Crip Camp

The polios were always seen as the best
I guess because they looked the normalest
Us CPs were crouched down below the tree

Couldn't even be on the lowest tree limb
I'm not even talking metaphorical things
Even at Crip Camp there was hierarchy

But at Crip Camp, Judy treated me like a king
Like a person, not a thing
At least something like a human being

So don't talk about me as if I'm not there
Don't talk to my carer, I wanna share
My own thoughts - but I'm not even seen

You're all so busy, keeping me safe
You never ask me what I want to say
Or think or do - you're scared you'll get the blame

Well I wanna get drunk, and I wanna get laid
Want a fuck-you punk band, and I want to play
Guitar - I might be crippled, but I am not lame!

Bababaa badabadaba
Bababaa badabadaba
Bababaa - down at Crip Camp

We were locked up, hidden, neglected, beaten
Shut up wards, penned up, weakened
Like mindless cattle corralled, the whole herd

At meals spoon fed 3 minutes, ignored
We didn't have hands that could hold our own forks
We were unseen, unwanted, unwatered, unfed and unheard

Well Judy was a warrior, Judy had no fear
Judy was a lawyer and Judy was a seer
She saw a future where our freedom could be found

Judy was a punk, she wouldn't play by the rules
Wouldn't be constrained by society's views
Wouldn't let a twisted metal birdcage wheelchair keep her down

Well for you every door has always been open
You've no idea how it feels to be broken
From birth - but you won't turn the key

To let us exist in society
As an almost equal, does it make you feel uneasy
Does It lower your worth? Does it make you feel less free?

Bababaa badabadaba
Bababaa badabadaba
Bababaa - down at Crip Camp

But at crip camp we were just a bunch of teens
Who liked to dance and make out and dream
And get drunk and get high and try to be free

Halloween Party 1966
We went out on the town, No-one saw us as crips
'Cos everyone was looking as fucking weird as we
And I felt, maybe, we can be in this society

The Bill of Rights, section 504
Tricky Dicky Nixon threw it out the door
He was anti-commie, anti-socialism
And anti-anti-discrimination.

So we took the streets and we took ourselves
And our twisted limbs up off the shelves
And out into the daylight, and it was a revelation!

Well Carter and Califano kept blocking the bill
So we took over the San Fran government hall
'Be grateful you're American, Now go home' is what they said

'We can't afford to help We've got bombs to buy
Vietnamese peasants we must blow to the sky'
And we knew, like those peasants, The world wants us silent or dead

We took over their buildings FBI cut the phones
The deaf signed messages Out the windows
They blocked our medicine and food
But we refused to leave

Black Panthers bought us breakfasts And meals every day
I said, 'why are you doing this? It's not your war to wage'
They said, 'You want to make this world a better place
And so do we.'

Bababaa badabadaba
Bababaa badabadaba
Bababaa - down at Crip Camp

Gonna wheel wheel wheel ourselves up to your parliament
Stick your veto right up your firmament
Disabled in Action and we're gonna camp right here
Lady and the ramp, you hear!

25 of us left the San Fran melee
We flew all the way to Washington, DC
Judy led the charge right into the head of state

Carter and Caifano sneaked out the back door
Police tried to arrest us for breaking the law
But we locked ourselves in for as long as it would take

We barricaded ourselves inside
more afraid of disappointing Judy, than of the FBI
Judy said 'Hold fast, it's do or die'

Sleeping rough on the floor, us crips got more unwell
But the press began to build into a mighty swell
Against govn indifference, and cruelty

Bababaa badabadaba
Bababaa badabadaba
Bababaa - down at Crip Camp

It was more damaging politically to die on TV
Than to pass the bill allowing us to society
So Carter signed The Bill of Rights, section 504

The biggest minority group in the USA
For the first time in history will have a say
To be treated equally under the law

And we can be heard, and we can make a fuss
When you build a building, you must first think of us
Happy Birthday Judy, we love you, more and more!