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“If You Tell a Lie”
Produced and Directed by Jonathan Halperin. Photographed
and filmed by Tom Erikson, Jonathan Halperin and David
Winton. Edited by Stephanie Mechura Challberg
On January 20th, 2001, George W. Bush,
appointed President of the United States formally took
office. I had been asked to sing a song that night at
the Bazaar Café in San Francisco where Les, the
proprietor was producing a counter-event called “The
Night of the Burning Bush”. That afternoon, depressed
and restless, I couldn’t make myself practice
the song I intended to sing, Bob Dylan’s “Masters
of War”. Instead, I sat down and turned on the
TV. I had honestly forgotten that I would be subjected
to live coverage of the inaugural parade. It was a bleak
day in Washington, and I remember experiencing an overwhelming
feeling of sadness and fear as I watched the Presidential
limousine drive down Pennsylvania Avenue. I turned off
the TV, sat down at the piano and wrote this song in
about 25 minutes. I performed it for the first time
that night. Last spring, I wrote an additional verse
that addresses the war in Iraq and we recorded the new
version of the song for this video.
— Monica Pasqual, Blame Sally
If you tell a lie again and again
It does not become the truth in the end
If your voice is loud and your lies are well heard
Still it does not mean transformation has occurred
Water isn't wine
Brass isn't gold
One day you'll account for all the lies that you told
If you take the forest, if you steal it tree by tree
If you blacken the river if you desecrate the sea
You can wave your arms, you can shout out from on high
But the truth is still the truth and a lie is still
a lie
Water isn't wine
Brass isn't gold
One day you'll account for all the priceless things
you sold
You can speak of God while you lead your Holy War
As if your hands weren’t stained by the oil you adore
More innocents will die and more soldiers will fall
You name your church for God but it was greed that built
those walls
Water isn’t wine
Brass isn’t gold
One day you’ll account for all the lives that you stole
Two faced yes fool
Pin striped suit ghoul
You can make a promise and some people might believe
That you are not beholden to the power, to the greed
But if they should fall ill, or their schools should
fall down
Should they fall on hard times well I doubt you'll be
around
Water isn't wine, brass isn't gold
And it's wrong that we should pay for that crown that
you stole
Water isn't wine, brass isn't gold
One day you'll account for all the lies that you told
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