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Voting USA

Here’s my Get Out the Vote Video. I’ve attached the words – sing along and VOTE!!!

VOTING USA
from Brian Wilson’s “Surfin’ USA”/Chuck Berry’s “Sweet Little Sixteen”
new words by Hali Hammer

If everybody was voting – across the USA
Then everybody’d be using – their voice to have a say
You’ll see us casting our ballots – in person or by mail
We’re fighting voter suppression – we can’t afford to fail

All kinds of organizations (All across the USA)
– With one goal in mind (All across the USA)
To have a fair election (All across the USA)
No Voter Left Behind (All across the USA)
We’ve got a plan for November (All across the USA)
The choice is oh so clear (All along the way)
Make sure everyone’s voting – Election crunch is here

Some are writing postcards – while others check the rolls
To make sure all are registered – before they hit the polls
Fighting polling place closures – each vote must be ensured
Against foreign tampering – and Trumped-up postal fraud

Swing Left/Vote Forward (All across the USA)
N double A CP (All across the USA)
Election Protection (All across the USA)
And the DNC (All across the USA)
Poll Heroes are helping (All across the USA)
And Indivisible groups (All across the USA)
The Reclaim Our Vote Campaign (ooh)
We’re sending out the troops!

Break
Everybody is voting – Voting USA

We’re heading for High Noon – it’s coming up real soon
Walking precincts, phone banking – the moment’s opportune
All over the country – our message spreads today
Everybody is voting – Voting USA

We’re working 24/7 (All across the USA)
We’re gonna turn things blue (All across the USA)
Stacey Abrams with Fair Fight (All across the USA)
The cast of Hamilton too! (All across the USA)
All states in the union (All across the USA)
All ages have their say (All along the way)

Everybody is voting – Voting USA
Everybody is voting – Voting USA

When This is Over (a song for the times)

When the Covid-19 pandemic hit, people started asking me to write a song about it. I really didn’t want to go there, and there were so many good parodies coming out, I didn’t feel the need to write one. But then when I was going to sleep one night, I thought about writing a song about when it was over. Here it is:

Lyrics:
WHEN THIS IS OVER (Hali Hammer)

When this is over – We’ll take the masks off of our faces
And we’ll go to favorite places like we did before
When this is over – We’ll see friends that we’ve missed so much
And fill the need for human touch once more

When this is over – The skies will be much clearer
Sacred life will seem much dearer
And Mother Earth – at long last – has had a chance to breathe
When this is over – No Covid-19 news to start our day
No more wonderin’ how long will it be this way
It will be – a most welcome relief
(Instrumental verse)
When this is over – Will we appreciate the little things
In our lives and live for the joys they bring
And treasure what good people do
When this is over – we will recover from the strife
We will cherish precious life, and mourn for those who didn’t make it through

When this is over –
Our houses will be much cleaner
Our gardens will be much greener
With time to do – things we had no time to do

When this is over – Will we still make time to slow it down
And to meditate on what we have found
In the end, that’s up to you

When this is over –
We’ll see friends that we’ve missed so much
And fill the need for human touch one more

Lady Liberty Speaks

Here’s my latest video. Please share.

LADY LIBERTY SPEAKS
(words by Hali Hammer, music by Hali Hammer and Randy Berge)

I have stood here in this harbor – near one hundred forty years
Torch hoisted high, with an expression proud
And I’ve seen generations disembark upon this land
In awe, as though they’d stepped on hallowed ground

Affixed upon my podium there is a poem that reads
– “Give me your tired, your poor”
Ah, but I’ve been feeling poorly, and tired I have grown
To see what now is happening on my shore

I really cannot understand the way that things have changed
How immigrants are treated in this way
I wish the masses could be huddled ‘neath the green folds of my skirt
To breathe a little easier for a day

(Instrumental verse)

And yes, there has been bigotry, too often there is cruelty
Now rising exponentially in our land of opportunity
This explosion, now, of hatred, this propulsion now of scorn
Makes me feel the copper crown I wear might as well be made of thorns

So I cry out for the children abused and scared and caged
And weep to think of how we’ve fallen so far the wrong way
White power and no gun control, divisions, primal fears
While salt spray rising from the sea helps camouflage my tears
While salt spray rising from the sea helps camouflage my tears
Oooooh…

All of Me (Health Care for All)

Here’s my parody of the old standard “All of Me”, updated with new words about health care.
It was a big hit when I played it at the rally I attended in Sacramento today (5/23/19) for Disability & Aging Capitol Action Day. I was the last person on stage before we marched to the Capitol where we had lunch and were briefed on what to say before we went to offices to lobby for long-term care and other issues. Left Berkeley on the bus with other participants at 8 am and got back around 5. Exhausting but productive day.

Download for chords with lyrics
ALL OF ME (MEDICARE FOR ALL)

ALL OF ME (HEALTH CARE FOR ALL)
Original words/music by Seymour Simons Gerald Marks
New words by Hali Hammer

All of me, health care for you and me
Co-pay free, with a choice of providers

Eyes and teeth – Don’t want to lose them!
Local clinics – I want to use them!

Say goodbye to costs that soar sky-high
Middlemen – we’ll do better without them

Long-term support, you won’t get sold short
With Medicare for you and me!

All of me, health care for you and me
Guaranteed from pre-birth to departure

Change your job, and you won’t lose it
Unemployed? You can still use it

Dignity, no fear of bankruptcy
When in need, everybody’s covered

Let’s win the fight, good treatment is our right
With health care for you and me!

CALIFORNIA’S BURNING


Unfortunately I am singing this again. Please donate to the fire victims if you possibly can.

CALIFORNIA’S BURNING (Hali Hammer)
California’s burning – The sky’s a smoky gray
California’s burning – Don’t go outside to play
California’s burning – With fires flaring near, it’s hard to breathe the air
California’s burning

California’s burning – The sun peeks through the haze
California’s burning – Don’t see it much these days
California’s burning – It sets a molten red, I wish that it were gold instead
Cause California’s burning

Insatiable fires send birds flying from their wires
So many of them, how did they begin?
Like a scene from ancient Rome, folks evacuating homes
While ashes boldly ride upon the wind

California’s burning – It’s burning up the trees
California’s burning – That brings you to your knees
California’s burning – The animals have fled their cozy forest beds
While California’s burning

Insatiable fires send birds flying from their wires
So many of them, how did they begin?
Like a scene from ancient Rome, folks evacuating homes
While ashes boldly ride upon the wind

California’s burning – Hot embers fill the sky
California’s burning – They bring tears to my eyes
California’s burning – It makes you want to cry with everything so dry
California’s burning – California’s burning – California’s burning

Progressive Majority Creative Network website and facebook page!

Are you an activist performer, or looking for one? If you would like to join our network of performers, we will provide a page for you, and you can make it your website! If you are looking for an artist, type their name or a city and state in the search field. Those with existing websites can link to your page from our network, and those without a website will now have somewhere to post their work. Go to https://progressivemajoritycreativenetwork.wordpress.com/

The purpose of this site is to provide a place where activist musicians, performance artists, comedians and those from any other genre can promote their political material. Our hope is that performers will be made aware of and contact each other, and that those looking for performers for various causes will have an easy way to contact them.

The first step is to fill out our Contact Information Form, and we can create your page. We will send you directions on how to copy and paste information about you on your page.

Your name will also appear in an index so that anyone accessing this website can search by specific person or city and state.

You are free to add personal information and links or other postings on your page.

NOTE TO EVENT ORGANIZERS: Think of your event as a living organism. We all need to breathe in and breathe out. Think of the breathe in as speaker and the breathe out as musical interlude. Speakers require attention and focus. After about 4 or 5, most people find it hard to maintain concentration. How long can you breathe in? Add some music or performance art for the breathe out. Performance by its nature is participatory. Voila! Now people can once again breathe in all that important information when the next speaker appears onstage.

We have also set up a facebook page where you can post upcoming events, comments, information, etc.

New Song: We Will Rise Together

Hi All,
After publishing the “We Will Rise Together” video about the Berkeley event I got feedback from several people that the chorus was so universal, they’d love to hear a new version as well. So here it is, hope you like it! If you look for the last one, it’s now called “We Will Rise Together: Berkeley”.

WE WILL RISE TOGETHER (Hali Hammer)
We will rise together, we’ll be wise together
We will watch the winter turn into the spring together
We’ll hold hands together, we will band together
We’ll breathe in and out as one and we will rise, rise, rise
Our hearts will pound as one and we will rise, rise, rise

Millions rose upon their feet as they marched into the street
To stir their souls and make their voices heard
In our cities large and small, young and old answer the call
To show the world the best side of America.
(CHORUS)

We must not yield to fear, we must keep our message clear
We must rise above the darkness to where our love lights beam
– We must protect the rights of all within our sight
Remember most of us are here because an immigrant had a dream
(CHORUS)

Now all across the country, folks are talking to each other
As we share the need for caring so that we can carry on
We never will give in, so collectively we’ll win
For the darkest night becomes the new light of a breaking dawn

We will rise together, we’ll be wise together
We will watch the winter turn into the spring together
We’ll hold hands together, we will band together
We’ll breathe in and out as one and we will rise, rise, rise
Our hearts will pound as one and we will rise, rise, rise