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Get 'Em, Letitia James!

by Scott Cook

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about

I've been thinking we need to hear less about the broken people wrecking the world, and more about the heroes setting it right. Attorney General James is a public servant in the truest sense of the word, and as her Wikipedia page makes abundantly clear, a complete and total badass. This song was first released to my Fellow Travellers on www.patreon.com/scottcooksongs, where I hope to release more tributes to living heroes as I go.

lyrics

Friends, the TV news gives me the blues
With the stories they run
Bout the crooked, fakin' assholes takin' up
All the oxygen
They got ads to sell us, so they don't tell us
How to change the status quo
Or inform the masses 'bout true badasses
And folk heroes
Some good people insist that you can't resist
The machine and its will
So many tried and failed, one even got nailed
To a cross on a hill
And some other folks say, that they'll let you play
But they'll never let you win
And you must be deranged if you dream of changing
The system from within
No denying, it's a long run
And there's a million and one ways to ruin it
But if you say it can't be done
Just stay out the way of the ones doin' it!
Who paid their dues, studied the rules
To beat 'em at their own games
Like the queen bee, New York A.G.
The fearless Letitia James
Ain't it sweet to see the powers that be
Go down in flames?
They're so unnerved when they get served
Get 'em, Letitia James

Born and bred in Brooklyn, she grew up looking
At the world from that view
And her family was tested when her brother was arrested
For something that he didn't do
When they went to the courtroom to support him
Tish was a teenager
And she saw everyone in there except the defendants,
None of 'em looked like her
And her vow that day
To fight for an education
Took her such a long way
To her vocation in litigation
From public defender to attorney general
Kicking ass and taking names
From food stamps to the people's champ
The mighty Letitia James
Ain't it sweet to see the powers that be
Go down in flames?
They're so unnerved when they get served
Get 'em, Letitia James

Freshly educated at Howard University
Tish went to work for the Legal Aid Society
Defended folks who didn't have the dollars
Set up a coalition for young black scholars
And it was righteous work, but she was just getting started
Won a seat on city council for the Working Families Party
Found irregularities in corporate contracts
Fixed payroll and took six hundred million back
Fought corruption in the NYPD
Sued the cops for roughing people up at Occupy Wall Street
Fought against developers to keep folks in their homes
Knowing poor people can't fight 'em alone
Next she got elected Public Advocate
Elevated the position by the respect she had for it
Heard complaints to try and make things fair
Sued the city over foster care
Then in 2019 she was elected A.G.
And everyone who stood behind her could see
That same as ever, she'd be the people's defender
Fighting the sharks and the predatory lenders
Even when she was outgunned she fought anyway
Sniffed out fraud and filed suit against the NRA
Never afraid of the powerful so and sos
Like Mayor Bloomberg or Governor Cuomo
Working under people she was way smarter than
Dealing out justice that was non-partisan
I mean Cuomo was a Democrat
But he was also a creep and Tish wouldn't have that
She opened an inquiry into the harassment allegations
And another into undercounted deaths of nursing home patients
She kept it all in her sights
And just kept on picking the right fights
To break up big tech, to keep the net neutral
Filed antitrust against Facebook and Google
Sued corporations for fraud and fixing prices
Fined J&J $200 million for the opioid crisis
Fought for tenants and children
Fought for the disrespected and forgotten
She said I won't be found up in an ivory tower
I'll be here on the ground speaking truth to power
Feeling people's pain, doin' the job relatably
And never be removed from those who elevated me
'Cause some believe in profit over people
But the Constitution counts us equal
When dignity is under attack
On my watch we're gonna take that power back
You can see how rich folks get used to getting their way
And the wealth of trickery in the way the game gets played
Like when it serves 'em, why not inflate their assets
But then undervalue 'em when they're paying taxes
After a while they might get to thinking they're above the law
But swaggering's a fatal flaw
Like one such chump, he had a long slump
But he kept living large, his name is best forgotten
'Cause that big fish is rotten and might get caught
Attorney General James is comin' in hot!
With some advice for the crooked shysters
Who ain't what they claim
You're tempting fate in New York State
Get 'em, Letitia James
Ain't it sweet to see the powers that be
Go down in flames?
They're so unnerved when they get served
Get 'em, Letitia James

credits

released May 20, 2022
Drums and keys: Bramwell Park
Background vocals: Dana Wylie
Vocals, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, electric bass: Scott Cook
Mixing and mastering: Brad Smith

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Scott Cook Edmonton, Alberta

Canada's prairie balladeer Scott Cook has managed to distil the stories collected over years of near-incessant touring across Canada, the USA, Europe, Asia, and Australia into straight-talking, keenly observant verse. All the hard miles notwithstanding, he still believes that songs can change your life, and your life can change the world. ... more

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