**Though I've written lots of songs over the years, I can only remember one protest song, and it was from the Vietnam era. Almost everything else has been about love and angst. But recently I received a message from an old friend and partner in the Jefferson Moosical. It told of a project a friend of his, Jerry Berman, has started. Jerry wrote a protest song against current US immigration policy, "Saving Lady Liberty." He also invited other musicians to create their own versions and said he'd post them to his FB page. So I dusted off the equipment and instruments, wrote my own version and produced this:Saving Lady Liberty
Published under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License
Mario Tosto with Joan Ostrin and David Johnson
Based on a song by Jerry Berman
INTRO: G D C G
G D C G
There's a mist in New York harbor, but it's not rain that you see
G Em A7 D7
It's the tears of Lady Liberty flowing grievously
G D C G
She grieves for walled off borders and hearts that won't unfreeze
C G D7 G
Her muted lips no more proclaim: "my torch, it burns for thee"
CHORUS
G B7 C G
We are coming, Lady Liberty, all colors, clans, and creeds
G Em A7 D7
An army of real patriots, the kind true freedom breeds
G B7 C G
We are coming, Lady Liberty, your beacon is our guide
C G D7 G
We welcome the huddled masses, standing side by side
C G D7 G
She is weeping in the harbor, whose arms once opened wide,
Embracing hopeful immigrants and all the tears they cried.
She weeps from shame and horror and no more stands in pride.
Bigotry and greed have stemmed our nation's lifeblood tide
CHORUS
We are coming, Lady Liberty, all colors, clans, and creeds
An army of real patriots, the kind true freedom breeds
We are coming, Lady Liberty, your beacon is our guide
We rally to your promise, rally to your side.
C G D7 G
Our neighbors forced to leave, their families torn apart
Is this the life she promised? Is this that hopeful start?
No! And we say no again! These orders we'll outsmart –
We'll rally in defense of love and melt the ICE-bound heart
CHORUS
We are coming, Lady Liberty, all colors, clans, and creeds
An army of real patriots, the kind true freedom breeds
We are coming, Lady Liberty, your beacon is our guide
We rally to your promise, rally to your side.
We are coming, Lady Liberty, all colors, clans, and creeds
An army of real patriots, the kind true freedom breeds
We are coming, Lady Liberty, your beacon is our guide
We rally to your promise, rally to your side.
C G D7 G
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