Cement Octopus

Malvina Reynolds

There's a cement octopus
Sit's in Sacramento, i think
Gets red tape to eat, gasoline taxes to drin
And it grows by day and it grows by night
And it rolls over everything in sight
Oh, stand by me and protect that tree
From the freeway misery

Who knows how the monster started
To grow that way
Its parents are frightened and wish
It would go away but the taxes keep coming
They have to be spent
On big bull dozers and tanks of cement
Oh, stand by me and protect that tree
From the freeway misery
That octopus grows like
A science-fiction blight
The Bay and the Ferry building
Are out of sight
The trees that stood for a thousand years
We watch them falling through our tears
Oh, stand by me and protect that tree
From the freeway misery

Dear old MacLaren won't take this lying down
We can hear his spirit move
In the sandy ground
He built this Eden on the duney plain
Now they're making it a
Concrete desert again
Oh, stand by me and protect that tree
From the freeway misery

The men on the highways need those jobs
We know lets put them to work planting
New trees to grow
Building new parks where kids can play
Pushing that cement monster away
Oh, stand by me and protect that tree
From the freeway misery

Trivia about the song Cement Octopus by Pete Seeger

When was the song “Cement Octopus” released by Pete Seeger?
The song Cement Octopus was released in 1966, on the album “God Bless The Grass”.
Who composed the song “Cement Octopus” by Pete Seeger?
The song “Cement Octopus” by Pete Seeger was composed by Malvina Reynolds.

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