Tuli Kupferberg Live at the Brecht Forum Chameleon + lyrics
Channel: tulifuli
Date: 2011-08-02

From a performance in February 1990 with Fuxxons Steve Taylor and Heather Hardy.  The chameleon is a familiar political reptile which changes its color to suit its surroundings. Tuli  takes off from Joe Gould's line, "In the Winter I'm a buddhist, in the summer I'm a nudist."  The song can be found in studio version  on the Fugs Final CD part 1. NYC, The Brecht Forum

The English clergy are paid by the state as well they should be
And the Vicar of Bray was a legendary, most famous survivor of that system.
He served under Charles II,  James II,  William  III,  Queen Anne, George I,,II,  uh,
He became legendary, noone could have lived that long but , uh,
Of course he changed his belief with every succession to the one that new monarch  had, so no more than right either, so he was successively Catholic, Anglican, High Church, Low Church, Establishment, disestablishment,  then antidisestablishment, he was Tory, Whig, Jew, no, no,
Anyway,this song is dedicated to his memory.
It's called "Chameleon" or the Time Servers song, The Belly Dance of the Vicar or Bray.

In the winter I'm a Buddhist, in the summer I'm a nudist
In Jerusalem Talmudist,  in Hellfire Club the crudest,
Chameleon  (4x)
When the Democrats are winning liberalities I'm spinning
When Republicans are panting racist slogans I am chanting
Chameleon  (4x)
Unter Hitler I'm a Nazi, unter Adenhauer Schatzie
Under Stalin I'm a redski, under Hoover I'm a fedski
Chameleon  (4x)
With art lovers I love art, with truck drivers love to fart
With jocks I shlug my beer unless teetotalers are near
Chameleon  (4x)
With philosophes I'm existential with call girls that's not essential
In academe I lead the school, on the street I play the fool
Chameleon  (4x)
With the proles digging ditches, with the brokers plotting riches
And with God I'm quite religious, here in Hell sunk  where hot pitch is
Chameleon  (4x)