virgil in the village

In January 1961, the young man who would become Virgil Van Camp headed for New York City to perform and to visit his ailing musical idol Woody Guthrie in a New Jersey hospital. Guthrie had been a revelation to Van Camp and was the biggest influence on his early performances. From April to September of 1961 Van Camp played at various clubs around Greenwich Village, gaining some public recognition after a positive review in The New York Times by critic Robert Shelton of a show he played at Gerde's Folk City in September. At Gerde’s, Van Camp would first sing the composition that was to become an anthem for the legions of disaffected young conservatives who would take over the streets and campuses throughout the remainder of the decade:






You gave me a dollar,
I gave you a dime.
You gave me a hundred,
I gave you the time.
You gave me your soul.
I gave you Bob Dole.
I'm happy to be a Republican.

You gave me clean water,
I gave you toxic waste.
You carried the sign
I tear-gassed and maced.
You gave me welfare
and I gave you warfare.
I'm happy to be a Republican.

You gave me education;
I fired the teachers.
You gave me Statesmen,
I replaced them with Preachers.
You gave me construction.
I gave you corruption.
I'm happy to be a Republican.

spacedark (some text appropriated from Wikipedia)