The War Machine
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.
Lyrics
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.