Ai Weiwei’s Homesick Blues (after Bob Dylan)
Weiwei’s in the basement,
Mixing up some oil paints,
Dragged off the pavement,
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Slammed into enslavement,
A guard in a trench coat,
Grabbed him at the airport,
Says: “Weiwei, you’re the wrong sort,
No, we ain’t got time for court.”
Look out kid, It’s something you did,
God knows when, but you’re doing it again,
You’re making trouble for the party,
They’ve led you down a dead end,
A soldier in a peaked cap,
Takes you to a jail pen,
Maybe they will set you free,
But God only knows when.
They wouldn’t let Liu Xiaobo,
Fly across to Oslo,
To pick up his Nobel,
Kept him in his prison cell,
Like those kids from Tiananmen,
Who went in boys, now they’re men,
Liu is cooped up like a hen,
On the whim of Premier Wen.
They said: “Listen Ai, It don’t pay to defy.
Best to walk on tiptoes,
Not making new foes,
Leave politics to the pros,
Stay in line, don’t oppose,
Stick to holding art shows,
Gotta keep a clean nose,
Or see that man in plain clothes?
He’ll show you how the wind blows.”