Contents:

• If cars were banned
• Critical Mass
• links

If cars were banned

(c) Heather Lev, 2003
Heather_Lev--If_Cars_Were_Banned(3.1MB).mp3

When you buy a car, do you realize
Your money pays for things you probably despise
Like oil spills covering Alaskan land
Cash in a crooked politician's hand
Children dead on desert sand
So wouldn't it be nice if cars were banned?

Chorus:
Wouldn't it be nice if cars were banned
Trees could grow upon the land
No more smog up in the sky
Let's make it happen by and by

Wouldn't it be great if streets were quiet
No car horns and engines to make a riot
Think of all the time you spend in traffic jams
Wouldn't it be great if they were banned?

Think of all the tax money that you owe
To pay for wild land to be covered up with road
And for hospitals for people hit by cars
Wouldn't it be great if they were barred?

(chorus)

Cars give us jobs, you may say
And they're just the good old American way
But GM doesn't care about American jobs,
They send 'em where they're cheaper, the greedy slobs

Imagine if kids could play without fear
That drivers'll hit them while drinking beer
And if you weren't stuck inside a metal cage
Running people down with your road rage

(chorus)

Shell Oil doesn't seem to care
If they poisoned the water or pollute the air
But if you're in Nigeria and mention that
They're going to execute you in no time flat*

We're drilling Alaskan wilderness
So gallons can be five cents less
And the Saudi royals got rich quick
And give money to terrorist lunatics

(chorus)

Greenhouse gasses fill the sky
And 40 thousand people a year will run over and die...
None of these problems would be there
If people had cars that they would share
If buses trains and bikes were everywhere.

This song could go on without any end
Until you realize that your car is not your friend
We're all car addicts, let's just say no,
And then those cars will have to go.

(chorus)

But we can change things, watch and see
(slower) We will have to, eventually
So let's get together, we'll work all day
To make those cars all go away

(last chorus)

Won't it be nice when cars are banned
Trees could grow upon the land
No more smog up in the sky
It's gonna have to happen, by and by.

*refers to Ken Sero-Wiwa

Critical Mass

Critical Mass (3:19) inspired by a worldwide protest in which bicycles block car traffic (critical mass), this folk-rock protest song applies to almost any movement for freedom and justice. (guitar, vocals, electric guitar, bass, vocals, drums) --Heather Lev, guitars, vocals; Jonathan Appel, drums, bass, Michael Lengyel, percussion, (c) 2000 Heather Lev

Heather_Lev--Critical_Mass(3.2MB).mp3

One man at Tienanman Square stood in front of the tanks
It changed the world in Soweto and in the World Bank
They took one stand at Stonewall and turned the world around
Silence equals death, now we all can hear the sound
Of a critical mass, uh-huh, you can never keep us down
With a critical mass, uh-huh, all you need is a critical mass

Never underestimate the power of a few
To bring the many to their senses, to change the standard point of view
It brought the end of slavery, and the end of the Vietnam War
It's the only thing to change the world, it's changing it more and more
It's a critical mass....

Those with greed and those with power may think that they have won
When they make another martyr, but they're so far from done
From Joe Hill to Steven Biko, Judy Bary to Wounded Knee
Hannah Senesh, Martin Luther King, lived and died to set us free
With a critical mass.

There are the few who profit from the misery of all
But their empires cannot stand if the people make them fall
It's time we brought a new life to this asphalt-covered land
It's time we took it over, took the streets back in our hands...
With a critical mass...

Our lands are being ruined, we are living without a choice
But if we stand together they have got to hear our voice
The people, united, can never be defeated
So we can work together till our victory's completed
With a Critical mass, uh-huh, you can turn the world around
With a critical mass, uh-huh, all you need is a critical mass....

links

Heather Lev's music site.
Heather Lev's career counseling for creatives site.