The War Machine

There once was a man, named Mister Ek
Who wrapped his hands around the neck
Of music as an industry
Turning everything into a trainwreck

Devalue creativity
Killing with drones across the sea
Pay under half a penny
The rest go to the war machine

All hail the war machine
It keeps us safe and it keeps us clean
All hail the war machine
To make us strong and proud

We all woke up one fine Sunday
Wondering when we get our pay
Saw a big fat dollar sign
Followed by a zero, told us “it is fine”

“Your songs didn’t get enough replays
Compared to bots streaming all day
AI has a good business plan,
Why care about things made by a human”

Another time on another day
Fracturing of the USA
Spent money on a big podcast
By an idiot whose damage will last

A quarter billion for a man who’s proud
Of being stupid and very loud
Imagine how much better spent
On music made with artistic intent

All hail the war machine
It keeps us safe and it keeps us clean
All hail the war machine
To make us strong and proud

We all woke up on another day
Knowing this must go away
Fight for a chance for treatment fair
Everyone getting a balanced share

We won’t support the terror man
Each of us get a better plan
We all must live with our heads held high
By taking our music off Spotify

All hail the war machine
It keeps us safe and it keeps us clean
All hail the war machine
To make us strong and proud

All hail the war machine
We are unsafe, we are unclean
All hail the war machine
It’s time to burn it down

What will become of Mister Ek
Will his life become another train wreck
The blades of the guillotine just might fall….
Ending billionaires once and for all.

Jeremy Blake runs a monthly prompt challenge for his Patreon Discord, and in July 2025 the challenge was to adapt folk music.

My original plan was to record an EDMish version of "More Waters Rising" by Saro Lynch-Thomason, but because of recent events I decided instead to combine two well-known folk tunes and write new lyrics for a protest song.

The verse melody comes from a Finnish folk song best known as the basis of Ievan polkka, aka "leekspin.;" this folk song is alternately known as Savitaipaleen polkka The chorus and final verses’ melodies are from Wellerman, an English-language folk song that traces its origins back to 1830s New Zealand, and which got super popular during the 2020 sea shanty trend.

Unless things drastically change, this will be the last thing I upload to Spotify, and the only thing I leave there after I remove everything else.