What do you do when you have no home to go home to?
What do you do when it's taken away from you?
When your town is under water
and your road is washed away…
The Shay's Rebellion lingers here today.
What do you do when you fight for a revolution
And in the end see nothing at all has changed
Because the wealthy are still wealthy and keep takin' away from the poor.
What do you do when there's water under the door?..
What do you do when a jail cell takes your neighbors,
'Cause they won't let their taxes go to war ?!
Do you rise up in protest? Do you stand there with them too?
What do you do when the water covers the floor?
O march with us to the Quabbin, to Conkey's for a meal.
We'll have dessert at Betsy & Randy's in Colrain.
If they take your neighbor's home away,
Then next they'll come for you.
Oh, the water's seepin' in thru the window pane....
Why do you pay for death squads at 4 in the morning
to torture, rape, and kill a community?
If your taxes pay for murder,
then why do you pay for more?
What do you do when the blood runs under the door?
From Colrain to the Quabbin is a message
that runs from Boston to El Salvador.
That we fight for the rights of our friends and of our neighbors
Or else the blood and the water will be runnin' under your door,
Or else the blood and the water will be runnin' under your door...
What do you do when it's taken away from you?
When your town is under water
and your road is washed away…
The Shay's Rebellion lingers here today.
What do you do when you fight for a revolution
And in the end see nothing at all has changed
Because the wealthy are still wealthy and keep takin' away from the poor.
What do you do when there's water under the door?..
What do you do when a jail cell takes your neighbors,
'Cause they won't let their taxes go to war ?!
Do you rise up in protest? Do you stand there with them too?
What do you do when the water covers the floor?
O march with us to the Quabbin, to Conkey's for a meal.
We'll have dessert at Betsy & Randy's in Colrain.
If they take your neighbor's home away,
Then next they'll come for you.
Oh, the water's seepin' in thru the window pane....
Why do you pay for death squads at 4 in the morning
to torture, rape, and kill a community?
If your taxes pay for murder,
then why do you pay for more?
What do you do when the blood runs under the door?
From Colrain to the Quabbin is a message
that runs from Boston to El Salvador.
That we fight for the rights of our friends and of our neighbors
Or else the blood and the water will be runnin' under your door,
Or else the blood and the water will be runnin' under your door...
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(1) Swords Into Plowshares, Tom's third album, chronicles the War Tax Refusers' action Colrain, MA. Woman of Sumpul River, Man on the Stairs, and Sallie, tragic songs about women surviving violence, are rich in artistic images. – Says Tom Paxton, "This is very good politics…and very good music".