I think it’s appropriate to feature a hymn on Good Friday, a prayer offered up by one prophet for a day that commemorates the sacrifice of another. Happy Easter!

The Plastic Ono Band: Give Peace a Chance

This week’s protest song is dedicated to Cindy Sheehan and John Conyers, who didn’t have a meeting of the minds this week on the issue of impeachment, which Sheehan sees as a method to end the Occupation of Iraq.

John Conyers and Cindy Sheehan in happier times

From the 1968 album Unconditionally Guaranteed
Peaches (MP3)

All of those peaches up in one tree,
I know one of them belongs to me.

I seem them peaches fallin down by me,
I know you see me standing under your tree.

Long as you’ve got so many peaches,
Why don’t you throw one down to me?
If I was a cherry-red bird
I’d fly up and take you off with me.

Throw me a peach outta your tree!
Ain’t no use in you being mean to me.
Guess I’ll stop hanging ’round your tree
If you don’t send one down to me!

You know I’m as hungry as a man can be,
And I’m down here begging under your tree.

All of those peaches up in your tree,
Seem they’re just out of reach to me.

Long as you’ve got so many peaches,
Why don’t you throw one down to me?
If I was a cherry-red bird
I’d fly up and take you off with me.

All of those peaches up in one tree,
I know one of them belongs to me.

I seem them peaches fallin down by me,
I know you see me standing under your tree.

Long as you’ve got so many peaches,
Why don’t you throw one down to me?
If I was a cherry-red bird
I’d fly up and take you off with me.

Throw me a peach outta your tree!
Ain’t no use in you being mean to me.

All of those peaches up in one tree,
I know one of them belongs to me.
(repeat and fade)

We end the week on the verge of a new government. The Unitary Executive has gone Rogue.

• The President signed an executive order authorizing the CIA to torture in its secret overseas prisons again, but this time, minus the sexual humiliation.
   
• The President also signed an executive order authorizing the seizure of assets of anyone interfering with US policy in Iraq.
   
• The Washington Post today published an announcement that the White House would not allow the Dept. of Justice to prosecute any Contempt of Congress charges arising from its assertion of Executive Privilege.

Unsolicited endorsement: My recording is from Wounded Bird Records, which boasts an impressive catalog of rare vinyl, re-released on CD.
Orders are filled quickly. I’ve spoken to the owner personally and we are happy customers of theirs.

It’s a Constitutional Crisis. Will there be a President Pelosi in 2007? Will it be shown instead that the American Public has become so corrupted as to need despotic Government, being incapable of any other? I think it could go either way.

I’m reminded of Peter Rowan’s cries of anguish and frustration at the end of this recording ofThe Great American Eagle Tragedy by Earth Opera, a psychedelic rock band that emerged as part of the “Boston Sound” movement from 1967 - 1969.

They frequently opened for the Doors. Earth Opera sang against the Vietnam War, but as a few others have noted, one only needs to replace ‘jungle’ with ‘desert’ to find a striking resonance with our problems today.

“I guess my military career is over. I am confused, relieved and scared all at the same time” begins GA Democrat on the Democratic Underground, as he writes his “personal account going from a super-soldier to disabled veteran in 6 years.”

This is from the end of his article, about his 2005-2006 tour and his return home:

I was hunted every day by IEDs, small arms fires and mortars. We told each other this was bullshit. This is not how we imagined us restoring peace. We were prey and they were hunting us picking us off one by one. Not even our tanks could withstand their new and improved IEDs. Every day for hours I would go on a mission and get lucky (if you can call it that). IEDs that hit my vehicle were not of the advanced kind. I only experienced whiplash and concussions. Silent injuries would come later. Fumes of burning vehicles (especially tanks) and chemicals would start my downfall.

I returned back in one piece but this time I was stabbed, shot and beheaded almost every night in my dreams. I woke up choking my wife one night in my sleep and haven’t slept in the same room since for fear of doing it again. My headaches got worse. I now have almost 8mm of protective skin that surrounds my nerves in my brain gone. They say that if it continues getting worse, I can’t rule out MS. Who’s gonna walk my daughter down the isle 20 years from now? My neck pain is constant and not one medication prescribed is working. I was diagnosed with PTSD.

(Also Recommended: The Nation’s “The Other War: Iraqi Vets Bear Witness” published July 9, 2007)

Next to people like GA Democrat I feel really shy about saying that I’m a vet too — I don’t think I could have had an easier time in the Navy if my father’s middle initials were H.W. I did however, learn some hard lessons, one of them being the importance of sleep. Upon my discharge I lost my alarm clock and promised myself that I would never fight sleep again.

An MP3 of Everything’s Alright is available here.
Lyrics are after the jump.

But for veterans who’ve seen action, sleep fights them.

My heart goes out to these men and women, and I am in such sorrow for what they are being forced to do in our name (it is in our name, no matter how many times you say it isn’t.)

All I can do for them at this time is dedicate my voice and efforts to ending the US occupation of Iraq.

To that end, my Friday Protest Song is from the soundtrack to Jesus Christ Superstar - Mary Magdalene’s lullaby “Everything’s Alright”, which suggests that every warrior, Lo — even the Savior of the World, deserves a restful sleep once in a while.

If I could wish one thing upon Iraq vets, it would be a good night’s sleep. A long, restful, deep, dreamless, healing slumber. Bless you all.

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