By Daniel Kelly, 2021, to Bob Dylan's It's Alright Ma

Since the days of ancient Rome,
There’s been those that rule, those who are owned,
Whether by the chain, or by what is ow’n
They’re doomed to die scared and alone,
Within the silent catacomb, of this squid game.

The preachers preach compounding fears,
While lining robes with silent tears,
Of the innocent young with no careers,
Crippled inside the grinding gears,
Tuned well by the monstrous engineers, of this squid game.

Gamble life and gamble love,
To beat the game and rise above,
Just one more horse and one more shove,
Give two with hand, take ten with glove,
Cheat the good, kill peace’s dove,
If you ever hope to win this squid game,
       
So don't lose your nerve
It’s the greater good you serve
It's alright, Man, you’re just dying

From up their in the castle high,
They watch us toil, they watch us die,
No chance they’ll ever share the pie,
With those who crawl with jealous eye,
Amidst the ladders, swings and stys,
They carefully constructed for this squid game.

And when at last your bodies dead,
They steel the eyes from in your head,
Heart, liver, lungs are sold for bread,
The Chinese dragon must be fed,
We all are slowly blindly led,
Into the darkest heart of this squid game.

 

By Daniel Kelly – 2021

             C                 G
Michael is a poet, a national prize
                F                                G
His cartoons show compassion, and call out the lies
                C                            G
But the new folk committee, in an action bizarre
                F                     G7        C
They threw out his poster, a virtue signal too far

I’m so smug and woke, I’m so smug and woke,
There’s no social issue I’m too proud to stoke,
I’m so smug and woke, I’m so smug and woke,
If I see another old white man I’ll choke. 
(Lay off Michael Leunig, He’s a really good bloke)

Pete Seeger he taught us, intolerance is for fools,
They cancelled miss Rowling, like Umbridge's rules,
But there is an army, of free thinking folk,
Who stick to their morals, and refuse to be woke.

Now don’t get me wrong, I think rapists are bad,
And racists and bigots sure make me feel mad,
But humanity thrives, on a spectrum of views,
And if you demand thought compliance, We’re all bound to lose

By Daniel Kelly – 2021

            G      C                 D
There were women, on the streets of Kabul
           G                 C             D
With their hair uncovered, dancing in the breeze,
           Em              C
They were learning, driving cars,
     G               C
And reaching for the stars,
     Bm              D’
In Afghanistan, in 1970

     G             C  
Once again, once again,
Em      G            C
We will be there once again,
     G          C               D
No matter how deep the darkness seems
     G          C
Once again, once again,
     Bm              C
I’ll meet with you then,
           C
When the women and the
   D             G
country both are free.

There were women, singing there in Kabul,
Watch Hangama, there on the TV,
Sharing the stage with men,
We’ll see that once again,
In Afghanistan, inevitably.

When the women, flew out of Kabul,
They weren’t fleeing, violence and hate,
They were the pilots and the crew,
Of Kam Air, in February 22,
In Afghanistan, say it’s not too late

by Daniel Kelly – March 2021

G                       C               G
The first people here, they flourished and grew,
       C             G             Am       D   
They planted and burned to seasons they knew,
G                              C         G
Respecting the cycles in the river and field,
       C                    G             D             G            
Taking just what was needed from earth’s bountiful yield

C             G      D        G
Change or perish that is the way,
C             G             D      G
I hear the voice of the ancestors say,
C             G             D        G
Every small thing that you do to the land,
C             G                D             G
Will return amplified to the palm of your hand
Em                   C             D      G
Though change can be hard, just give it a try,
C             G             D             G
The earth will reward, you’ll see by and by

The settlers they cleared, ploughed, poisoned each claim,
Slaughtered the creatures on mountain and plain,
Brought in the rabbit, the fox and the toad,
Broke the old songlines with rail and road.

And now after decades of unfettered greed,
Our mother earth’s demons are finally freed,
The storm and the fire, the drought and the flood,
Have come for their payment, delivered in blood.

We can try something new, in this hour of need,
Replant and replenish land scarred by our greed,
Seek power from the sunlight, the wind and the stream,
Leave the oil in the well, and the coal in the seam

by Daniel Kelly, for International Women’s Day 2021

Em                  Bm
Challenge the silence, imposed on the child,
Am                  Em              C
Bring back their voice, let them tell what’s been done,
Em                  Bm
Groomed and abused, in a system that failed,
Am          Em      C       Em
Then threatened with prison, for sharing their tale.

C           G       D       G
The choice is for you, It is made every day,
C           G       D           C
To ignore what is wrong, or stand in its way,
C             G               D        C
Use your own power, though small it may be,
C           G           D       Em
To fight for the voiceless, to be equal and free.

Challenge the blame, laid on the woman,
The hundreds of reasons, that make it her fault,
The drink, or the dress, or the time in the evening,
That made her fair game, for sexual assault.

Challenge the free pass, we give to the man,
He was young, he was foolish, he made a mistake,
In destroying the lives, of a million young women,
Think of his career, and the money he’d make.

Challenge the silence, challenge the lies,
The spin on the TV, the wolves in sheep's guise,
All this stuff happened, so long ago,
Women don’t remember, what would they know

by Daniel Kelly - 2020

       G             C             Em                 D
You say Trump’s the messiah, the great saviour at hand,
       G             C             Em          D
But never has America, been a more divided land.
        G                  Em            C            G
If you think there aren’t good people, across the barricade,
          Em               C             C                    D     
Then the hell you are about to live, is one that you have made.

You say Trump is a monster, but in truth he’s just a man,
Put there by the people, who felt excluded from the plan,
His message of division, it fell on willing ears,
Hardened by isolation, and amplified by fear.

Em            C        G           Em D
This is how America falls,
C                    G
This is how America falls,
 Em           C        G
This is how America falls,
C                D       G
Severed by a thousand walls.

When we give up on our reason, and only see the lies,
It’s easy to see enemies, it’s easy to take sides,
America was built on, the hope for unity,
On justice and tranquillity, eternal liberty.

A nation of diversity, of many different views,
Living in peace together, each with the right to choose,
But now you are against me, or else you’re on my side,
There is no consolation, bridge over the divide.

When Hamilton and Johnson, penned those magic lines,
with Morris, King and Madison, they sought a future fine,
In 1787, the world was brave and new,
Nothing like the tragedy, we now have come to view.

So reach out to your neighbour, whether red or blue,
Learn to live in tolerance, of different points of view,
It is only our compassion, will see us through this night,
And truth will rise just like the sun, revealing what is right.

by Daniel Kelly – 2020

Three hundred tons of sharks on board,
Three hundred tons of sharks,
killed in the national park me boys,
Killed in the national park.
With me way, hay, Greenies be damned,
We’ll purge the life from sea and land.
We’ll purge the life from sea and land.

We cut off all their fins, me boys,
Cut off all their fins,
And throw them into tins, me boys,
Throw them in to tins.
With me way, hay, Greenies be damned,
We’ll purge the life from sea and land.
We’ll purge the life from sea and land.

Ecuador won’t check our hold,
They’ll never check our hold,
Cause China lent them piles of gold,
It lent them piles of gold,
With me way, hay, Greenies be damned,
We’ll purge the life from sea and land.
We’ll purge the life from sea and land.

The silky and the hammer heard,
The silky and hammer head,
Do something or they’ll all be dead,
Yes soon they’ll all be dead
With me way, hay, Greenies be damned,
We’ll purge the life from sea and land.
We’ll purge the life from sea and land.

 

 

 

by Daniel Kelly – 2020

Dm                         C
What can we do when the memories they fade?
              G                        Am
When the tracks in the mind, forget where they’re laid,
       Dm                   Am
The sight of a friend, a familiar face,
       G                          Am
Sparks no recognition, just a blank empty space.

The wheels of the mind, that once spun fast and free,
Now grind on so slowly, with rust and debris,
The pinons cut cleanly, now broken and through,
Rattle on axles, not sure what to do.

C         G       Am    C  G     Am
But we still see you, just as you were,
and we still hear you, just as you were.

This monster you grapple, day after day,
A moment you’re here, next moment away.
I can see your anguish, the burgeoning fear
As you struggle to find, thoughts that are clear.

I hope that some memories, are solid and strong,
Those ones that you cling to, places long gone,
A moment in childhood, a small furry friend,
To carry you through, the dark lonesome end,

Chorus

When you are released, from this broken down cage,
From the engines of time, and the sorrows of age,
I know that your spirit, in clarity bright,
Will fly to the future, with unfettered sight.

By Daniel Kelly – 2020

Dm               C          Dm          Am
I’ll sing you a song of a band of bold heroes,
F                 C         Dm            Am
A band of bold heroes that work in our town,
Dm                        C        Dm            Am
But they do not wield lances, or ride on white chargers,
Dm                   C             F             Dm
They don’t conjure spirits, or call the rain down,

But their stacking the shelves, down at the ALDI,
They’re working the checkouts, with never a frown,
It’s something you realise, in times of great crisis,
The worlds supermarkets, keep it spinning round.

F                  C           Dm                 Am
Heil, Heil, the ALDI crew, You know we all depend on you,
Dm C          Dm    Am     Dm            C      Dm
Working hard to see us through, Heil,Heil the ALDI crew.

I’ll keep their names secret, they’re not seeking glory,
They work from the dawn, till the sun’s going down,
Exchanging the foot spa or set of new beach towels,
I don’t want the blue, could you swap for the brown?

There may be no flour, and no toilet paper,
But today there was meat, and a broccoli crown,
Be kind to your heroes, you can’t live without them,
They’re the ones you can trust, when your ships going down

Say thankyou the next time, they scan in your wine box,
It may be the only face you see for three days,
They do not wear capes, or leap of tall buildings,
But they’re keeping us sane in the bravest of ways.

 

 

 

 

 

By Daniel Kelly – 2020

Am                     G               C         G             Am
And I looked and saw a white horse, galloping across the plane,
Am               G              G       Am
And the horse a rider, pestilence his name,
C                  G         Am           G                          
On his head was a corona, in in his hand a bow,
 Am                    G          C           G    Am
On earth he loosed his arrows, piercing lungs below.

C             G            Am    C        G             Am
After the white horse comes war, After the white horse comes war,
C                        G         C                    G
For the people on of the earth,   The gods are settling scores,
C          G               Am
After the white horse comes war.

And I looked and saw the red horse, he was rising in the East,
Sharpening the sickle, preparing for the feast,
After slaughtering the people, for almost a hundred years,
The Red Dragon awakens, ready for spreading tears.

Then a horse a black as midnight, it cantered down the hill,
His rider held the scales, and a mouth he could not fill,
He stole the bread from many, a billion people starved,
But the rich still drank in comfort, Burning petrol in their cars.

The final rider beckons, Skeletal is his hand,
On horse that’s pale and sickly, Sweeping over the land,
He hunts down the survivors, Of all that’s come before,
Dragging the unwilling, Down to the darkest door.