Kevin Bronson on February 19th, 2018

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The roster of protest songs addressing the President of the United States is lengthy — longer, one might say, than a compulsive liar’s litany of untruths. Mondo Cozmo has added to it with a Presidents’ Day one-off single, the chilling “The Ballad of Vegas.”

Songwriter Joshua Ostrander says via social media: “I started writing this song after Vegas, then I stopped. I started writing again after Texas and I stopped. Then on Friday I started again.”

Among the song’s fine couplets: “But my words are only prayers and my prayers are only wind / Real change comes with the lifting of a pen.”

The song is available for free download by emailing MondoCozmoPeace at gmail.

Full lyrics:
I hope you hear my voice
and I hope this finds you well.
I hope you hear my voice
and I hope you hear the fear.
But my words are only prayers
and my prayers are only wind.
Real change comes with
the lifting of a pen.
There’s 26 dead in Texas
and you fix yourself a drink.
There’s 58 in Vegas
and they’re waiting on their peace.
I hope you hear their voices
when you’re eating your dessert.
I hope you see their faces
when you’re making love to her.
You light a candle in the wind
and say a Rosary for them.
You sing “Hallelujah”
to the fallen with a raised hand.
You line your pockets with donations
you never tend to spend.
There’s a reaper for ya comin’ Sir
and he’d like to shake your hand.
There’s 49 dead in Florida
and you have not said a word.
There’s 12 dead in Aurora
and we’re waiting on you Sir.
There’s 20 kids in Connecticut
that will never see the sun.
You promised them a future
and delivered them a gun.
I hear the storm a ’comin, blowing through the fields.

||| Stream: “The Ballad of Vegas”

||| Live: Mondo Cozmo plays March 2 at First Fridays at the Natural History Museum along with Superet and Shannon Lay. Tickets.