A collection of audio essays on the general theme of the social engineering of society by "social media," corporate media, and the rest of the power structure.

This playlist begins with the most recent and ends with ruminations I recorded at the beginning of 2021.  Everything here also can be found in written form at davidrovics.com/thisweek and if you look me up on Substack.

Social Engineering

This is an album in three parts.

First, the ongoing genocide in Palestine, songs that were written in the past few months.

Second, mostly songs related to the class struggle, some very recent and some slightly less so.

The third part relates to the album title.

To paraphrase Renée DiResta, we live in an era especially characterized by the collision of the rumor mill and the propaganda machine.  A collection of the songs I've written over recent years on that subject, such as the album's title track, make up the third part.  

Credits:

The songs were all written by David Rovics.  Depending on the song, you'll also hear David's guitar, bouzouki, or mandola.  If you hear female vocals, that's Kamala Emanuel.  Anything else you're hearing -- bass, drums, synth, banjo, electric guitar, and various other odds and ends -- is Chet Gardiner.

Cover graphics by the brilliant Kalindi Jackson.

I Heard A Rumor

A playlist of songs directly related to the Trump agenda, and opposition to it.

Trump 2.0

Scott's Trump 2.0

Toft/Keiski  - 2

When I write a new song, especially if it's about current events, I usually make a primitive recording of it and put it up here in this playlist.  (Eventually the song will usually get recorded better, and put out on an album.)

Broadsides

A song about current events or one related to this date in history, with a little bit of context.  Available on all the usual podcasting platforms if you look for This Week with David Rovics.

Song For Today

If we were to try to assess the overall impact of no-platforming campaigns over the course of the past century, what would we conclude?

The Historic Failure of No-Platforming

Whether the left develops an inclusive orientation towards organizing the working class, or the exclusive orientation of a dystopic cancellation cult, is up to all of us.

The Left: How We Can Build It and How We Can Destroy It

A little background to the refugee crisis on the US/Mexico border.  These refugees were "made in the USA."  The least we could do is let them in to the country that destroyed theirs.  Also international law is on their side, but the Constitutional law professor in the White House and most members of both parties of Congress don't seem to care about that.

From the album, When I'm Elected President:
https://davidrovics.bandcamp.com/album/when-im-elected-president-wayfaring-stranger-double-album

Lyrics:

US Embassy

There was a coup in Guatemala, the CIA sent planes
To assist the Guatemalan generals in tightening the chains
Two hundred thousand Indians killed in thirty years
As butchers of their people, the generals have no peers
Where did they get their guns up to this very day
From the men of the CIA

There was a coup in Chile 'cause the US couldn't stand
A democratic government that might give a helping hand
So the generals took over after they had made a pact
With their friends in Washington, and that's a simple fact
This is what we look like when you scratch away the fuzz
This is what America does

But there's never been a coup in Washington, DC
Because they don't have a US embassy

There was a coup in Haiti that overthrew the priest
Who was representing those who had the very least
They were almost self-sufficient, standing on their feet
When the generals insisted on democracy's defeat
The CIA headed south and the lifeboats sallied forth
This is why the refugees go north

There was a coup in Tegucigalpa, I promise I'm not lying
As a consequence of this people are leaving and dying
Gunning down democracy is the USA's MO
It could be called Hypocrisy if it were a TV show
But this is not a fiction, these are bodies full of lead
And thousands and thousands of refugees on the border dead

US Embassy

A high-quality studio version of this song can be found on this album:
https://davidrovics.bandcamp.com/album/when-im-elected-president-wayfaring-stranger-double-album

It's a pattern, ever present in the places that don't strictly regulate the abilities of the rich to make more money at the expense of everybody else.  Currently one of many cities that the wealthy developers are trying to destroy is my latest home town of Portland, Oregon.

Lyrics:

Gentrification Town

I've moved out of three cities 'cause I couldn't pay the rent
Folks like me weren't welcome so I packed it up and went
It's always the same story, I find a place I wanna be
And soon enough I'm joined by all the other refugees
Then watch the websites warble, this is the hippest place to hang
Hey check out Division, it's the sweetest thing since Tang
Then watch the millionaires come in and build a luxury hotel
Sipping coffee on the sidewalk, saying isn't this place swell

Rents are going up and the neighborhood's going down
Here in Gentrification Town

See the families leave the city, watch how they accept their fate
Except the ones who had the timing right and bought some real estate
The ones who had the timing and the ones who had the credit
The ones who paid attention to whoever it was who said it
This is a nation that won't suffer utopians or fools
He who has the gold rules
He who has the gold, he who bought the stock
He who is the landlord who owns your block

They say you can't blame the yuppies, they're just responding to the will
Of the market and the strength of the US dollar bill
But the dollar's only strong if you have some to your name
Otherwise you're on the business end of the game
The end that just stays home 'cause they can't afford the show
The end that has to pack their things and find a place to go
The new hip place to be, for a little while, then
The wrecking balls move in and chase us out again

Gentrification Town

A high-quality studio version of this song can be found on this album:
https://davidrovics.bandcamp.com/album/when-im-elected-president-wayfaring-stranger-double-album

Turning away refugees is unfortunately a long tradition in the US.  But the propaganda represented by the Statue of Liberty is really lovely stuff.  If only it were much more real.

Lyrics:

Statue in the Harbor

Give us your huddled masses yearning to be free
That's what it says on the Statue of Liberty
And here they come, from the other side
Across the southern border, across the great divide

And now they're told that they should go away
But the statue in the harbor says "stay"

Give us your cold and hungry, let them come by land or sea
Let them all find solace in this land of refugees
Escaping persecution, just trying to survive
And they worked as hard as Guatemalans as soon as their ships arrived

Give us your persecuted, but only if they're white
It doesn't say that on the statue that holds aloft the light
What did you think would happen in the lands you overthrew
Where should all the children go after the coup

Statue in the Harbor

A high-quality studio version of this song can be found on this album:
https://davidrovics.bandcamp.com/album/when-im-elected-president-wayfaring-stranger-double-album

Although I wrote it during the current (July 2014) Israeli invasion of Gaza, this is a song about how life in Gaza is under "peacetime."

Lyrics:

Gaza

One point eight million people surrounded on all sides
Refugees since '48, since '67, occupied
The only reason they're not starving is down to the UN
Most have never left there, stuck in the lion's den
The most crowded place on Earth, and there they'll stay
They can't visit friends or cousins a half hour's drive away
Drones overhead constantly
Who will die tomorrow, a daily mystery
In Gaza

The settlers moved out, fighter jets moved in
In Gaza there's just no way you can win
You can't take out a copter with an antiquated gun
You're just a target sitting in the sun
Waiting for your death to come raining from the sky
Where the end really is nigh
You can hear a sonic boom and see a flashing light
Every hour of the day, every hour of the night
In Gaza

There are no shelters, nowhere you can hide
Life is nothing like it is on the other side
There's nothing post about the traumatic stress
There's never more, usually less
And still some people wonder, they insist on asking why
Anyone would be so mad as to reply
So mad as to think that it might make sense
To lob some missiles over the fence
From Gaza

Gaza

I've heard from so many people asking for my response to this song that I had to listen to it, learn it, make a couple minor edits to it, cover it, and write an essay about it.  Here's the podcast version of it.

Why I Love the Song, "Rich Men North of Richmond" (After Slightly Revising the Lyrics)

If you spend most of your time going down rabbit holes, it's easy to develop tunnel vision.

The Mind-Warping Effects of Rabbit Holes

Ever wake up one morning and realize you've been a pawn in someone else's game, when you thought you were making history instead?

The Social Engineering and Paralysis of the US Left

A high-quality studio version of this song can be found on this album:
https://davidrovics.bandcamp.com/album/when-im-elected-president-wayfaring-stranger-double-album

RIP Michael Brown.  Unarmed teen executed in broad daylight by racist cop.

Lyrics:

His Hands Were In The Air

The town is mostly black, almost all the cops are white
You can see it right away, something isn't right
There's no funding for the schools and they're being shut down
The powers that be don't give a shit about the town

They were walking in the street, it's the safest place to be
In case someone comes shooting, you got a better view to see
They were walking in the street, they weren't hurting anyone
Then came a white man with a badge and a gun

His hands were in the air (4x)

“Get the fuck off the sidewalk,” that's what the cop said
He cut them off in his car, fat face, blood red
The cop says he was attacked, and from a cursory check
It seems his fingers were assaulted by Michael Brown's neck

There were witnesses who saw it, it was recorded on a phone
But the police couldn't handle the light that would've shone
She was forced to hand it over so they could try to hide away
A racist execution in the middle of the day

He had just finished high school and was off to college next
Instead he was shot and killed with no pretext
The media joined in, called the community a mob
A cop called them animals while Michael's mother sobbed

His Hands Were in the Air

A song of appreciation for all the protesting students, staff, and faculty at Columbia and many other institutions across the US.

Boycott, Sanction, and Divest

"Antisemitism" is the new "communism" -- have you ever said anything that could be construed in someone's convoluted mind as somehow anti-Jewish?  Iran is the new USSR, Elise Stefanik is the new Joe McCarthy, and the House Un-Israeli Activities Committee is going strong, ruining one life at a time, and striking fear throughout academia and beyond.

The House Un-Israeli Activities Committee

As I sit here, most of the journalists still reporting from Gaza seem to be somewhere in a hospital complex in Rafah that is currently under siege by the Israeli military.  This song is not a prediction of their deaths, but rather a plea for their lives.

Hani Mahmoud and Tareq Abu Azzoum

And now watch them justify the missiles that they sent
To bomb the starving children dying in their tents

Since Long Before October

On June 8th, 1967, during the course of the Six-Day War, the Israeli military tried to sink an American ship and kill all the crew -- knowing full well that's exactly what they were doing.  The attack left 34 Americans dead, hundreds maimed, and a ship destroyed.

The Ballad of the USS Liberty (When Israel Attacked the USA)

Ever feel like a marionette whose strings are being pulled by billionaires who like to watch their puppets form circular firing squads?  Me, too.

Divide and Rule

What’s more important – gender, race, or class?
Give me the wrong answer and I’ll have to kick your ass
Do Black lives matter a little, or do they matter a lot?
What were you doing on the night that Bettie Jones was shot?
Do you really care?  If so, then how much?
Or are you some kind of privileged person, completely out of touch?

Let’s argue about it, let’s be perfect little tools
Let’s play the game of the billionaires – the old divide and rule

What is your position on Vladimir Putin?
Is he God, or the devil – for which side are you rootin’?
Do you support negotiations?  Or do you support the war?
There is no room for nuance here, which side are you for?
Let’s shout at one another until we get tired of shouting and then
Entrench our positions and make sure to never talk again

Is it a genocide in Gaza, or is it just a slaughter?
What do you call a country that won’t let people have water?
Is antisemitism on the rise?  Is it true
You can’t call someone a Nazi if they are a Jew
How do we even start to have such a debate
What’s your position on the existence of the Jewish state?

What’s your pronoun, how do you define?
Your gender, sexuality, where do you draw the line?
What’s the difference between X and Y?
Who gets to be a girl, who gets to be a guy?
Who do you exclude and who do you embrace?
What’s your definition of safer space?

Have you been doing the work, and if so are you sure?
Are you progressing towards the genuinely pure?
Have you got the right perspectives, your ducks all in a row?
Is that Facebook banner just the one you really want to show?
Do you look good in the camera, sound earnest in the mic?
Was there a post for which you regret clicking “like”?

Divide and Rule

Moving on from the frying pan to the fire.

The Richest Man in the World Says So

Another song for the ongoing DOGE coup d'etat.

It's A Coup

I'm constantly unable to decide whether they're brilliantly theatrical, Machiavellian coup-plotters or just bumbling billionaires whose emotional development stalled out a long time ago.

Toddlers-in-Chief

ICE agents taking orders directly from the top and disappearing a student activist with no warrant, no due process, canceling his green card and holding him incommunicado in an unknown location, this is what's happening in the USA right now.

Mahmoud Khalil

Livet är en fest

Stena Olssons Compagnie

Framtidshopp

Välstånd

Matkamies

Härs och tvärs

Herrturken

On April 18th, 2012, Khader Adnan was released from an Israeli prison after being on hunger strike for 66 days. He was objecting, among other things, to Israel’s policy of indefinite detention without trial, which still continues — but only for Palestinians.

Khader Adnan

On April 19th, 1943, what might be accurately described as the greatest urban rebellion in the history of civilization began.

Warsaw Ghetto Uprising

On April 20th, 2010, the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded off the coast of Louisiana, killing eleven workers and causing the worst environmental disaster in US history.

Deepwater Horizon

On April 22nd, 1991, a young Palestinian named Saed Bannoura was shot 6 times by IDF soldiers — but he refused to die.

The First Intifada

On April 23rd, 1971, veterans of the war in Vietnam carried out a series of operations in Washington, DC, actions involving thousands of recently-returned soldiers, one of which involved the depositing on the White House lawn of 700 medals veterans had received for their service in the military.

Throwing of Medals

Singer/songwriter, writer, podcaster (on Spotify, Substack & Patreon), libertarian socialist, dad, lover of life.