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    Scott Cook

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    1. Get 'Em, Letitia James!

    From the recording Get 'Em, Letitia James! (single)

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    Get 'Em, Letitia James!

    Scott Cook
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    I've been thinking we need to hear less about the broken people wrecking the world, and more about the heroes setting it right. Attorney General James is public servant in the truest sense of the word, and as her Wikipedia page makes abundantly clear, a complete and total badass. This song was first released to my Patreon page, where I hope to release more tributes to living heroes as I go.

    Background vocals: Dana Wylie
    Drums and keys: Bramwell Park
    Vocals, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, electric bass: Scott Cook
    Mixing and mastering: Brad Smith

    Lyrics

    Friends, the TV news gives me the blues
    With the stories they run
    Bout the crooked, fakin' assholes takin' up
    All the oxygen
    They got ads to sell us, so they don't tell us
    How to change the status quo
    Or inform the masses 'bout true badasses
    And folk heroes
    Some good people insist that you can't resist
    The machine and its will
    So many tried and failed, one even got nailed
    To a cross on a hill
    And some other folks say, that they'll let you play
    But they'll never let you win
    And you must be deranged if you dream of changing
    The system from within
    No denying, it's a long run
    And there's a million and one ways to ruin it
    But if you say it can't be done
    Just stay out the way of the ones doin' it!
    Who paid their dues, studied the rules
    To beat 'em at their own games
    Like the queen bee, New York A.G.
    The fearless Letitia James
    Ain't it sweet to see the powers that be
    Go down in flames?
    They're so unnerved when they get served
    Get 'em, Letitia James

    Born and bred in Brooklyn, she grew up looking
    At the world from that view
    And her family was tested when her brother was arrested
    For something that he didn't do
    When they went to the courtroom to support him
    Tish was a teenager
    And she saw everyone in there except the defendants,
    None of 'em looked like her
    And her vow that day
    To fight for an education
    Took her such a long way
    To her vocation in litigation
    From public defender to attorney general
    Kicking ass and taking names
    From food stamps to the people's champ
    The mighty Letitia James
    Ain't it sweet to see the powers that be
    Go down in flames?
    They're so unnerved when they get served
    Get 'em, Letitia James

    Freshly educated at Howard University
    Tish went to work for the Legal Aid Society
    Defended folks who didn't have the dollars
    Set up a coalition for young black scholars
    And it was righteous work, but she was just getting started
    Won a seat on city council for the Working Families Party
    Found irregularities in corporate contracts
    Fixed payroll and took six hundred million back
    Fought corruption in the NYPD
    Sued the cops for roughing people up at Occupy Wall Street
    Fought against developers to keep folks in their homes
    Knowing poor people can't fight 'em alone
    Next she got elected Public Advocate
    Elevated the position by the respect she had for it
    Heard complaints to try and make things fair
    Sued the city over foster care
    Then in 2019 she was elected A.G.
    And everyone who stood behind her could see
    That same as ever, she'd be the people's defender
    Fighting the sharks and the predatory lenders
    Even when she was outgunned she fought anyway
    Sniffed out fraud and filed suit against the NRA
    Never afraid of the powerful so and sos
    Like Mayor Bloomberg or Governor Cuomo
    Working under people she was way smarter than
    Dealing out justice that was non-partisan
    I mean Cuomo was a Democrat
    But he was also a creep and Tish wouldn't have that
    She opened an inquiry into the harassment allegations
    And another into undercounted deaths of nursing home patients
    She kept it all in her sights
    And just kept on picking the right fights
    To break up big tech, to keep the net neutral
    Filed antitrust against Facebook and Google
    Sued corporations for fraud and fixing prices
    Fined J&J $200 million for the opioid crisis
    Fought for tenants and children
    Fought for the disrespected and forgotten
    She said I won't be found up in an ivory tower
    I'll be here on the ground speaking truth to power
    Feeling people's pain, doin' the job relatably
    And never be removed from those who elevated me
    'Cause some believe in profit over people
    But the Constitution counts us equal
    When dignity is under attack
    On my watch we're gonna take that power back
    You can see how rich folks get used to getting their way
    And the wealth of trickery in the way the game gets played
    Like when it serves 'em, why not inflate their assets
    But then undervalue 'em when they're paying taxes
    After a while they might get to thinking they're above the law
    But swaggering's a fatal flaw
    Like one such chump, he had a long slump
    But he kept living large, his name is best forgotten
    'Cause that big fish is rotten and might get caught
    Attorney General James is comin' in hot!
    With some advice for the crooked shysters
    Who ain't what they claim
    You're tempting fate in New York State
    Get 'em, Letitia James
    Ain't it sweet to see the powers that be
    Go down in flames?
    They're so unnerved when they get served
    Get 'em, Letitia James

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