Malvina
Reynolds: Song Lyrics and Poems 
Stocktaking
Notes: by Malvina Reynolds; copyright 1967 by the author. From page 91 of the collection "Inscriptions on a Ginger Jar," printed in the songbook The Muse of Parker Street.
We've landed in a very strange
confusion
Who once commanded all the world's attention
For something that I hardly dare to mention--
We had a revolution.
From books I read I gather
the impression
We headed up the world in proper manner,
The Bill of Rights our fair and shining
banner--
But now we're at the tail of the procession.
We coax informers from the
ditch and stable
And they become our twentieth century heroes,
And purse-mad fools and diplomatic zeros
Become our voices at the council table.
Freedoms we won are laid by
on deposit,
The horror picture book becomes our culture,
Our symbol is the new atomic vulture,
And liberty's the skeleton in the closet.
We've landed in some very strange
confusions,
Who once had universal admiration,
Now we appear, a proud and giant nation,
Bound, gagged and led by our own Lilliputians.
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