Posts by John Duggleby:
The War Doesn’t Care
I’m probably the most unlikely opera participant since Bugs Bunny in old Warner Brothers cartoons. But here I am writing a libretto for one composed by my friend and Chicago Summer Opera co-founder Codrut Birsan. I just knocked off these lyrics for an aria which will be sung by a Romanian soldier in the trenches of World War I. But it applies to any war, anytime– including the Iranian boondoggle by Donald Quixote in the White House.
The War Doesn’t Care by John Duggleby © 2026
Nobody cares if you’re forty-five, or just turned seventeen We’ll come for you before we’re through, and each lad in between Nobody cares if you’re ailing, in your body or your head It doesn’t really matter, ‘cause soon you’ll wind up dead
The draft board doesn’t care The mayor doesn’t care The King and Queen don’t care And most of all, the war doesn’t care
Nobody cares if you’re a husband, a father, loving son You’ll be another murderer once we give you a gun Nobody cares about your race, your color or your creed Everybody looks the same when they begin to bleed
The enemy doesn’t care Your country doesn’t care The history books don’t care And most of all, the war doesn’t care
But if you have the money, you may just be all right Each conflict is a rich man’s war, and each a poor man’s fight Those who gain power and riches, don’t count the lives they spend The cycle never changes, and the wars will never end
The banker doesn’t care The general doesn’t care The graveyard doesn’t care And most of all, the war doesn’t care
“I Feel like I’m Just Fixin’ to Die Rag”– Iran Version
GIMME AN F! This famous cheer launched by the late, great Country Joe McDonald at Woodstock sums up my sentiments about our so-called leader’s bungle into yet another pointless war. He followed up the cheer (at least in the film) with his “I Feel Like I’m Fixin’ to Die Rag”, which is just as relevant […]
On My Wall, Country Joe Lives
I wonder what you’d pay for an autographed photo of Taylor Swift? I got one of the late, great Country Joe McDonald (minus the Fish) for the cost of a stamp. Years ago I saw an offer on his website of a free signed photo: just send him a self-addressed, stamped envelope. I did, and […]
An Allright Guy Gone
I’m mourning the loss a couple days ago of one of my favorite singer/songwriters, Todd Snider, who left the stage much too early at age 59. From the first time I heard “Allright Guy”– one his only songs that got mainstream radio play– in the mid-90’s, I was hooked. Todd mixed the everyman simple poetry […]
Jingling For Democracy
Feeling so grateful that Chicago harmonica legend and overall musical icon Corky Siegel excerpted my song “Delicate Arch” as the first song on his new Jingles For Democracy Facebook and YouTube pages. His premise for Jingles For Democracy– which is aligned with the nationwide Common Cause movement– is to bring joy to the socio/political discourse […]
What the world needs now: Protest Song Therapy
I don’t do massages or counseling. BUT, I’m offering “Protest Song Therapy”, a musical march combining songs of resistance I’ve written with classics you likely know by Woody Guthrie, Bob Dylan, Pete Seeger, etc. To recreate that coffeehouse vibe that spawned the Golden Era of protest music, I’m accompanied on acoustic six string, as well […]
Show Some Love for MAMA!
GOOD NEWS! This will be the last time this year I’ll ask you to donate to a charity– and it’s only $5. The Madison Area Music Assn. has opened voting for its annual MAMA Awards, our biggest fundraiser of the year. Voting costs only $5, and ALL the money raised goes toward providing instruments and […]
My Favorite Things: Trump Edition
NEW SONG! I always say, don’t just fight it– write it! I borrowed the Rogers & Hammerstein classic “My Favorite Things”, and swapped out Julie Andrews for Donald Trump. Talk about your worst nightmare! See what you think; lyrics follow. My Favorite Things: Trump Edition, Lyrics by John Duggleby, music by Rogers & Hammerstein Throwing […]
The Musical Fruit
Bush’s Beans ran a competition with a $15,000 prize for a video jingle with a more kindly treatment of the old rhyme “Beans, beans, the musical fruit, the more you eat, the more you toot!” I wrote this and recorded it with my friend and sometimes musical collaborator Codrut Birsan, and my wife Jude Thomas […]
New Song: “Roadrunner”
Inspired by a 2023 month in Tucson and a childhood of Warner Brothers cartoons, “Roadrunner” is an anthropomorphic flight (actually, dash) of covetous fantasy. It is also the last song I recorded with longtime friend, duo partner and producer/recording engineer Dave Hopper, who sadly left us before we could add a final lead guitar part. […]