1. Survivor
2. Another Year
3. MRR

 

 

This CD is a benefit for the Purple Berets.

The Purple Berets is a kick-ass women's rights group dedicated to creating equal justice for women and girls now. We use direction action and public pressure campaigns to change the world for the women in our community, fighting to end violence against women, sexual harassment and discrimination in our schools and workplaces, and police brutality in our streets. Some of the stuff we've done is:

  • Sonoma Co. Sheriff's Captain Casey Howard got drunk one night and ran over his wife's head - and then was back on the job at the sheriff's department the next day. The Purple Berets fought back with a series of "tire track actions," painting tire tracks across our faces and doing public actions singing the story of Casey's crime. Our performance at the downtown market, in the courthouse halls, and before the county Board of Supervisors made it too embarrassing to keep Casey on; within a few months "in the interest of the department" he stepped down.
  • An 11 a.m. lightning-strike "sing-in" in the district attorney's office protested the DA's discriminatory decision to remove 1 of only 2 prosecutors on the team prosecuting violence against women. By that afternoon, after raucous hours of singing women and screaming babies, the prosecutor was put back on the team. Since then we've more than doubled the number of prosecutors assigned to sexual assault and domestic violoence.
  • Four Purple Berets supports, including Fifteen's Jeff Ott, were arrested after a protest in the Board of Supervisors chambers denouncing the medical deaths of five inmates in our local jail. Ending our 45-minute speakout with our song "Bullshit!" was more than the supes could take. After they ran away holding their ears, we took over their chairs and continued the public hearing until we were finally dragged away by police. Our campaign on the jail deaths got Grand Jury and state Board of Corrections investigations into jail medical conditions; the assistant sheriff running the jail was busted down to captain; and the county's $3 million medical services contract was cancelled. We're still awaiting trial on the charges.

Direct action works! We've love to hear about yours.

Contact us: Purple Berets http://www.purpleberets.org
PO Box 3064, Santa Rosa, CA 95402
707-887-0262, FAX: 707-887-0865, E-Mail: info@purpleberets.org

 

  
Survivor
Your daddy beat you up
Your daddy beat you down
Your daddy put your mama in the hospital
Your daddy left town...he broke your heart
Your mama drank too much
Your mama hit you in the face
You had to make excuses for the bruises to all your friends
You had to live in disgrace...She broke your heart
Daddy came in your room at night
He took whatever he want
Your daddy was your first time
And your mama never tried to stop him...they
broke your heart
My mama beat me up
My mama beat me down
My brother raped my sister
My family threw me out... they broke my heart
America is the place where the kids got broken hearts
America is the place where the kids got twisted minds
bent on self destruction
America is the place where the kids got their wills broken
into and broken in two
America is the place where the kids got broken hearts
And the adults say hish, keep it down now, 
voices carry
They say, don't tell anyone, don't tell em
anything
Don't tell 'em what went on, don't tell 'em 
what really happened
Don't tell anyone, don't tell 'em anything
They won't believe you cuz it's all your fault
Hush
I made a bag out of a piece of cloth
I made a wish and I wrote it down on a piece of paper
I put th epaper in the bag and I wished with all
my heart
I said, please please deliver me; low and behold it
became reality
So I can say today
I refuse to believe that god created me to be
tortured
I refuse to believe the earth created me to be
abandoned
I refuse to believe that god created me to be
neglected
I refuse to believe the Earth created me to be
abused
I picked up the pieces of my broken heart off of
the dirty boulevard
I found a punk rock kid who had a needle and
some leather string
I made a wish and I said it, again and again I took
the needle and threaded it
I sewed my broken heart back together again
I got family now, sew my broken heart back together again
I got a wife I love, sew my broken heart back together again
I got two daughters I love, sew my broken heart back together again
I got a family now
Who ever you are, whatever you do, where ever
you are you don't deserve Abuse
Hush

Every year at this time
Every year at this time
I'd look over at some friend of mine
I'd realize and say Hey, have you seen the skies
They've been clear for days
I think we have survived
Another Year
Hey Brother
The newspaper said you were 38 years old
Dead from hypothermia
I didn't even know
That California got that cold
Hey Brother
The cops found your body
In the Ivy next to the tree
Right there on University
And I couldn't help thinking
It could've been me
Every year at this time
I'd look over at some friend of mine
I'd realize and say Hey, have you seen the skies
They've been clear for days
I think we have survived
Another Year
Hey Sister
Newspaper said they found your murdered body
Beheaded, flaoting in garbage
Right there in the Oakland estuary
Hey Sister
Cops said no one reported you missing
No friends or Family
Just another homeless woman 
Found dead on the street
And I couldn't help thinking
It could of been me
Mother, Earth
Father, Sky
I am the intersectino of you both
I am heaven on Earth
I am union
Hey Mother
You always took such good care of me
And I can't help thinkin'
That I get everything I need
Hey Father
Sometimes it's so scary
Being a kid
Living on the street
But I get everything I need
I get everything I need
Every year at this time
I'd look over at some friend of mine
I'd realize and say Hey, have you seen the skies
They've been clear for days
I think we have survived
Another Year
 
MRR
In the hour and 28 minutes you spent writing for
your zine about
How so and so sold out and lost all credibility in the
punk rock scene
1000 children died of starvation
and you didn't do a damn thing
In the hour and 28 minutes you spent writing for
your zine about
How things aren't the same as they used to be and
how change is a bad thing
22 more people went to prison
and you didn't do a damn thing
Hey MRR I really got to hand it to ya
You do the best job of reporting on political news from
around the world
The only thing is
If you extracted all the irrelevant bullshit
You'd be left with a three page magazine
Yeah
Who really cares about what you think of my record anyway
Who really cares that you pierced your tongue and
moved to San Francisco
Who really cares who's the official enemy of Punk Rock 
today
Who really cares about the cigarrettes you smoke and
the cool people you know
Big brothers little brother
In the hour and 28 minutes you spent writing for
your zine about
How so and so's band sold out
Cuz they're only 10 grand in the hole right now
The US destroyed another small country today
Hey MRR I really got to hand it to ya
You do the best job of reporting on political news from
around the world
The only thing is
If you extracted all the irrelevant bullshit
You'd be left with a three page magazine
Yeah
Who really cares what you think of my record anything
Who really cares that you pierced your tongue and
moved to San Francisco
Who really cares who's the official enemy of Punk Rock 
today
Who really cares about the cigarrettes you smoke and
the cool people you know
Big Brothers little brother


This record is made with love for all of the young men
and women who have shared their pain and personal
hell with me in the middle of some night in some town. 
Your walking through each day is proof of greater
courage than will ever be found in any "Hero".

You can reach Fifteen at:
PO Box 5094
Santa Rosa, CA  95402
fifteen62470@earthlink.net