Break the Machine

[Intro] Who runs the city Who owns the vote Follow the money Expose what they wrote [Verse 1] Late eighteen hundreds Hear pressure increase Progressives stepped up Corruption must cease Government and business Had the people on lease Reform hit the streets Demanding release Political machines Had the cities on lock Boss in each district Ran block after block Need work Need service Better enter their ring Every public favor Had a private string Landlords paid bribes Housing codes got ignored Companies paid cash For a government reward City bills got padded Then the kickbacks came Public money vanished Through a private game [Pre Chorus] Turn it up Hear the sound [Chorus] Break the machine Break the machine Pull the curtain Let the people see No more bosses Buying city hall Public power When the people call Break the machine Break the machine Jobs and justice Should be earned and clean No more bribes No kickbacks in between Stand up Speak out Break the machine [Verse 2] Boss Tweed sat deep In the New York seat Tammany Hall kept The city on repeat Police and the courts Fell under the ring Even some newspapers Moved by the string Millions got lifted Through the deals they made City business turned To a money parade Tweed thought power Made the truth stay mute Thomas Nast drew him In a tailored suit Harpers Weekly Put the fraud in the frame Picture by picture People learned the game Cartoons cut deeper When excuses got weak Tweed went to prison When the drawings made truth speak [Chorus] Break the machine Break the machine Pull the curtain Let the people see No more bosses Buying city hall Public power When the people call Break the machine Break the machine Jobs and justice Should be earned and clean No more bribes No kickbacks in between Stand up Speak out Break the machine [Instrumental] [Verse 3] National Municipal League Entered the fight Make government honest Make government right Galveston faced disaster In nineteen hundred Old city leadership Was completely blundered Five commissioners Took hold of the plan Rebuilt the city With a steadier hand Nearly four hundred cities Followed by seventeen A new form of government Weakened the machine Spoils system jobs Got handed to the crew Patronage paid back Every favor due Hayes tried reform But the old guard stayed Garfield tried next And a terrible price was paid Arthur pushed Congress To alter the trend Pendleton Act made The spoils game bend Civil Service Commission Tested job skill Earned qualifications Started beating boss will [Breakdown: Call & Response] No skill (No deal) No test (Boss says yes) Change that (End that) Public jobs (Public trust) [Verse 4] Trusts held markets And twisted the scale Sherman Act came But enforcement was frail Government aimed it At unions at first Early protection worked Almost in reverse Railroad oligopolies Raised every rate Limited competition While the public paid freight Interstate Commerce Act Entered the fight Publish fair prices Keep charges just and right McKinley tariffs Made imports cost more Business backed the bill Consumers felt sore Voters pushed back Congress seats changed Cleveland wanted lower rates When prices got raised Law without action Is a promise on mute Power stays rooted Till the people pursue it Reform is pressure Applied to the scheme One voice starts it Then the people break the machine [Final Chorus] Break the machine Break the machine Pull the curtain Let the people see No more bosses Buying city hall Public power When the people call Break the machine Break the machine Jobs and justice Should be earned and clean No more bribes No kickbacks in between Stand up Speak out Break the machine Break the machine Break the machine Government belongs To the people Not the political machine [Outro] Expose the deal Demand reform Make power answer To the people it serves