Mermaid Avenue is a 1998 album of previously unheard lyrics written by American folk singer Woody Guthrie, put to music written and performed by British singer Billy Bragg and the American band Wilco. The project was the first of several such projects organized by Guthrie’s daughter, Nora Guthrie, original director of the Woody Guthrie Foundation and archives. The projects are named after the song “Mermaid’s Avenue”, written by Guthrie. This was also the name of the street in Coney Island, New York on which Guthrie lived. According to American Songwriter Magazine, “The Mermaid Avenue project is essential for showing that Woody Guthrie could illuminate what was going on inside of him as well as he could detail the plight of his fellow man”. (More from Wikipedia)
Speaking of Woody, activist English rock singer Billy Bragg teamed up with the American alternative rock band Wilco in 1998 to create new music for several unperformed Woody Guthrie songs where only lyrics were available (there are more than 1,000 such songs that Guthrie wrote). Named Mermaid Avenue for the street in Coney Island, New York where Woody lived for many years, they looked upon the albums as a collaboration of modern rock musicians with the legendary troubadour of the Depression era.
“Christ for President” appears on Mermaid Avenue and has these neat lyrics:
Let’s have Christ our President
Let us have him for our king
Cast your vote for the Carpenter
That you call the Nazarene
. . .
Every year we waste enough
To feed the ones who starve
We build our civilization up
And we shoot it down with wars
But with the Carpenter on the seat
Way up in the Capital town
The USA would be on the way
Prosperity Bound!
(November 2014)
