Something For Nothing - Loudon Wainwright III

You can pull one of my songs right out of thin air

Go ahead and download me, see if I care!

In love, war, and cyberspace everything’s fair

And it’s ok to steal, 'cause it’s so nice to share

You’re in luck, 'cause last night it happened again

I was feeling creative about twenty to ten

So I sharpened a pencil, then I wore down its end

And now soon you’ll have something to share with your friends

It took twenty minutes to write down this song

Tune’s public domain, but I didn’t do wrong

I chewed up the pencil, and the eraser’s all gone

Scratched my head and my balls, but it didn’t take long

Song writing’s not so hard, it’s well understood

Anyone can do it, and everyone should

And I’m sure you could write and sing something as good

With some balls and a pencil, I’m sure that you would

A PC’s like a crowbar, it’s only a tool

Music flows like water from a big public pool

But I wanna get paid for my work, but I’m a fool

Because trading and sharing’s so awesome and cool

I don’t mean to be flip, I don’t wanna be pat

And those Metallica guys are all getting too fat!

Free information, yeah, what’s wrong with that?

Something for nothing, that’s where it’s at

And those moguls run labels, and you call 'em all crooks

'Cause they crunch the numbers and they cook the books

But I signed that contract, and I got my hand shook

Shaking hands with the devil, it’s not as bad as it looks

You can pull one of my songs right out of thin air

Bootleg and download me, just see if I care!

In love, war, and cyberspace everything’s fair

And it’s ok to steal, 'cause it’s so nice to share