We’re the Raging Grannies and we want you all to know
That war is not the way to peace and we must all say NO!
We’ve seen it time and time again – war’s not the way to go!
We rage to end all war!

Chorus:   
         Happy Mother’s Day to all you Grannies,
         Here’s hoping that you’ll get up off your fannies,
         And join us on this day as we proclaim with all our might:
         It’s time to end all war!

We put away our knitting, tuck the grandkids into bed,
Throw on our shawls and aprons, put our hats upon our heads.
Inspired by the suffragists, we do not lightly tread,
We rage to end all war!

Chorus

They took our sons and daughters and they sent them off to die;
Said we had to kill Osama ’though those weapons were a lie.
Now some other mother bids her child a tearful last good-bye.
We rage to end all war!

Chorus

 They want to take our Medicare, our schools and parks and more,
So they’ll have the money that they need to keep on makin’ war.
We’re here to say on Mother’s Day that really makes us sore!
We rage to end all war!

Chorus

No more war!
With all that government spending
To fight wars that are unending,
The country is broke.

This isn’t a joke.
No more war!
The Bush gang kept on lying,
Still haven’t shown remorse.

With boys and girls still dying,
Obama must change the course.
So, we may be a gaggle of grannies,
But we’ve gotten off of our fannies,

We’ll only rejoice for,
We sing in one voice for
No more war!
We really mean it – No more war!

And we mean business – No more war!

They can use you in their game, Give you a gun,
Then send you overseas
To maim or kill some other mother’s son.
War’s not the way, my girls,

War’s not the way,
Kill or be killed you’re told,
And when you get back home you’ll pay with
Nightmares of buddies lost. What is it for?

Then they’ll cut your benefits
To fund another useless bloody war.
War’s not the way, my friends,
War’s not the way,

We who support our troops,
Are hoping they come home today so
We can begin to work,
For schools and jobs and more.

Work for change begins at home
So first we have to stop these bloody wars!

Chorus:
Have a heart and give them shelter
Have a heart and give them shelter
Have a heart and give them shelter
Help war resisters now!

O Canada you’re not our native land and not our home
But we admire how you welcome refugees who roam
Oh take our war resisters, treat them as you would your own
Help war resisters now!

Chorus

The Grannies span the border and we work in unity
With our Canadian sisters we want conscience to be free
Resisters from an evil war should live in liberty
Help war resisters now!

Chorus

We sang this at the Canadian Consulate in San Francisco on January 25, 2008.

He said, my friends, right now we must keep fighting the Iraq War.
We must defeat Afghanistan and Pakistan’s predator.
We must keep those whom we suspect of terrorism in jail.
We haven’t put them on trial so – we’ll never lose their trail.

He said he’s now considering the use-of-preventive-detention.
Impris’ning those jailed without charge fills me with apprehension.
And though he said that he’d restore our constitutional laws.
We now find that he’s copying the rules of his predecessors.

The last time I-had-another-strange dream we finally ended that war.
It sang a myth of happiness and peace forevermore.
I ask of our young President the promise to restore
Those laws that we inherited and-that-we-enjoyed before.

(Tune: They Call The Wind, Moriah)
1) Horror’s picked itself a name
Though it’s been around for ages
Post Trauma Stress Disorder is
Our label for the rages
But it’s normal
It’s normal
When you understand, it’s normal

2)A crisis situation calls
For you to start reacting
When trauma comes
Emotions get
All mixed up in the action
Adrenaline
Adrenaline
Its surge, the biggest faction

3) The body does what bodies do
When they’re in stress and combat
It shoots the energy through you
To give you strength to do it
The body
The body
PTSD’s the body

4) What happens when you’re under stress
You finally learn to figure
And what events you should avoid
Because they’ll be a trigger
You’ll see them
The stressors
Understanding will get bigger

5) There is no shame in readying
To fight a major battle
When all around you, no one else
Has even heard a rattle.
No guilty
Reactions
You learn to handle surges

6) Not just soldiers home from war
But mothers, drivers, family
The beast’s inside us all but we
Can learn to tame it readily
We’re in charge
We’re in charge
Taming the beast will happen

My knees they don’t bend,
And I must wear Depends,
And my boobs they are sagging, it’s true,
But I’m not in a snit
‘Cause I still can knit
And help CODEPINK to do what they do.

CHORUS:

I’m knittin’ in pink
‘ Cause I want the whole world to know
That I stand with CODEPINK
To say war, it just stinks,
And those greedy war mongers must go!

We women don’t shirk,
We just sit down and work
With compassion and needles and wool.
We can end all the wars
And that’s worth knittin’ for,
So let’s stop all this military bull!

REPEAT CHORUS

Now, quick as a wink,
Hang that cozy so pink
Where everyone worldwide can see
Mothers don’t raise their sons
To kill anyone!
Mother’s Day is a day meant for peace.

REPEAT CHORUS

Recruiters promise you good jobs
But those good jobs don’t exist
You may end up poor and homeless
If you believe them and enlist

They promise money for college
but they miss a fact or two
‘cause most recruits will get nothing
That’s what could happen to you

chorus:
Good things they pro-o-mise
Bad things they hide
So don’t enlist, ‘til you insist
You hear Another Side

They offer you a big bonus
If you’ll enlist today
But what if you’re killed tomorrow?
Your family will have to pay.

They promise you the best health care
In case of injuries
They never mention the waiting
killing you by degrees

[chorus]

They never mention exposure
to toxic chemicals
or to depleted uranium
Warfare is clean and sterile (ster-RILL)

P T S D doesn’t happen
There’s no such thing as shell shock
There’s no emotional trauma
So suck it up— you’re out of luck!

[chorus]