 3 years ago 8
I like it a lot.
As a veteran, I thank you for the support, it's more much more caring than our government !
macbadapple 3 years ago 6
That was some kick-ass guitar riff.
2timmy4u 3 years ago 4
Wow. There's an ad in the upper right corner that says "Support Our Troops bracelets: get yours now!"
Irony. gotta love it.
(sorry for posting on your account, Brooke.)
petrellicester 3 years ago 3
With this song you have climbed to a whole new level of greatness. The mark of a truly great satirist is the ability to shift gears from comedy to a razor-sharp righteous anger, and that's what you've done here.
The greatest song you've ever written, Roy. Long may you continue.
brainofwombat 3 years ago 14
I guess he's not a fan of the totally effective war in Iraq? What are we doing over there again?
jadedzealot 3 years ago
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?????????? to who dude my friend's brother dided at war u know bush said that he wanted world war 3 ***************
RandomKid4Lifey 3 years ago
This was a beautiful song.
tivibtr3d 3 years ago 3
This is the single greatest song in the history of words
Meanieofhibernia86 3 years ago 2
Absolutely Amazing!
dackjaniels555 3 years ago 2
Roy, I hope you don't mind the edit, but I noticed you said 'stop loss' (instead of 'stopgap') in West Seattle.
(Nuance? Or nuisance? You decide!)
jjuran 3 years ago
That actually brought tears to my eyes.
Bush deserves to die horribly.
GBart 3 years ago 2
Wooo!!
94125 3 years ago
you have inspired me to be a better musician. that you! mike from germany
mausophon2 3 years ago
yeah,,,
semiliteratedgod 3 years ago
A very heartfelt, and passionitly performed song. i don't now anyone in Iraq but this song moved me in a way that no other songs have. Also my heart goes out to anyone who has a relitive or friend in Iraq.
Flamingwindjutsu 3 years ago 9
This song is the most effective and moving anti-Iraq-war song I have heard. It's not a fair world when Neil Young's antiwar song gets more airplay than this well-written and passionately-performed song.
Simon839 3 years ago 7
my mom gives me adivce when I ask of it and shes...done with me......its on me and if niot theres critic......:(
as of self motivating person it is mostly ify on a few things but everything else I am
publicrelations037 3 years ago
I find it suspicious that there is a McCain sponsored anti-Obama ad on this page, right next to the viewing window.
thedenise 3 years ago 2
I think they're displayed next to random videos, but still quite amusing. McCain seems pretty desperate at this point.
graaar 3 years ago
Thanks for this (and all) your wonderful songs and thanks for coming to NYC and singing live at the UnWined space. It was a thrill to hear you and speak with you after the show. I still want to get you on TV - you deserve the biggest possible audience.
vigwig 3 years ago 3
Like the lyrics, and you are a really talented musician, too! Nice job. All my Navy cousins love you.
dragonblackdrake 3 years ago
Another performance of this amazing song.
v=0GjiM3B9Dpc
achievist 3 years ago
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I agree fully that this whole 'War on Terror' is a senseless, half-hearted joke, but where does this bottomless pit of victimization sentiment for military personnel come from?
Of course they should be used as efficiently as possible, but it's not like it's the toughest job ever. Statistically, you're probably in greater harm being a truck driver nowadays than being in Fallujah. Most of em sit around all day drilling and getting 25% discounts on pizza.
It's become its own pseudo welfare.
grantsinmypants2 3 years ago
I'm not gonna argue, because I don't actually know anything, but you got semi-balls to say that on the interbutts. Now if you said that in PUBLIC, you got big brass ones.
dragonblackdrake 3 years ago
what is this? a constructive comment? or just a subtle threat?
grantsinmypants2 3 years ago
Eh...litle of colum A, little of colum B. I don't know enough about the situation in Iraq, so I can't comment.
dragonblackdrake 3 years ago
So listen to the song and get educated!
motzaballsguy 3 years ago 2
Wow. Thank you, Roy. About halfway through that I really felt the power of the song. Brilliant song, and brilliantly performed.
In honesty, Ive only just discovered your work tonight on YouTube, and enjoyed the jovial songs like 'Creation Science 101', but this is a whole new dimension.
schmam121 3 years ago 10
Roy, we love you and we do not know why. Our inner spirit rubs up against our thoughts and whispers, "Those who speak of the universal justice are your only hope".
The word "progressive" is not just a word, it is a hint of the crimson dawn. A step forward in the evolution of consciousness and a human civilization worthy of the term "civilization". Thank you Roy, Keep your sword to the throat of injustice.
gunapie 3 years ago 13
Roy, You should get Joni Mitchell to record this song, it is amazing.
PikeyTheDog 3 years ago
The song currently has a full 5 stars showing on the rating tool, which almost never happens no matter how good a video is. I absolutely love this song ^.^
Truthiness231 3 years ago 2
Happy Memorial Day. I think watching this video should be mandatory for every politician and military leader on this day. Thank you.
antic5 3 years ago 3