To give us all a badly-needed lift, Brockers have often quoted the lyrics to familiar songs or have even written their own to go with well-known tunes. I recall a couple of years ago turning up the volume on Trooper’s “Raise a Little Hell” when a Youtube video was posted here! Nobody knows how it works, but music really does do something incredibly wonderful to our hearts.
In tandem with the fellowship I’ve experienced and the support I’ve received from the people on this blog, music has been what has gotten me through the FATCA/CBT minefield without stepping on a bomb. A side-effect of my own “OMG moment” was the discovery of a previously untapped well of creativity that I had not ever explored before. Since 2012 I’ve managed to write a short album’s worth of songs inspired almost entirely by the situation in which we have all found ourselves. There are 11 songs so far with a twelfth in the works.
Most of them are unrecorded as yet. For several personal reasons I have not shared them before, but I would like to offer three of them to you today. They are not “Hi-Fi”. They are raw, un-produced, and unedited, recorded in my living room. They are what they are, including everything I wish could have been better.
“Pay the Piper” (2012) might be called a “blues autobiography”; Out of the Shadows (2013), from my pre-blogging days, is about what it’s like to be in hiding without a voice; Rosa (2014) tells the story of Rosa Parks, our heroine from the civil rights movement. They can be found on the IBS Youtube link thanks to the hard work and generosity of Deckard. My sincere thanks to him and everyone else who made the upload possible! I hope you enjoy listening!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3sOK1MmnF8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qf0LMZuzKoE
Dig the blooper, “American’s don’t read good.”
I’m looking forward to listening, MuzzledNoMore!
@ MuzzledNoMore
I loved all three songs but “Out of the Shadows”, in particular, struck a poignant chord with me. To think you were hiding all these gems from us. And you’ve got 9 more … WOW! I’m in total awe of your song writing and singing talent. Thank you for bringing your songs into the light for us (with Deckard’s help). They are truly inspiring.
Oh yes, in case anyone is wondering, “Raise a Little Hell” came up in the thread below. The version I posted has since been taken down by youtube but WhiteKat’s find (posted November 2, 2013 at 5:17 pm) is still viewable:
https://isaacbrocksociety.ca/2013/10/24/are-there-any-who-will-be-a-part-of-a-calgary-protest-to-fatca-outside-the-october-31-november-2-conservative-convention/
@MuzzledNoMore.,
These are phenomenal! I hope you will record them.
@MuzzledNoMore
Never has your name been more apt. These are more than great. I am also pleased to know that I am not alone in relating our mutual situation to music. It is often how I keep my sanity as well.
Deckard’s help confirms how we are together in this cause. What a treat and a bonus to a good day.
Music is such a release in times of intense stress. Your creativity is a gift to all of us, MuzzledNoMore. Thanks so much.
@Muzzled
FABULOUS!!!! My favourite is “Pay the Piper”. We now have our very own battle songs, the current version of JA’s “We Can Be Together”, which I always found so fitting to our cause.
Just great and thank you.
Wonderful tunes, MuzzledNoMore, and a beautiful voice to accompany them. Looking forward to hearing more!
@Muzzled,
Thanks for sharing! I enjoyed listening to all 3.
In the spirit of the strong protest songs of the past sent to me from one we used to hear from here, saying —
Voices of protest have been muffled. So, it’s good to hear these from someone called MuzzledNoMore.
Thank you *so* much, everyone, for your kind comments! I’m so happy the songs have been meaningful and I hope they can be useful to our cause. Many, many thanks!
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-iran-china-idUSKCN0V109V
Here’s a $600bn song for the US. China has signed an oil deal with Iran – guess which currency Iran won’t be selling that oil in? You got it – the US dollar.
One more step backwards for the US dollar.
Wow MuzzledNoMore – we’re adding you to the IBS Hall of Fame; joining among others, songsters like Embee, Blaze, and several others (sorry, brain not recalling fast enough for this quick comment….).
The wide and deep well of talent and skills and knowledge aligned in this fight is more than anyone could have imagined.
Thankyou!!
@badger I am not a songster–as my spoken version of American Taxman so clearly showed.
I seriously hope MuzzledNoMore will develop her work into a CD. I sent MNM an e-mail suggesting she send Rosa to Oprah Winfrey. Does Oprah still have a show?
MuzzledNoMore, I enjoyed your songs and hope to hear more of them. Quite an accomplishment. We need more voices of protest for our cause.
“There are 11 songs so far with a twelfth in the works.
Most of them are unrecorded as yet. For several personal reasons I have not shared them before, but I would like to offer three of them to you today.”
That means you’re muzzling 8 of your songs. Why?
I’m not competent to evaluate songs. I like classical music. But your 3 posted songs, the singing as well as of course the lyrics, sure sounded great to me.
Thank you again, everyone!
Badger, I am *so* honoured to even be mentioned in the same sentence as the “IBS Hall of Fame”!
Blaze, you and I have “chatted” about giving “Rosa” some legs. Thanks for your brilliant ideas!
Norman, I’m glad you liked the songs. The rest of them are in the process of being rehearsed and recorded and will appear here (if my helpers are willing) in due course. Even though what I’m releasing isn’t perfect it still takes a lot of time to get the performances up to a standard I’m willing to let out of the house. I’m just so delighted that you’re interested in hearing more!
Thank you for the encouragement!!!
@MuzzledNoMore
You might very well be the Joan Baez of the anti-FATCA movement 🙂
Oh my, Bubblebustin! *There’s* a name of someone whose boots I could never possibly fill! 🙂
One day I was thinking about what I call the IRS’s stealing from disabled Canadian children and how the US State Department won’t allow their guardian to renounce on behalf of the child to stop the financial bleeding, and I couldn’t get this song out of my head for a few days afterward:
Club Nouveau’s “Why You Treat Me So Bad?”
Related to “Why You Treat Me So Bad?” I even thought about rewriting it to fit expats’ circumstances.
Right, GetMikey.
Interesting, one of the comments that can be extended to those who left the USA to live in other countries:
@Blaze, I think we can include your spoken word version of American Taxman – as a songster, you’d be joining the likes of Tom Waits, Bob Dylan, and Canadian William Shatner ………