Political songwriter Jeff Parnell has just composed a jaunty little ditty called “Subsidized Ethanol Blues.” (Click on link to play.) As Parnell sings it: “Sacrifice the water and land, and what do you gain? Line the pockets of cronies, playing that subsidy game!”

The rest of the lyrics are found below the fold:

Subsidized Ethanol Blues
By Jeff Parnell

Reader support helps sustain our work. Donate today to keep our climate news free. All donations DOUBLED!

I got the 51-cents-per-gallon, subsidized ethanol blues,
I do.
The water table’s dropping,
The land is worth less than my shoes.
We used to have something called free enterprise
But if you know the right people
You’ll get sub-si-dized.
I got the 51-cents-per-gallon, subsidized ethanol blues.

Grist thanks its sponsors. Become one.

When it sells for less than it costs, how can that be?
I ask you.
When it sells for less than it costs, how can that be?
Follow the money, this don’t pass the smell test, you see.

I got the 51-cents-per-gallon, subsidized ethanol blues,
I do.
The water table’s dropping,
The land is worth less than my shoes.
We used to have something called free enterprise
But if you know the right people you’ll get sub-si-dized.
I got the 51-cents-per-gallon, subsidized ethanol blues.

Sacrifice the water and land, and what do you gain?
I ask you.
Sacrifice the water and land, and what do you gain?
Line the pockets of cronies, playing that subsidy game!

I got the 51-cents-per-gallon, subsidized ethanol blues,
The water table’s dropping,
My land is worth less than my shoes.
We used to have something called free enterprise
But if you know the right people you’ll get subsidized.
I got the 51-cents-per-gallon subsidized ethanol blues.

Grist thanks its sponsors. Become one.

I suggest that David Roberts turn up the volume of his computer and get all his colleagues to sing along.