Oh wow this past week has been turbulent politically in the US (and the world). I get inspired when people use the frustration so many of us feel to be creative!

Allan Ohms has for instance translated Bertel Haarder’s lyrics to a satire version of Bob Dylan’s ’The Times They Are A-Changin’. Bertel Haarder is a former long-time Danish minister and current President of the Nordic Council.

He writes on LinkedIn:

J.D. Vance would have met a cold shoulder in Nuuk and Sisimiut. That’s why he fled to Pituffik Space Base, where he could freely badmouth Denmark in hopes of winning Greenlanders’ affection for the USA. But he won’t escape my quiet protest song, set to a well-known melody from a time before the USA extinguished the torch of freedom”. (Bertel Haarder)

To all good Americans:

Protest Song

Melody: Bob Dylan – “The Times They Are A-Changin’”
Lyrics: Bertel Haarder

1. Come on, Donald Trump, wherever you roam,
Admit that the scandals you’re causin’ have grown, you threaten both leftward and right without shame, and kick both your enemies and friends. But pride will one day put an end to your game, for the times they are a-changin’!

2, Come senators, congressmen, please heed the call, Don’t stand in the doorway, don’t block up the hall, Remember the thugs who attacked you that day, And Trump, he’s the worst of them all!
But bullying tactics will come back to stay,
For the times they are a-changin’.

3. With Putin he wants to divide up the world, to Hell with small countries, to Hell with them all!
It’s money and power and grandeur he craves,
but his story’s not fully been told.
His lies will unravel, revealin’ his craze,
For the times they are a-changin’.

4. The prices he lowered, but mostly on stocks!
Particularly Tesla’s, for Elon he sucks!
He roars and he puffs himself up like a troll,
Destroying prosperity with tariffs.
The madness will end when the voters revolt,
For the times they are a-changin’.

5. Zelensky was bullied by Trump and by Vance,
Who waltz with Putin in dictator dance:
“Ukraine’s to blame for the war,” they declare,
But foolish and reckless it sounds!
For this gives the way to both Putin and Xi,
When the times they are a-changin’.

6. Come Greenlanders, come to your senses again,
now see who’s the foe and who really’s a friend,
put Vance on an iceberg near Cape Farewell,
and let junior Trump swim alone!
Their three-hour stopover made them a joke,
For the times they are a-changin’.

7. Come all good Americans, come, oh, come on!
Remember your history, think of its judgment.
When the USA fails to defend what we’ve won,
And lies can’t be told from the truth, a hangover follows, Trump turns into scorn, for the times they are a-changin’!

Original in Danish and English.