Book-Banning Crooks (with captions)

Описание: I understand that the topic of censorship is sensitive and there are real debates to be had around age-appropriateness, community standards, and public policy. I am not dismissing those conversations. This song pushes back on the impulse to silence others because their views make us uncomfortable. Cabaret has always been a place where serious truths dress up in sequins and say the quiet parts out loud with a spotlight and a piano.

This song is part of a series based on the poems of Hafiz in his book Little Book of Life made new by Erfan Mojib & Gary Gach. This one is the 14th poem in the book. Poem & Lyrics below. Song on Suno; Video Editing on Clipchamp; captions on MixCaptions; assistance from Lyra (my ChatGPT AI.)

Hafiz poem 14: The chief cop / Has chopped off / The lovely hair / Of the harp

Book-Banning Crooks

Book bans have been in place
ever since the first books were made.
Usually people are in a tizzy
because someone wrote something that made them dizzy.
6,870 books
were taken last year by book-banning crooks
here in the U.S., the land of the free.
But how free are we if we can’t read
what we want to learn about?
That’s why some people are starting to shout.
They don’t like this sanitized route.
They scrub the shelves, wipe away fear.
Their intentions seem sincere.
But what if the books they seem to target
only hurt the people already hard hit?

The Bluest Eye? Too traumatic.
Don’t make us look at someone else’s pain.
Looking for Alaska? Too mature.
We want to think teens are all the same.
Wicked? Duh! Witch-craft involved.
The book is actually really intense.
Life of Pi? Oh, my.
Make it make sense.
Lock and Key? Locked up.
House of Night? Too much bite.
My Sister’s Keeper? Keep her quiet.
The Chocolate War? Don’t fight.
The Help? Let’s just not.
The House of the Scorpion? Sting.
Twilight? Too much sparkle.
Walk Two Moons? Don’t let them sing.
Zorro? Too Mexican.
Wayside Stories? Sideways banned.
The House on Mango Street?
The problem is, they’ll never understand.
1984? Oh, George. Orwell that is.
Pretty much banned everywhere.
That rebel wrote about censorship,
then got censored. That’s unfair.

Scrub their eyeballs clean;
disinfect their minds.
We don’t want them curious;
we want them obedient and blind.

[Chorus]
Ban the book! Rip out the pages!
Call it safety for our children.
Build a bonfire; burn the sages.
That’s how you grow real men.
Curate their world; make it pristine.
Don’t let them think for themselves.
Thinkers won’t do our bidding,
so we must empty the library shelves.

Uncle Tom’s Cabin? Too anti-slavery.
Grapes of Wrath? Too unflattering.
The Handmaid’s Tale? Women bravery.
Animal Farm? Pigs were chatting.
The Bible’s banned somewhere too,
depends who’s holding it over you.
Rights of Man? Treason in the U.K.
Voltaire? Inquisition said, “No way!”
Lady Chatterley? Scandalized.
Ulysses? Long and over-analyzed.
Alice in Wonderland? Animals talk.
General Ho thought that was a slippery slope.
Humans and rabbits on equal ground?
Disastrous thinking; shut it down.
Lots of books burned in China—
Jane Eyre corrupting youth.
Doctor Zhivago in Russia banned—
they might be allergic to truth.
The Satanic Verses? Worldwide rage.
The Second Sex? Locked in a cage.
Autobiography of Malcolm X?
South Africa said, “Hard pass, next.”
The Well of Loneliness? Lesbians.
The 1619 Project? Way too Black.
Go Tell It On the Mountain?
What? There’s gay people in that!

Asia has a 44% censor rate.
South America shrugs, “Read what you want, mate.”
5% from the land of the free,
but that number’s climbing. Just wait and see.

[Chorus – See Above]

No Marx, no Lenin, no Chomsky in sight.
No Einstein either—ideas bite.
Indonesia banned whole alphabets.
Lebanon banned Sesame Street
because Hanukkah’s apparently a threat.
Ivanhoe? Jewish characters—delete.
Oliver Twist? Too Semitic.
The Jungle? Politically inconvenient.
Frankenstein? Obscene and scientific.
And Nietzsche? Russians said, “Nope.”
Malaysia banned Fifty Shades. They grope.
Saudi banned Goat Days—too true.
Don’t tell your story; they’ll ban you too.

You can’t say inclusive.
You can’t say diverse.
You can’t say systemic.
“Trans” is even worse.
You can’t say gender.
You can’t say race.
You can’t quote history
without someone losing face.

[Final Chorus – See Above]

Scrub their eyeballs clean;
disinfect their minds.
We don’t want them curious;
we want them obedient and blind.

Hafiz. Hafiz's Little Book of Life. Translated by Erfan Mojib and Gary Gach, Hampton Roads Publishing, 2023.