Malvina Reynolds: Song Lyrics and Poems  

Senate Bill One

Notes: words and music by Malvina Reynolds; copyright 1976 Schroder Music Company, renewed 2004. When Richard Nixon resigned in 1974 his vice-president, Gerald Ford, took over. Ford was still president when Senate Bill One was introduced in 1976, with the aim of stifling dissent.

Chorus:
Senate Bill One, Senate Bill One,
They'll do it to us with Senate Bill One.
We'll wonder where our liberty's gone,
With Senate Bill One.
We have to stop it and make them drop it,
Or we'll be done, done, done.

Watergate will look like Freedom time,
Exposing dirty tricks will be a crime.
And if you protest you'll be doing time,
With Senate Bill One.

(Chorus)

You'll think that you're in Spain or Nazi Germany,
With gangsters in the saddle and running free,
And the jails full of people like you and me,
With Senate Bill One.

(Chorus)

Police and militia will carry the ball,
Freedom of the press will be against the wall,
"Nixon's Revenge" is what they call
Senate Bill One.

(Chorus)

Better write a letter to your Senator
Letters to the paper and the folks next door,
Or we'll wonder what the revolutionary war was for,
After Senate Bill One.

(Chorus)

Malvina Reynolds songbook(s) in which the music to this song appears:
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Other place(s) where the music to this song appears:
---- Broadside No. 132 (July-September 1976)

Malvina Reynolds recording(s) on which this song is performed:
---- [none]