July 14, Tennessee Vaccination Waltz  (1)

 

I was teaching vaccination in a Tennessee classroom,

When the principal walked in my door.

I was showing kids the data when my boss said, “Leave the classroom,

“For you’re not teaching here any more.”  (2)

 

I remember the day and how politics won;

I remember the job that I lost.

No more teaching vaccination in the Tennessee classrooms,

Now I grieve for the lives it will cost.

 

He was teaching evolution in a Tennessee schoolroom.

It was back in nineteen twenty five.

So, they put John Scopes in handcuffs and they held a famous trial,

Showing ignorance was still alive.

 

I remember the time and the “Scopes Monkey Trial,”

When the jury said John Scopes was wrong.

Now, no teaching evolution, vaccination, or true history.

The same ignorance marches along.

 

In Missouri, other Red States, we see Covid Delta growing,

Which we know that vaccine would prevent.

‘Til the Red State legislatures start supporting vaccination,

Deaths from Covid 19 won’t relent.

 

I remember the times and how politics wins,

Due to misinformation and lies.

Science gives us vaccination but the Trumpists stay resistant.

So, in Red States, we see death rates rise.

 

• May be sung to “The Tennessee Waltz,” lyrics by Redd Stewart, music by Pee Wee King (1946.) Patti Page had a huge hit with it in 1950.  A more dramatic version, my personal favorite, was recorded by Lacy J. Dalton in 2005.
• Michelle Fiscus, Tennessee’s top state health official, was fired this week for advocating Covid 19 vaccinations for teenagers, even without their parents’ consent. She pointed out that school kids often understand the pandemic and vaccination better than their parents.