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* It’s Friday, we’re all tired, and many of us will be working through the weekend. Let’s lighten it up.

Could you write us a song about the end of session? Set it to any tune you wish. Have fun.

posted by Rich Miller
Friday, May 29, 09 @ 11:28 am

Comments

The Session’s Over - Comden/Green, enhanced by VanillaMan

The Session’s over
It’s time to call it a bust
They been exposed as Buffoons
And thrown all our trust away
It’s time to wind up the masquerade
Just make your mind up the piper must be paid

The Session’s over
The forces for change won’t win
They waffled and spun through the night
What ever happened to our reformer, Quinn?
They tried to stall it, now all dreams end
Empty your wallet, the Session’s over
It’s all over, my friend

It’s time to move out of this state,
and begin your business and life again!

Comment by VanillaMan Friday, May 29, 09 @ 11:39 am
Pretend It’s 1959 - Prince, enhanced humbly by the Artist Formerly Known as VanillaMan

The GA was schemin’ when I wrote this
Forgive me if it goes astray
But when I woke up this mornin’
Coulda sworn it was Session-Ending day

The budget was bleedin’ red
There were people runnin’ everywhere
Tryin’ to run from the destruction
You know I didn’t even care

‘Cuz they say we’re finally bankrupt, party over
Oops out of time
So tonight I’m gonna pretend it’s 1959.

That year was the year that liberal thinking was really hot!
With Kennedy, Stevenson, and Tobor that cool robot!
But reality in a cruel world wasn’t meant to last,
So let’s pretend Obama is JFK and hot to trot!

War is all around us
Cheney says prepare to fight
So if we gotta die
Let’s crash the economy and do it right!

Yeah, they say we’re broke, the party over
Oops out of time
So tonight I’m gonna pretend it’s 1959
Yeah

Lemme tell ya somethin’
If you like our taxin’ party
Don’t bother knockin’ on Michael’s door
He’s got a daughter to get elected
And baby he’s ready to score!
Yeah, da terrorists got a bomb
This could be the end of days
So before we’ll let that happen
We’ll legalize pot and marriage for gays

They say the GOP’s power is party over
Oops out of time
They’re runnin’ outta time
So tonight we gonna, we gonna (Tonight I’m gonna pretend it’s 1959!)

Say it one more time
Wall Streets collapsed, party over
Oops out of time
No, no
So tonight we gonna, we gonna (Tonight I’m gonna pretend it’s 1959)

Alright, it’s 1959
You say it, 1959
1959
1959 don’t stop, don’t stop, say it one more time

Comment by VanillaMan Friday, May 29, 09 @ 12:05 pm
With apologies to a very trippy Kenny Rogers and the New Edition:

Picture Patrick Collins as The Dude, dancing around a surreal brass rail.

WHAT CONDITION MY COMMISSION IS IN

Yeah, yeah, oh yeah,
What condition my commission is in,

I woke up this morning, with the Sun-Times shining in,
I found reform in the hands of, Ma-di-gan,
I shook and cried, baby, that’s no lie,
I wished I still had the F-B-I,

I just dropped in to see,
What condition my commission was in,
Yeah, yeah, oh yeah,
What condition my commission was in,

I pushed my soul in the dome,
And then I followed it in,
I watched reform crawling out,
As I was crawling in,
I got up so tight,
I couldnt unwind,
I called up Quinn, but he had no time,
I just dropped in,
To see what condition my commission was in,

Yeah, yeah, oh yeah,
What condition my commission was in,

Someone painted April fool in lights on the Big Board sign
They were passing reform, baby, but the bills, no, they weren’t mine
Eight days in Springfield and I got nowhere
I’m the White Knight but they just don’t care
I just dropped in to see what condition my commission was in
I just dropped in,
To see what condition my commission was in,
I said I just dropped in to see,
What condition my commission was in.

Comment by wordslinger Friday, May 29, 09 @ 12:12 pm
(circus music)
(slowly turns into twangy banjo muusic)
Ya all come back for a good ol’ laugh next year, ya hear!

Comment by These are my thoughts Friday, May 29, 09 @ 12:16 pm
Well done wordslinger!
I never heard of that song, though - is there an audio file out there you can link us to?

Comment by VanillaMan Friday, May 29, 09 @ 12:25 pm
Closing Time

Closing time - time to send press releases out to the world.
Closing time - tax hikes on the way for every boy and girl.
Closing time - the GOP and Dems finish their whiskey or beer.
Closing time - go back to your districts cuz you can’t stay here.

No state budget ever cut to the bone.
No ethics reforms for people at home.
It’s as if we’re still working for Blago.
Take me home…

Closing time - time for you to go back to Alton or Addison.
Closing time - this chamber won’t be open ’til a statewide race has a Madigan.
So gather up your jackets, and capital projects - pork projects are your only friends
Closing time - Saputo’s will be empty now that session is ready to end.

Yeah, disappointed Pat Collins is heading home.
Cullerton’s new best friend is Christine Radogno.
The Dems stuff remap reform down a black hole..
Take me home…

Closing time - The Tribune ed board says all of us are just scum…

Mike Madigan is smiling as he drives home.
Pat Quinn says the mansion is his summer home..
Only tourists will be amused under the silver dome.
Take me home…

Closing time - every veto session comes from some other session’s end…

Comment by Semisonic says it all Friday, May 29, 09 @ 12:27 pm
To the tune of my favorite Chicago song…

“45 or 6 to 4″

Senate session ends today
Wonder how late we’re gonna stay?
Bills are stacked up to the sky
Giving up I close my eyes…
Should we try to pass one more?
45 or 6 to 4…

Deadline’s looming in our face
Passing bills at record pace
Deficit’s out of control
No way to plug that F’in’ hole
They’re voting on the Senate floor
45 or 6 to 4…

We ought to just give up and sleep
Before this problem gets to deep
But John is calling for a vote
A bill to get some bonds to float
We’re voting on the Senate floor
45 or 6 to 4
45 or 6 to 4

Comment by HoosierDaddy Friday, May 29, 09 @ 12:28 pm
Love it Semisonic! I was thinking of that song, too, but I couldn’t get the words to flow…

Comment by HoosierDaddy Friday, May 29, 09 @ 12:39 pm
VMan, go to youtube.com and search “The Big Lebowski - Gutterballs” and you’ll find a trippy dream scene with the song. And my mistake, it’s Kenny Rogers and the First Edition, not New Edition.

If you haven’t seen the flick, The Dude likes to roll. And The Dude abides.

I’m not posting the link because there’s a split second of R-rated material.

Comment by wordslinger Friday, May 29, 09 @ 12:41 pm
The End, by the Doors. No enhancement necessary.

This is the end
beautiful friend
This is the end
My only friend, the end
Of our elaborate plans, the end
Of everything that stands, the end
No safety or surprise, the end
I’ll never look into your eyes
Again

There are way too many f-bombs that follow, which while appropriate to the way I feel about the end of session shenanigans underway, are not CapFax friendly.

Comment by 47th Ward Friday, May 29, 09 @ 12:41 pm
Too Baby’s Got back

I like Reform and I can not lie
You other Goo-Goos can’t deny

When a proposal gets out of committee
You want to party in Springfield City

.. all I have time for right now

Comment by OneMan Friday, May 29, 09 @ 12:43 pm
Comment by hadenough? Friday, May 29, 09 @ 12:52 pm
When I was younger so much younger than today
I never needed anybody’s help in any way
But now those days are gone, my district’s not secure
I need to bulletproof my seat and do it behind closed doors

Help me reelect, my polls are down
I’ll do whatever you say Mike just keep me in town
Help me to retire with my pension safe and sound
Won’t you please, please help me?

Comment by lake county democrat Friday, May 29, 09 @ 12:55 pm
wordslinger song is the best so far

Comment by DuPage Boy Friday, May 29, 09 @ 1:33 pm
vman this question of the day was screaming your name all over it. loved you prince 1959 song

Comment by anon414 Friday, May 29, 09 @ 1:55 pm
To the tune of “Hotel California”, by the Eagles — the last two lines:

“Sine die?” scoffed the Speaker
“Wishful thinking, I believe.
We can adjourn any time they’d like
But they can never leave!”

Comment by Dooley Dudright Friday, May 29, 09 @ 2:38 pm
(To the tune of ‘Blame It’ by Jamie Foxx)

Blame in on Rod, he got us in this spot…
Blame on Roland, his Senate seat is stolen…

Blame it on the p-p-p-p-p-power trip, blame it on the p-p-p-p-p-power trip.

Blame it on Obama, his leaving caused such drama…
Blame it on Durbin, he’s always so uncertain…

Blame it on the p-p-p-p-p-power trip, blame it on the p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-power trip-p-p-p-p.

Comment by Enjoy! Friday, May 29, 09 @ 2:56 pm
The Brass Rail at the Statehouse

On the rail at the Statehouse, rumors swirl all around
Eaters searching for money, but not a dime to be found
On the second floor below them, Quinn’s options grow slim
He wants to give them everything they want,
They want to take it from him

The House Speaker and the President, tell him “tax hikes won’t pass now”
Quinn backs off the proposal, and quizzingly asks, “but how?”
They pass a partial-year budget, and voters aren’t on the hook (yet)
We’re still a whole lot better off than when things were run by The Crook

Welcome to the Brass Rail at the Statehouse
Such a hectic pace
Don’t I know your face?

Plenty of room on the Brass Rail at the Statehouse
‘Cept when the G-A’s in
You can hear the din

Then Collins comes down to Springfield, he’s got no skin in the game
Demanding all kinds of reforms, and sayin’ members are lame
But members aren’t in the big house, the governors brought the shame
No reform ever stopped a crook, because they’re just not that tame

The goo goos loudly protest the, reform measures that pass
Republicans join in with them, ‘cuz they got no brass
No solutions would please them, they are programmed to complain
“Do as I say not as I do,” are the, thoughts that do reign

Welcome to the Brass Rail at the Statehouse
Such a hectic pace
Just get off my case

Plenty of room at the Brass Rail at the Statehouse
Party every night
Best kept out of sight

A public works project sanctioned, poker in every bar
Higher fees on you and me, just to pay for it all
And they dangled the projects, to get votes on the bill
But then Quinn made them pass the rest, ‘fore they could go out and shill

The last thing on the menu, before they could adjourn
Lots of resolutions that say, just look what I done
Relax, said the Speaker, things are under control
Skip’s after session party’s just delayed a little more

Comment by Not The Dude Friday, May 29, 09 @ 3:39 pm
That was to Hotel California - The Eagles

Comment by Not The Dude Friday, May 29, 09 @ 3:40 pm
I’ve been workin’ on a tax hike,
All the live long day,
I’ve been working on a tax hike,
While the mushrooms waste away.

Don’t ya hear the editorials blowing,
We need reform today,
We’ll keep the editors from steaming,
Just give them F-O-I-A.

I’ve been working on the tax hike,
Taxpayers will have an attitude,
But we’ll keep our safely drawn districts,
Cause the remap bill got screwed.

Comment by Bluefish Friday, May 29, 09 @ 4:05 pm
Your ethics give me a thrill
But your ethics don’t pay my bills
I want money (that’s what I want)
Gimme your money (that’s what I want)
That’s what I wa-a-ant
Baby, that’s what I want.

Comment by Six Degrees of Separation Friday, May 29, 09 @ 5:03 pm
We All Got Fooled Again

Imaginary fighting in the seats
For our children and our needs
But the morals they play-worship all have gone
Though Pat Collins spurred them on
Their judgment is all wrong
They decided and the Speaker sings the song

I’ll tip my hat to the sham resolution
Take a bow for the fake revolution
Smile and grin at the “change” all around
Hand out my in-kinds and play
Just like yesterday
Then I’ll get on my knees and pray
They all got fooled again

We didn’t want no change to come
Nobody listens all along
No liberation from Blago, not at all
So the world looks just the same
And history ain’t changed
‘Cause the reformers all got beaten in this last war

I’ll tip my hat to the sham resolution
Take a bow for the fake revolution
Smile and grin at the “change” all around
Hand out my in-kinds and play
Just like yesterday
Then I’ll get on my knees and pray
They all got fooled again

They moved reform and redistricting aside
No room for ethics even half alive
Read all the papers and smile for the guys
for you know that the politicians never lie
Don’t ya?

Yeah!

There’s nothing in those seats
Looks any different to me
And their slogans are replaced by new lies
So the party on the left
Plays with the party on the right
And their prizes all grow bigger overnight

I’ll tip my hat to the sham resolution
Take a bow for the fake revolution
Smile and grin at the “change” all around
Hand out my in-kinds and play
Just like yesterday
Then I’ll get on my knees and pray
They all got fooled again
We all get fooled again
Yea, yea!

Yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!

Meet the new boss
Same as the old boss

Comment by 10th Indy Friday, May 29, 09 @ 5:19 pm
A member’s lament (with apologies to Willie):

On the road again
Just can’t wait to get on the road again
But I’m in Hell with Cullerton and Madigan
And I can’t wait to get on the road again
On the road again
Taxin’ places that I’ve never been
Seein’ crackpot reforms cooked up by Pat Quinn,
And I can’t wait to get on the road again.
On the road again
Like a band of mushrooms we grow by the highway
We’re the best of friends
Hopin’ that the Mac trucks don’t turn our way
And our way
Is on the road again
Just can’t wait to get on the road again
The life I love is givin’ earmarks to my friends
And I can’t wait to get on the road again

Comment by ZC Friday, May 29, 09 @ 5:24 pm