Moneychangers

Music & lyrics, 2021

He walked into the temple
Saw the moneychangers makin’ a killin’
He flipped their tables
Scattered their coins
That’s when everyone started yelling
They knocked him down
Found a rope and a tree
Hung him high up for all to see
They went back to their schemes
Of fleecing the sheep
Kept the money rollin’ in
Rock the boats, rattle Wall St.
You’re gonna pay the price
Shake ‘em hard and you might just pay with your life

He came back as a poltergeist
Burned the cash clutched tight in their hands
He came back as a righteous jin
All their profits sucked up by the winds
The moneychangers ran to the priests
“Send us your best exorcist!”
He was shot underground
Sent to Hades and Hell
“Torture that communist!”
Three days, a guest of the devil
Three days of sulphur and fire
Scare ‘em silly and you might just pay with your soul

He came back as a gentle breeze
Gently floated their lucre away
He came back as the breath of god
The moneychangers chased their money
Chased their money into oncoming traffic!
Chased their money right over a cliff!
Grasping, clawing, greed greedily gnawing¬¬
Needing more more more to the end!
Money more important than life itself
Money more important than love
Hoards of gold, dead dragons rotting in the dark

These moneychangers they’re still around
Picking pockets & robbing us blind
Today’s moneychangers rule the world
They’re up in orbit watching planet Earth die
What will it take for us to flip the tables?
Do to others as that holy man did?
Or are we so beaten down we can’t stick up for ourselves
Ostriches — our heads in the sand?
Say nothing, they’ll roll you over
Do nothing and they’ll bury you deep
It’s high time we put these moneychangers to sleep

It’s high time we put these moneychangers to sleep
Good night, moneychangers

© Kirtland C. Peterson, 2021