Joan Baez singing her 2017 hit Nasty Man, a song still reverberating during the second Trump presidency. Credit: Joan Baez
By Alliance Communications Coordinator Amy Durr
Famed folk singer Joan Baez wrote a protest song titled Nasty Man in 2017, during the first Trump presidency. It immediately went viral. Women’s History Month and the new reign of Donald Trump are a perfect time for a real mash-up.
Here we are again, facing a new and an even more dangerous nasty man – from his eviscerating the EPA, USAID and DEI to a Pandora’s box of lies, fraud and manipulation.
“At 76, her voice may be a little deeper than it once was, but her song styling is much the same as it was in the Vietnam War era as she sings of a man gone wrong while building up his evil empire,” says SFist. “Bitingly, she also includes the line, When the dirt on this man finally hits the fan and no one gives a damn about his tweets, he’ll be finally and forever obsolete.” Sadly, for the time being, he has more power than ever.
Baez was a fixture at marches and protests, especially in the Sixties, preaching a philosophy of nonviolence. “She has a kind of bravery that could just kick down the doors,” says singer-songwriter Bob Neuwirth, who has known Baez since the Sixties. “It took a lot of courage to be nonviolent, especially when people had clubs, dogs, handcuffs and all that shit.”
We all need that Joan Baez bravery now – the bravery to speak up, protest injustice and call loudly for the world we know we can build together.
Nasty Man
By Joan Baez
Here’s a little song
About a man gone wrong
While building up his evil empire.
And after month of ifs and buts
The papers got the guts
To call the Man of the Year a liar
To call the Man of the Year a liar.
Hustlin’ and bustlin’
Across the big green lawn
Stompin’ through the famous rose garden.
But every little rose
Turned up its pretty nose
Sayin’ “You owe the Earth a pardon”
Sayin’ “You owe the Earth a pardon.”
Fumblin’ and bumblin’
Through the halls at night
Turn every light switch on
Searching for the room
Where you used to be the groom
But she’s packed all her jew-ler-ee
And gone
Yeah, she’s scooped up all her jew-ler-ee
And gone.
Well, the former resident
And Missus President
Left you corn and lima beans and tomatus.
You said “Rip ’em all out,
They’ll only give me gout.
That’s unbecoming for a future dictator.”
And you’re gonna build a wall
The big-liest wall
The beautifulist wall ’round our borders.
But here’s what I think,
You better talk to a shrink
Cuz you’ve got serious psychological disorders.
You’ve got dangerous pathological disorders.
Well, that’s my little song
About a man gone wrong.
He’s nasty from his head to his feet.
When the dirt on this man finally hits the fan
And no one gives a damn about his tweets,
He’ll be finally and forever obsolete.