I APPROVE THIS MESSAGE
(from the album "This Machine: The Best of Roy Zimmerman")

words and music
copyright © 2008
by Roy Zimmerman

I am the donut lady
I am the civil engineer
I am the tractor salesman who’s a stand-up comic at his daughter’s wedding

I am the court reporter
I am the guy in the sandwich suit
I am the third grade teacher
And I Approve This Message

I am the dental hygienist
I am the undertaker’s son
I’ll be the undertaker when the undertaker has been taken under

I am the tattoo addict
I am the runner-up Miss Maine
I am the ice cream vendor
And I Approve This Message

I am John the Baptist
And I am Nancy, the Presbyterian
And I am Jerome, the Jewish Unitarian, Born-Again Buddhist Wiccan Agnostic

I am the banjo lawyer
I am the laptop Kerouac
I am the NASCAR widow
And I Approve This Message

I am the conspiracy theorist
And I know five other conspiracy theorists

And I am the precinct walker
I am the polling place volunteer
I am the statistician
And four out of five of me approve this message


And I am Yip Harburg, saying, “t don’t matter how high the throne,
What sits on it is the same as your own”

And I’m Molly Ivins, saying, “What’s the difference who’s in that chair.
Change doesn’t come from there
Change comes from here …”

And I am the huddled masses
I am the amber waves of grain
I am the toothless carny in the shooting gallery at the County Fair

I am the singer / songwriter / waitress
And I am Another Mother for Peace
I am the assistant scoutmaster
And I Approve This Message

And I am the White House switchboard operator
And I Approve This Message

I am the Arabic translator discharged because I’m gay
And I Approve This Message

I am the last man to die for a mistake
And I Approve This Message

And I am ...
And I Approve This Message

And I am ...
And I Approve This Message

And I am …

​THIS MACHINE: THE BEST OF ROY ZIMMERMAN is available as a double CD, as a digital download, and as part of these bundles.

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