# 113 – Peter Yarrow

April 1, 2009

Down with politics!

Down with a government formed last night that has so many cabinet ministers, they’ve has to extend the cabinet table.

Down with Hamas for keeping Gilad imprisoned. Down with the Rest of the World for not seeing his light.

Down with Iran for not being able to chuck that man out.

Down with the Madoffs for destroying good lives and the AIG/UBS etc. guys whose immoral rewards stab at the very heart of morality.

Down with so many other subjects, that I’ve lost count.

We saw ‘La Boheme’ last night, and tears flowed. Puccini’s music is heart-wrenching, and when you get to this ripe old age, Rodolfo’s despairing cry at the end is really piercing.

And tonight we saw Peter, Paul and Mary. Well, not Paul and not Mary, although they still do occasionally sing together. but certainly Peter.

He’s 71 now. His name is Peter Yarrow. The US embassy sponsored his trip, ‘cos he’s been very involved in a charity/project called Operation Respect – a means to bring happiness to kids who have been bullied, picked on, whatever, at school. So many not only suffer, but actually stop going to school. Peter and his colleagues bring music to these kids, songs that are certainly lefty and schmaltzy, but so what.

Operation Respect’s theme song is the following:

I’m a little boy with glasses
The one they call the geek
A little girl who never smiles
‘Cos I’ve got braces on my teeth
And I know how it feels
To cry myself to sleep

I’m that kid on every playground
Who’s always chosen last
A single teenage mother
Tryin’ to overcome my past
You don’t have to be my friend
But is it too much to ask

Don’t laugh at me
Don’t call me names
Don’t get your pleasure from my pain
In God’s eyes we’re all the same
Someday we’ll all have perfect wings
Don’t laugh at me

I’m the cripple on the corner
You’ve passed me on the street
And I wouldn’t be out here beggin’
If I had enough to eat
And don’t think I don’t notice
That our eyes never meet

I lost my wife and little boy when
Someone cross that yellow line
The day we laid them in the ground
Is the day I lost my mind
And right now I’m down to holdin’
This little cardboard sign…so

Don’t laugh at me
Don’t call me names
Don’t get your pleasure from my pain
In God’s eyes we’re all the same
Someday we’ll all have perfect wings
Don’t laugh at me

I’m fat, I’m thin, I’m short, I’m tall
I’m deaf, I’m blind, hey, aren’t we all

Don’t laugh at me
Don’t call me names
Don’t get your pleasure from my pain
In God’s eyes we’re all the same
Someday we’ll all have perfect wings
Don’t laugh at me

Peter of course talked about his project – and sang classics like Puff the Magic Dragon, Blowin’ in the Wind, 100 Miles, If I had a Hammer, Leaving on a Jet Plane etc.

Some of the youngsters in the audience also clapped along, sang along – and some had tears in their eyes.

Stephen