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THAT WAS THE YEAR THAT WAS

3. George Murphy

During the last election we had a good deal of fun back east following your senatorial contest out here. I'm from Massachusetts, and I feel that we have a certain right to gloat over the other states because Massachusetts is after all the only state with three senators.* Anyway, here's a salute to your new junior senator:**

Hollywood's often tried to mix
Show business with politics
From Helen Gahagan***
To Ronald Reagan?****
But Mr. Murphy is the star
Who's done the best by far.

Oh, gee, it's great!
At last we've got a senator who can really sing and dance.
We can't expect America to win against its foes
With no one in the Senate who can really tap his toes.

The movies that you've seen
On your television screen
Show his legislative talents at a glance.
Should Americans pick crops?  George says "No",
'cause no one but a Mexican would stoop so low.
And after all, even in Egypt, the pharaohs
Had to import Hebrew braceros.*****

Think of all the musicals we have in store.
Imagine: Broadway Melody of Nineteen Eighty-Four******.
Yes, now that he's a Senator, he's really got the chance
To give the public a song and dance!


Notes

      * At the time Bobby Kennedy was serving as Senator from New York.

      ** George Murphy, 1902-1992, served as Senator from California from 1964-1970. This album was recorded at the "Hungry I" in San Francisco, hence the reference to "your" Junior Senator.

      *** Helen Gahagan, 1900-1980. Broadway leading lady, opera singer, and movie star, who became a Congressman from California in 1944. After three terms, her liberal views became a liability in the post-war Red Scare, and she was defeated in 1950, by Richard Nixon, who claimed that she was pink right down to her underwear.

      **** Ronald Reagan, 1911-2004. Like Murphy, another actor who went into politics

      ***** Slang term for a Mexican worker, living in the US.

      ******Murphy starred in the movies Broadway Melody of 1938 and Broadway Melody of 1940


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