Union Songs
Basic Income
A Song by John Tomlinson©John Tomlinson 2008
Chorus:
Goodbye old Australia forever
and farewell to Botany Bay
I’m off to Europe to find answers to questions
so please, just get out of the way.Goodbye to your tired old means-testing,
your obsessional fears and worn out ideas
have, in the end, reduced me to tears.
You’ve no idea that they’ve had their day.
There’s a Basic Income conference in Dublin
and comrades I’m going that way.
I’ll be dealing in euros and pounds
far away from those small-minded clowns
ensconced in their cities and towns
sustained by sanctimonious frowns.
We’ll be speaking of payments universal
of social and economic rights for all
finding a place for each and every resident
not seeking the malingerer or dissident.
We’ll talk about tomorrow’s citizenship.
We’ll prepare and dare; care and share
for rich and poor, for weak and strong
we’ll speak of equality; and righting the wrong.
Basic Income is about trusting each other,
neighbour, stranger, friend, sister or brother.
Contributing as we should to the general good,
taking what we need, not glorifying greed.So, hello Australia as ever
and g’day to Botany Bay
I’ll return with answers a-plenty
and together we’ll win the day!
Notes
Many thanks to John Tomlinson for permission to add this poem to the Union Songs collection.
More of the work of John Tomlinson in this collection
union songs..........a selection by mark gregory