He was born in Asia Minor A colonized Jewish man His father the village carpenter Worked wood in his occupied land He was apprenticed to his fathers trade His country paid its dues To the colonial Roman conquerors He was a workingclass Jew Though conceived three months out of wedlock The stigma never stuck He began a three year public life But he never made a buck Because he spoke out against injustice Saw that capitalism bled the poor He attackd selfrighteous hypocrites And h condemned the lawyers law But theyve commercialised his birthday now The very people he defied And theyve sanctified their system And claim hes on their side! But if he appeared tomorrow Hed still pay the highest cost Being a radical agitator Theyd still nail him to a cross You see Hed stand with the down trodden masses Identify with the weak and oppressed Hed condemn the hypocrites in church pews And the affluent, arrogant West Hed oppose Stalinist totalitarianism The exploitation of millions by one And peace through mutual terror And diplomacy from the barrel of a gun Hed fight with Joe Hill and Waleca Mandala and Friere Try to free the third worlds millions From hunger and despair Hed stand with the peasants At the pockmarked walls Theyd haul him in on bail Hed condemn all forms of apartheid And hed rot in their stinking jails Hed denounce all dictatorships And Mammons greed And the exploitation of others for gain Hed oppose the nuclear madness And the waging of wars in his name Hed mix with prostitutes and sinners Challenge all to cast the first stone A compassionate agitator One of the greatest the world has known Hed condemn all corrupt law and order Tear man made hierarchies down Hed see status and titles as dominance And the politics of greed hed hound Hed fight against The leagues of the Ku Klux Klan And the radical, racist right One of the greatest humanitarian socialists Was comrade Jesus Christ
hed, condemn, exploitation, agitator, oppose