when everyone else refrained, my uncle jonny did cocaine

or, as we say in poli sci AP:

When everybody else refrained
My Uncle Gorby started change
He convinced himself right in his brain
That’d it help to take away the pain
Hey, Gorby
Hey what you say, Gorby?

He’ll want some glasnost tonight
Time for some openness in government life
Transparency’s the only way
Freedom of speech may save the day.
He feels a burning in the Russian core
It’s a yearning that he won’t ignore
He’ll bring some glasnost tonight
Lose his grip on media, won’t hold on tight.
He’s convinced himself right in his brain
That’d it help to take away the pain
Hey, Gorby
Hey what you say, Gorby?

Restructuring the economy
I said perestroika’s gonna bring us change
Shocking people by allowing foreign cash
Regional autonomy’s been growing fast
Feel that we’re losing too much control
Can’t stop it, nationalism’s on a roll
Oh, the USSR’s going down tonight
-Gorby! We had faith in you man,
Why isn’t it gonna be all right?

He’d convinced himself up in his brain
That’d it help to take away the pain
Hey what you say Gorby

Tell us what’s going on
Glasnost and perestroika have gone wrong
If the future is real
Communism’s done here
Hey what you say Gorby!

When everybody else refrained
My Uncle Gorby brought us change.

(thanks the Killers for the song 'uncle jonny' which became 'uncle gorby', aka my poli sci project: an opera on the making of the modern Russian state. adapted by rachel shea).

ykylm,
rae