Old Bob on Election Night

Video here:

Did you hear about old Bob?

He never had much luck

Then the republicans give him a job

And someone paid him 100 bucks

They said we got an election

And some illegals gonna wanna try to vote

So we need you stand by the voting site

And make sure they don’t get close

So Bob got out his baseball bat

And he went to do his job

Making sure that Seminole country

Was free from voter fraud

He showed up at the library with a Confederate flag on his truck

And he brought along some beer and soon some friends showed up

And at first it all was fun

But then it just got slow

When the day kept getting hotter

And the beer was getting low

And Bob was about to head to out to buy a few more that were cold

When a family showed up in a minivan and they were yapping in Espanol

Well Bob walked to the family

Looking mean and looking mad

And he asked to see their id’s

Because he thought that was a right he had

And they thought joe was a crazy person

And one of them pushed him back

And then Bob went back to the bed of the truck and grabbed his baseball bat

And he beat the man so close to death

Some people watching just got sick

And that’s the story of old Bob

And how the republicans won that district

Music and lyrics by Benjamin Adair Murphy ASCAP (464341364) Watery Grave Music ASCAP (396517127)

Old Bob on Election Night (ASCAP ID# 908817493)

Peter Hess

Peter Hess (woodwinds) is a member of the Philip Glass Ensemble, Slavic Soul Party, Bang on a Can’s Asphalt Orchestra, and Barbez, and was a part of Balkan Beat Box for a decade. He appears on over 100 recordings and can often be heard coming out of your television. He performs all over the world, in concert halls, festivals, prisons, and dives. He’s appeared and/or recorded with ‪David Sanborn‬, ‪Alarm Will Sound‬, ‪David Byrne‬, Big Lazy, Guignol, ‪Tony Visconti‬, Songs:Ohia, the Brooklyn Philharmonic, ‪Tim Berne‬, Jabbo Ware, ‪Jack McDuff‬, the Roots, Lee Konitz, ‪Dirty Projectors‬, Darcy Argue’s Secret Society, ‪Devotchka‬, ‪TV on the Radio‬, ‪Wu Tang Clan‬, ICE, ‪the Hold Steady‬, ‪Son Volt‬, AntiSocial Music, Big Lazy, and dozens more. He was also a frequent substitute in the solo clarinet chair for the entire Broadway run of the multiple Tony-winning musical The Band’s Visit. His work composing and arranging for winds and strings can be heard on dozens of records, as well as HBO's Bored to Death, PBS’s Make 'em Laugh, the feature documentaries Art and Craft and Maineland, and Deadpool 2. He holds a deep love of the music of the Balkans, which he has researched and studied in Roma villages in southern Serbia. His own records (and with fellow PGE member Mick Rossi) can be found at diskonife.com. He is a 1996 graduate of the Oberlin Conservatory of Music (B.Mus) and of Oberlin College (BA), and in 2020 was part time faculty at the New School College of Performing Arts, in residence at the Philip Glass Institute, lecturing and coaching ensembles in the performance practice of the works of Philip Glass.

Chop It Down

Listen here:

Well I dreamed I lost my home last night

And my family had to flee

We walked with few belongings and the days turned into weeks

We made it to the border, but they didn't let us through

They just locked us up, and took my daughter, there was nothing I could do

And I could not understand why the guards hated us so

but when you’re not chopping that hate down, you're just helping that hate grow

They kept us separated

The weeks turned into months

Sometimes I thought I heard my daughter cry, sometimes I thought I heard a gun

Then one day I got sick, but there were not any beds

I shivered through a fever in a room that smelled like death

And all the time all I wondered why they did not let us go

but when you’re not chopping that shit down, you're just helping that shit grow Well apples look like apples so now here's a little quiz

When Trump quotes Mussolini what do you really think that is?

And the klan drives a pickup truck right through a peaceful crowd

Then maybe the problem's coming from the top and running down

And a child cries for her mother but these hearts and minds stay closed

When we're not chopping that hate down, we're just helping that hate grow When we're not chopping that hate down, we're just helping that hate grow

(ASCAP # 907390001)

Recorded in Mexico City at La Bestia Studios by Juan Victor Belisario Figuera

Music and lyrics by Benjamin Adair Murphy ASCAP (464341364) Watery Grave Music ASCAP (396517127)