HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LEONID BREZHNEV 
(Words and Music by Joan Baez) 


Happy birthday, Leonid Brezhnev 
What a lovely seventy-fifth 
We watched the party on TV 
You seemed to be taking things casually 
What a mighty heart must beat in your breast 
To hold forty-nine medals on your chest 
Think of all the gifts that you've got 
Some were acquired and some were not 
Like a natural talent for marionettes 
Who do your dirty work and cover your bets 
So with one hand waving free 
The other one crushed a budding democracy 

Congratulations, Jaruzelski 
What a wonderful job you have done 
Let me mention to a sane man's eye 
You've lost the meaning of compromise 
They're comparing you to General Pinochet 
It's a dubious compliment at best 
Your people are freezing, the workers are bleeding 
You've already arranged numerous deaths 
The only difference in the camps from the stadiums 
Is not much for the doomed all cry 
It's only the weather and the songs people sing 
Just before they die 

Do you hear us, Lech Walesa? 
What a terrible price you have paid 
For being ahead of your time 
Has surely constituted a crime 
Oh, Mr. Brezhnev, look 
Somebody read the little red book 
And took it all seriously 
The way you did when you were young and you believed 
And you workers and you black Madonna 
You're not supposed to utter a word 
But the courage of you and your man of the year 
Is a symphony the world has seldom seen or heard 
Through the Siberian gates of hell 
The Pope and the bishops are wishing you well 
We see your candles in the park 
Hear your fearless promises in the dark 
How they cheat and when tried to win 
They didn't know that there would always be within you 
And we hear you, Lech Walesa 
Yes, we hear you, Lech Walesa 
Yes, we hear you, Lech Walesa 
Yes, we hear you, Lech Walesa