Paul Stein uses his accordion, melodica, claviola, voice, & original songs to support peace, justice, & the environment. Co-founder of The Occuponics, who were active throughout Occupy Wall Street, he can be heard at marches, demonstrations, rallies, & vigils all around the New York City area, often with the Filthy Rotten System band.
The Occuponics perform “Wall Street Your Kingdom Must Come Down,” a song based on an old gospel song that was taught to the group by Painless Parker, AKA Noam Berg, back in November of 2011.
This song is regularly performed by The Occuponics because it is so aligned with the charter of the band to be “inclusive and participatory.” The song allows people listening to it to sing along with each verse and also to interactively contribute lines to it. It’s also easy to teach to other instrumentalists, because if follows a very simple Dm to A7 to Gm chord progression.
This recording of the song, captured by videographer CocoAndBrownie, includes lyrics calling out Monsanto, Fox News, Rupert Murdoch, as well as unspecified “plutocrats.” The guitarist vocalist is Stephen Carl Baldwin, accompanied by Carlos Mandelbaum on tenor saxophone.
This video from CocoAndBrownie captures the Occuponics, at Zuccotti Park/AKA LIberty Square, back in March 2012 (a time the mainstream media continues to insist Occupy Wall Street had completely disappeared). As you can see, there were demonstrators there that cold March day.
As I’ve written elsewhere, Occupy never “faded away” at all: it was the media that “faded away” and I’m sure they’re already fading away again, now that May Day is behind us and Snooki’s PR agent is calling them complaining that they’re not paying enough attention to her travails.
“NYPD, Why Don’t You Party With Me” was written by Stephen Carl Baldwin in late 2011 during one of the Occuponics’ freeform jams in Zuccotti Park. The chord progression in this song (G-Em-C-D) is identical to Pete Seeger’s “Where Have All The Flowers Gone” and “If I Had a Hammer,” as well as about a thousand Doo-Wop songs of the late 1950s. The song is intended to serve as a genuinely friendly ode to New York’s Finest, many of whom the songwriter believes sympathize with OWS while being forbidden by departmental protocol to share this opinion. In fact, on at least one occasion this song was greeted with shout-outs from a couple of police officers to “play it again!” At the same time, this song criticizes Mayor Michael Bloomberg for his heavy-handed treatment of Occupy Wall Street, characterizing the Mayor as having “a heart of stone.”
Lyrics to “NYPD, Why Don’t You Party With Me”
Hey Mayor Bloomberg
You saw us camping alone
And so you ruined our home
You’ve got a heart of stone
Hey Mayor Bloomberg
I used to think you were nice
You ain’t fooling us twice
You’ve got a heart of ice
So NYPD
Why don’t you party with me
We all know you’re the best
You’re New York’s finest
Yes, NYPD
Why don’t you party with me
We all know you’re the best
You’re New York’s finest
(repeat entire song once and face out with chorus (NYPD, why don’t you party with me…)
The Occuponics had the honor of marching with Pete when he marched from 92nd Street to Columbus Circle back in October 2011 to express his support of Occupy Wall Street. We learned a lot about what it takes to keep the music happening on a long march, actively appliy these lessons to our work with Guitarmy, a project loosely affiliated with the OWS Music Group.
Thanks to the wonderful friend and folksinger Steve Suffet for turning us onto this great video taken of Pete Seeger in Melburne, Australia, back in 1963. As Steve points out, this video captures Pete doing what he does best: getting a lot of people to sing great solidarity-building songs together.
The Occuponics’ Paul Stein was on hand this past Tuesday to provide musical accompaniment for The Tax Dodgers as they strolled around town in support of the May Day protests in New York City. At Union Square, the Dodgers were approached by Amy Goodman, of Democracy Now, and had a chance to be interviewed and perform their original song, “Take Me Out to the Tax Game.” This is the complete (slightly edited) interview of the Tax Dodgers (and of The Occuponics briefly at the end) with a transcript. Part of this interview and the complete “Take Me Out to the Tax Game” found here was a segment of the national broadcast of Democracy Now on May 2, 2012.
I’m happy to say that the GUITARMY’s first major action this past Tuesday, May First, 2012, was a success.
GUITARMY’s seven Squad Leaders were able to deliver participating musicians safely from our point of departure (Bryant Park) to our destination (Union Square). This was a big challenge because yesterday’s march was “unpermitted,” which meant that everyone had to stay on the sidewalk and carefully heed directions issued by the NYPD, but everything went smoothly. Nobody was arrested, the music was sweet, our Guitar Medic kept people supplied with strings and picks as they broke or disintegrated, the playing was timely and tuneful, and the singing was soulful and on-key.
I can say that everybody who was a part of this felt great at the end of the day: they had mastered some classic protest songs (including Florence Reece’s iconic “Which Side Are You On”), felt more confident as players, and had experienced first hand the joy and excitement of playing music within the meaningful context of a significant protest march. It was especially important that Tom Morello was able to there supporting GUITARMY. The vast majority of musicians who’ve supported Occupy Wall Street over the winter aren’t famous and never will be, and it’s a big boost when a celebrity like Tom is there because the media pays more careful attention.
GUITARMY will be out and about again. If you’d like training as a Squad Leader, please get in touch with the group and someone will show you the ropes. You can reach GUITARMY via e-mail by sending mail to the Occupy Wall Street Music Group (music@nycga.net) and also by following them on Twitter: @owsmusicgroup. Guitarmy’s Tumbler site (which contains our set list, lyrics, chords, and other resources) is here: http://occupyguitarmy.tumblr.com/
The following video from GlobalPost is very well produced and discusses Guitarmy within the context of the evolution of the Occupy Wall Street movement. The only real complaint is that one must endure a 30-second spot commercial before viewing the content.
Guitarmy, AKA “The Thousand Guitar March,” has been busily preparing for the forthcoming May Day March from Bryant Park to Union Square. There will be many guitars, and many guitar heroes, including Tom Morello, leading this peaceful, musical charge.
This past Tuesday, available Guitarmy Squad Leaders converged to come up with a suitable kickoff song. We tried to make it easy and open-ended so that beginners could play the song easily but advanced guitarists could riff and improvise above it, as well as any horn players or other accompanists that might show up. We decided on “Which Side Are You On,” by Florence Reece, based on the traditional folk song, “Lay the Lily Low.”
This rehearsal captures us trying to capture the song and make sure it can be played by as many guitarists that show up. We also added some updated lyrics (below the video). If you play guitar or can make a joyful noise please come to Guitarmy – we need musicians! There are also additional performances of “Which Side Are You On” here.
Guitarmy Squad Leaders will be out early on May 1 in Bryant Park to teach you anything you need to know about playing all the songs in the set list. We tried to keep them all to a maximum of three chords, so that everyone can play and sound good.
WHICH SIDE ARE YOU ON (GUITARMY VERSION FOR MAY 1 PERFORMANCE AND MARCH)
The basic root chord of this song is drone on Em (E minor).
Beginners should strum on Em all the way through and ONLY switch to the B7 just once, toward the latter part of each verse
Advanced guitarists might want to play a D chord over the Em at a certain point.
We are the guitar army, we”re marching from this place
We march for peace and justice, to save the human race
Which side are you on? Which side are you on?
Which side are you on? Which side are you on?
Hey, hey – May Day!
Hey, hey – May Day!
Hey, hey – May Day!
Hey, hey – May Day!
We are the guitar army, our eyes are on the prize
Musicians have no chance in life unless we organize
We are the guitar army, we’re marching side by side
We’re march for those who suffer, we march for those who’ve died
Oh people, can you hear us, oh people, do you care?
You’re either with the ninety nine, or you are with the Mayor
Original version:
Come all of you good workers, good news to you I’ll tell
Of how the good old union has come in here to dwell
My daddy was a miner, he’s now in the air and sun
And I’ll stick with the union, till every battle’s won
They say in Harlan County, there are no neutrals there
You’re either in the union, or a scab for J.H. Blair
Oh workers can you stand it? Oh tell me how you can?
Will you be a crummy scab or lend us all a hand?
Don’t scab for the bosses, don’t listen to their lies
Us poor folks don’t have a chance unless we organize
Another fun video recording of the Tax Dodgers’ late-night visit to Rockefeller Center, home of GE, NBC, and MSNBC. This video, shot by the Adventure Pants production company, is very nicely produced, and features The Dodgers, The Occuponics, and the famous Illuminator truck, a high-tech vehicle that projects images on iconic buildings — in this case, Radio Music Hall.
The Occuponics’ Steve Baldwin, with Carlos Mandelbaum on sax, lead a micro-march on Wall Street before historic Federal Hall. The song is “Wall Street, Your Kingdom Must Come Down,” which was taught to the group back in November 2011 by Painless Parker, AKA Noam Berg. Thanks to Jennifer Maskell for getting our procession on tape. The acoustics at Federal Hall are excellent, and the band will attempt to play down there as much as possible.
