Uploaded September 2024 | Updated September 2026, 3 hours ago

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Parody Violation track 14. Thanks to rocketman0739 for providing high-quality versions of these songs.
Download the album here: archive.org/details/filk_parody_violation
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Lyrics (TTTO "Caretakers," Bill Sutton):

In a time of rising budgets, in an age of cost-plus fee
The dollar was ruler of life on Earth, as it flowed out of Washington DC
But inflation shrank the dollar, and recession tore the land
And the lobbyist came to protect the goods, to stay the Newt [Gingrich]-man's hand,

Singing, "I am the strength of the grass and the root,
I am the sole public good"

In a time of shrinking budgets and declining revenue,
A man sat down at a scarred wood desk, with a pencil colored blue
And he looked at the bloated budget, and he started taking notes
And a vision leapt from the Xeroxed page and grabbed him by the throat,

Singing, "I am the strength of the grass and the root,
I am the sole public good"

There were jobs and schools and freeways, there was Mom and apple pie,
There was everything he had ever loved to promise in the sweet by-and-by
And the lobbyist sang of the voters, and he sang of November wins,
And his claws reached out from the viewgraph charts, reached out to pull him in,

Singing, "I am the strength of the grass and the root,
I am the sole public good"

But the man pulled out a mandate, and he held it to his eyes,
And he sang of funding for sure next year, and he told some familiar lies,
And the lobbyist fell, defeated, with a thin, despairing whine,
And he passed away, while the shredder's roar deleted his bottom line,

Singing, "I am the strength of the grass and the root,
I am the sole public good"

In the night under budget ceilings, in the night 'neath the Capitol dome
A man looks down at his desk and sighs, grabs his hat, and heads for home
But he stoops to empty his trash can, and he hears a quiet sound
A song of hope for next fiscal year, and new bucks flowing down,

Singing, "I am the strength of the grass and the root,
I am the sole public good"