David Rovics
It’s a pattern, ever present in the places that don’t strictly regulate the abilities of the rich to make more money at the expense of everybody else. Currently one of many cities that the wealthy developers are trying to destroy is my latest home town of Portland, Oregon.
David Rovics makes lots of good material available online, including a blog of his travels, 200+ songs for free (over a million downloads), pirate songs for kids and a chronicle of activist history. And he’s on Facebook and Twitter.
Lyrics:
Gentrification Town
I’ve moved out of three cities ’cause I couldn’t pay the rent
Folks like me weren’t welcome so I packed it up and went
It’s always the same story, I find a place I wanna be
And soon enough I’m joined by all the other refugees
Then watch the websites warble, this is the hippest place to hang
Hey check out Division, it’s the sweetest thing since Tang
Then watch the millionaires come in and build a luxury hotel
Sipping coffee on the sidewalk, saying isn’t this place swell
Rents are going up and the neighborhood’s going down
Here in Gentrification Town
See the families leave the city, watch how they accept their fate
Except the ones who had the timing right and bought some real estate
The ones who had the timing and the ones who had the credit
The ones who paid attention to whoever it was who said it
This is a nation that won’t suffer utopians or fools
He who has the gold rules
He who has the gold, he who bought the stock
He who is the landlord who owns your block
They say you can’t blame the yuppies, they’re just responding to the will
Of the market and the strength of the US dollar bill
But the dollar’s only strong if you have some to your name
Otherwise you’re on the business end of the game
The end that just stays home ’cause they can’t afford the show
The end that has to pack their things and find a place to go
The new hip place to be, for a little while, then
The wrecking balls move in and chase us out again
Street art found on Community Rejuvenation Project website.