equality

Swen quotes Phil Ochs’s “Love me, I’m a Liberal”, which reminds me of this from The National Lampoon’s White Album Gold Turkey: National Lampoon Radio Hour/Greatest Hits:

I wish I was a Negro, with lots of Negro soul,
so I could stay true to my ethnic roots and still play rock and roll.
If I was a funky Negro, eatin’ soul food barbecues,
I wouldn’t have to sing the middle class liberal Well-Intentioned Blues.

I wish I was an Indian, a grown-up Sioux papoose,
so when I get drunk on a beer and a half I have a good excuse.
I’d be a noble savage, wouldn’t ever wear no shoes,
and I wouldn’t have to sing the middle class liberal Well-Intentioned Blues.

I wish I was a wetback on a strike in a lettuce patch
or a slant-eyed peasant with Viet Cong stashed underneath my thatch.
I only ever cross a picket line to pay my union dues
to keep on singing the middle class liberal Well-Intentioned Blues.

But I am not a Negro (come on!), not a red man nor a Mex. (Join me, kids!)
I’m a member of the oppressing color, language, age and sex.
I sympathize with the Arab cause; I feel for the put-upon Jew.
And I keep singing —
the middle class liberal —
humanitarian —
meaningful dialogue —
we are all responsible Well-Intentioned Blues.

(And again I wish I knew how to display this with hanging indents.)