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landlord - david rovics lyrics

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[verse 1]
the patroons came from holland to america
became landlords where none had been before
soon one man owned half a million acres
on both sides of the hudson river sh-r-
he invited families to move in and give him thirty percent
of everything they grew each year, this is how they’d pay the rent

[verse 2]
his name was rensselaer
he became one of the richest men on earth
in today’s terms ninety billion dollars
is how much he’d be worth
all this for doing nothing but saying all of this was his
“i have the power of the state behind me and i’m in the landlord biz”

[verse 3]
after two hundred years of this and one revolution won
another rennsalaer had another son
and this rennsalaer was greedier than his ancestors dead and p-ssed
it was now the 1840’s and things started changing fast

[verse 4]
it was the straw that broke the back, the bottle was uncorked
they started organizing meetings, the tenant farmers of new york
they found the strength of numbers, they found the power of suggestion
they found each other asking the same question

[chorus]
who gave you the right to be a landlord
to live a life of ease while others toil
who gave you the right to be a rich man
while the rest of us pay you so that we can work this soil

[verse 5]
they vowed that they would stop the rent collection
they vowed they’d bring this madness to an end
and when one blew the tin horn of distress
they’d soon find they had a thousand friends
dressed in calico skirts with masks upon their faces, on horseback, armed with knives and guns
they chanted and they yelled, they kept their farms, and they kept the sheriffs on the run

they asked…
[chorus]
who gave you the right to be a landlord
to live a life of ease while others toil
who gave you the right to be a rich man
while the rest of us pay you so that we can work this soil

[verse 6]
the governor p-ssed laws to try to stop them
but nothing could be done to break their will
and by 1848 the landlords buckled and sold their holdings to the farmers in the hills
yes, they overthrew this feudal system
but it’s replaced now by speculators and banks
and you can still hear the homeless families asking of all the landed gentry in our ranks

- david rovics lyrics

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