The Poetry of Donald
Rumsfeld – Lyrics and Sound Clips
"Lithe
and witty art songs...executed with free-spirited bravura."
—San
Francisco Chronicle
|
 |
Welcome
to the detail page for the disarmingly funny set of
songs, The
Poetry of Donald Rumsfeld. The new songs
have been featured on CNN,
NPR, the BBC, and elsewhere in the media and are
available on CD from Stuffed Penguin Music.
You
can scroll down to read the lyrics—all of which
are direct quotes from Rumsfeld's Pentagon briefings
and other interviews—and listen to sound clips
in mp3 format. Keep scrolling! There are seven songs
in the set.
Written
by composer
and pianist Bryant Kong, the songs
are in an accessible style based in classical music,
with strong popular influences from cabaret to pop music.
They are sung by soprano
Elender Wall.
Find
out more at the Rumsfeld
songs home page.
Read
about the full
album of twenty fresh American art songs.
Go ahead and buy
the CD. |
Rumsfeld Song
|
|
|
The
Unknown
As
we know,
There
are known knowns.
There
are things we know we know.
We
also know
There
are known unknowns.
That
is to say
We
know there are some things
We
do not know.
But
there are also unknown unknowns,
The
ones we don't know
We
don't know.
Department
of Defense news briefing
Feb.
12, 2002
|
mp3
clip |
mp3
clip |
Glass
Box
You
know, it's the old glass box at the—
At
the gas station,
Where
you're using those little things
Trying
to pick up the prize,
And
you can't find it.
It's—
And
it's all these arms are going down in there,
And
so you keep dropping it
And
picking it up again and moving it,
But—
Some
of you are probably too young to remember those—
Those
glass boxes,
But—
But
they used to have them
At
all the gas stations
When
I was a kid.
Department
of Defense news briefing
Dec.
6, 2001
|
mp3
clip |
mp3
clip |
| A
Confession
Once
in a while,
I'm
standing here, doing something.
And
I think,
"What
in the world am I doing here?"
It's
a big surprise.
Interview
with the
New York Times
May
16, 2001
|
mp3
clip |
mp3
clip |
Find
out more at the Rumsfeld
songs home page.
Read
about the full
album.
Go ahead and buy
the CD.
|
|
|
Rumsfeld Song
|
|
|
| Happenings
You're
going to be told lots of things.
You
get told things every day that don't happen.
It
doesn't seem to bother people, they don't—
It's
printed in the press.
The
world thinks all these things happen.
They
never happened.
Everyone's
so eager to get the story
Before
in fact the story's there
That
the world is constantly being fed
Things
that haven't happened.
All
I can tell you is,
It
hasn't happened.
It's
going to happen.
Department
of Defense briefing
Feb.
28, 2003
|
mp3
clip |
mp3
clip |
The
Digital Revolution
Oh
my goodness gracious,
What
you can buy off the Internet
In
terms of overhead photography!
A
trained ape can know an awful lot
Of
what is going on in this world,
Just
by punching on his mouse
For
a relatively modest cost!
Following
European trip
June
9, 2001
|
mp3
clip |
mp3
clip |
The
Situation
Things
will not be necessarily continuous.
The
fact that they are something other than perfectly
continuous
Ought
not to be characterized as a pause.
There
will be some things that people will see.
There
will be some things that people won't see.
And
life goes on.
Department
of Defense news briefing
Oct.
12, 2001
|
mp3
clip |
mp3
clip |
| Clarity
I
think what you'll find,
I
think what you'll find is,
Whatever
it is we do substantively,
There
will be near-perfect clarity
As
to what it is.
And
it will be known,
And
it will be known to the Congress,
And
it will be known to you,
Probably
before we decide it,
But
it will be known.
Department
of Defense briefing
Feb.
28, 2003 |
mp3
clip |
mp3
clip |
Find out more at the
Rumsfeld
songs home page.
Read
about the full
album of twenty fresh American art songs.
Go
ahead and buy
the CD.
Poems © 2003 Hart
Seely. Used by permission.
|
