Tuli Kupferberg presents Phil Ochs' moving cover of Ballad of a Carpenter, Communist songwriter Ewan Mac Coll's unique vision of Jesus Christ as a labor leader. Tuli displays Art Young's famous cartoon showing Jesus as an outlaw wanted for sedition. From Revolting News, 1997
Christmas show
The Ballad Of The Carpenter
By Ewan MacColl
Dm C Dm
Jesus was a working man C Dm
And a hero you will hear C Dm Am
Born in the town of Bethlehem Dm Gm
At the turning of the year A7 Dm
At the turning of the year
When Jesus was a little lad
Streets rang with his name
For he argued with the older men
And put them all to shame
He put them all to shame
He became a wandering journeyman
And he traveled far and wide
And he noticed how wealth and poverty
Live always side by side
Live always side by side
So he said "Come you working men
Farmers and weavers too
If you would only stand as one
This world belongs to you
This world belongs to you"
When the rich men heard what the carpenter had done
To the Roman troops they ran
Saying put this rebel Jesus down
He's a menace to God and man
He's a menace to God and man
The commander of the occupying troops
Just laughed and then he said
"There's a cross to spare on Calvaries hill
By the weekend he'll be dead
By the weekend he'll be dead"
Now Jesus walked among the poor
For the poor were his own kind
And they'd never let them get near enough
To take him from behind
To take him from behind
So they hired one of the traders trade
And an informer was he
And he sold his brother to the butchers men
For a fistful of silver money
For a fistful of silver money
And Jesus sat in the prison cell
And they beat him and offered him bribes
To desert the cause of his fellow man
And work for the rich men's tribe,
To work for the rich men's tribe
And the sweat stood out on Jesus' brow
And the blood was in his eye
When they nailed his body to the Roman cross
And they laughed as they watched him die
They laughed as they watched him die
Two thousand years have passed and gone
Many a hero too
But the dream of this poor carpenter
Remains in the hands of you
Remains in the hands of you
Cody tells me that Phil left out some verses and changed some words, so here are the original lyrics:
Jesus was a working man,
A hero as you shall hear.
Born in the slums of Bethle-(Am)hem
At the turning of the year,
Yes, the turning of the year.
When Jesus was a little lad.
The streets rang with his name,
For he argued with the aldermen
And he put them all to shame.
Yes he...
He became a wandering journeyman
And he wandered far and wide,
And he saw how wealth and poverty
Lived always side by side,
Yes...
He said, "Come all you working men,
You farmers and weavers, too.
If you will only organize,
This world belongs to you,
Yes...
When the rich men heard what the carpenter had done,
To the Roman troops they ran.
Saying "Put this rebel Jesus down,
He's a menace to god and man,
Yes...
Jesus walked among the poor
For the poor were his own kind,
And they wouldn't let the cops get near enough
To take him from behind,
Yes...
So they hired one of the traitor's trade
And a stool-pigeon was he
And he sold his brother to the butcher's men
For a fistful of silver money.
Yes...
When Jesus lay in the prisoner's cell,
They beat him and offered him bribes
To desert the cause of his own dear folk
And work for the rich men's tribe,
Yes...
The commander of the occupying troops
He laughed and then he said,
"There's a cross to spare on Calvary Hill,
By the weekend he'll be dead,
Yes..
The sweat stood out upon his brow
And the blood was in his eye,
And they nailed his body to the Roman cross
And they laughed as they watched him die,
Yes..
Two thousand years have passed and gone,
And many a hero too,
But the dream of this poor carpenter
At last it is coming true,
Yes...
Notes:
Chords supplied by Jim Lesses and corrected by Cody Gillespie-Lynch.
Last modified 20 Jul 02 by trent
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Of course! if you wanna take piece of this and piece of that and explainet how you want you can throw Jesus away and be just jackass what your are. BUT read Matthew 5-7, and try think your self.
tuomaankuoma1 3 days ago
What about Mathew 5- 7. Was or was it not Jesus who was speaking, not a fucking Paul or Peter? Ha?
tuomaankuoma1 3 months ago
@RPenta Listen you are the dumb-ass you can't read the written word nor write it. I just wrote the details 3 months ago. Please get an education and a lobotomy. Jesus spoke 3 times through (the mouths of John Paul etc maybe Ringo) that skeptics should suffer eternal damnation in the fires of hell. No exceptions and one only gets into heaven through belief in Jesus, THE SON. It's not enough to believe in god. That all it takes according the the gospels.
11xzxzxz 3 months ago
@11xzxzxz Ok, dumbass, it's on: what "shallow and cruel" teachings of Jesus did you have in mind? I am a very imperfect follow of the Son of God/Son of Man so do not expect me to suffer fools like you gladly, as He might have. By the way, you cretin, Jesus was more Jewish than Phil Ochs.
Great song; been looking for this for years.
RPenta 3 months ago
@ARP7777777 In the bible pain and pain go hand in hand.
11xzxzxz 6 months ago
@11xzxzxz Pleasure and pain go hand in hand.
ARP7777777 6 months ago
Tuli looks a bit like that portrait of Jesus! Love Tuli--been a fan of his since I heard "CIA Man" at the end of "Burn After Reading".
Seasass 7 months ago
Phil was jewish and didn't believe in christ. He would never go along with the ideas of a guy who believed in everlasting hell, gnawing and gnashing of teeth for eternity, for moral skeptics who could just not believer the bad dogma of the Bible and Jesus' shallow and cruel teaching. The old "testacles" instruct parents to stone and kill their children who talk back and a groom to stone and kill his bride on their Wedding Night if she is not a virgin.
11xzxzxz 7 months ago
Phil's cover is the best. I love how he rewrites the end of the song and makes the dream a choice of the listener. Makes me think of the "Shorter Ending" to the Gospel According to Mark.
lonsumtravlr 1 year ago
@KennBurch This video was posted in the last few years by the late poet(and former lead singer of The Fugs)Tuli Kupferberg.
KennBurch 1 year ago