I Would Do it Again (Song for Lynne Stewart)

Lyrics by: Vicki Ryder
Gaggle: Rochester
Tune: Sweet Betsy from Pike
Date Written or Updated: 2005

In old New York City where justice is blind,There lived a great lawyer who’s now in a bind.
Her name is Lynne Stewart and she helped the poor
But she got on the wrong side of George Bush’s war.

Now, George Bush and Ashcroft are two of a kind.
They’re both chicken hawks and they saved their behinds.
“Our young troops must die for our freedom,” they said,
But it’s freedom that’s dying and justice is dead.

Just what good is freedom if no one is free,
And folks go to jail if they dare disagree?
And lawyers get punished for doing their jobs?
And folks are afraid of the White House lynch mob?

Lynne Stewart was doing what she had to do
Protecting her client and civil rights, too.
She said an attorney must fight to defend —
“I’d like to think that I would do it again.”

Now Lynne sends a message to you and to me,
That no one is free until everyone’s free.
Our whole Bill of Rights now is under the gun,
So we’ll rage and we’ll sing out ‘til justice is done.