I Am Changing My Name To Fannie Mae/Chrysler (Inauguration Week Song 6)

Inauguration Week Special #6
By Tom Paxton
Rise Up Singing Chapter: Rich and Poor, p.182
These are his updated lyrics. In Rise Up Singing it's "I Am Changing My Name to Chrysler". Same tune, though.

Download Paxton's version free on his website: Link
Or see all his free downloads and lyrics: Link
Alternate lyrics and a video of Arlo Guthrie singing them: Link
Or directly on YouTube: Link

Lyrics and chords (all misspellings are [sic]):
Everybody and his uncle is in debt
And the bankers and the brokers are upset.
Goldman Sachss, Merrill Lynchs
Saw themselves as lead-pipe cinches,
Now theyve landed in the biggest screw-up yet.
GC G / C G / D GE / A D
Lehman Brothers and Bear Stearns and all their kind
Have turned out to be the blind leading the blind.
They are clearly the nit-wittest
In survival of the fittest
Let me modestly say what I have in mind:
/ " / C B7 / C GE / AD G

I am changing my name to Fannie Mae,
I am changing it to AIG.
On this bailout I am betting,
Just a piece of what theyre getting
Would be perfectly acceptable to me.
GC G / C G / D GE / A D
I am changing my name to Freddie Mac,
I am leaving for that great receiving line.
Ill be waiting when they hand out
Seven hundred million grand out
Thats when Ill get mine.
/ " / C B7 / C GE / AD G

Since the first amphibian crawled out of the slime,
Weve been struggling in an unrelenting climb.
We were hardly up and walking
Before money started talking
And it said that failure is the only crime.
GC G / C G / D GE / A D
If you really screwed things up, then you were through;
Now it seems there is a different point of view.
All that crazy rooty-tootin'
And that golden parachutin'
Means that someones making millions
Just not you!
/ " / C B7 / C GE / AD G

So I'm changing my name to Fannie Mae,
I am changing it to AIG.
On this bailout I am betting,
Just a piece of what theyre getting
Would be perfectly acceptable to me.
GC G / C G / D GE / A D
I am changing my name to Freddie Mac,
I am leaving for that great receiving line.
Ill be waiting when they hand out
Seven hundred million grand out
Thats when Ill get mine.
/ " / C B7 / C GE / AD G

The version Arlo Guthrie does (don't know to whom to attribute the adaptation):

Oh the price of gold is rising out of sight
And the dollar is in sorry shape tonight
What the dollar used to get us now wont buy a head of lettuce
No the economic forecast isnt right
But amidst the clouds I spot a shining ray
I can even glimpse a new and better way
And Ive devised a plan of action worked it down to the last fraction
And Im going into action here today

CHORUS:
I am changing my name to Fannie Mae
I am going down to Washington D.C.
I'll be glad they got my back
'Cause what they did for Freddie Mac
Will be perfectly acceptable to me
I am changing my name to Fannie Mae
I am headed for that great receiving line
So when they hand a trillion grand out
Ill be standing with my hand out
Ill get mine

When my creditors are screaming for their dough
Ill be proud to tell them all where they can go
They wont have to scream and holler
Theyll be paid to the last dollar
Where the endless streams of money seem to flow
Ill be glad to tell them all what they can do
Its a matter of a simple form or two
Its not just remuneration its a liberal education
Aint you kind of glad that Im in debt to you

Since the first amphibians crawled out of the slime (of the slime!)
Weve been struggling in an unrelenting climb
We were hardly up and walking before money started talking
And its sad that failure is an awful crime
Its been that way for a millennium or two
But now it seems that theres a different point of view
If youre a corporate titanic and your failure is gigantic
Down in Congress theres a safety net for you