“If I Were A Rich Man”

By Zevi K. Southeast PA Healthcare Rights Committee Put People First! PA

I adapted the song “If I Were A Rich Man” from Fiddler on the Roof… So many of us learn to believe all our problems would be solved if only we, as individuals, had more money. But really, that won’t save us and we need a bigger understanding of what “wealth” is. This song is me imagining what it could be like to be “rich” in a way that includes all of us….

If I were a rich man Ya ba dibba dibba dibba dibba dibba dibba dum All day long, I’d biddy biddy bum If I were a wealthy man I wouldn’t have to work hard Ya ba dibba dibba dibba dibba dibba dibba dum If I were a biddy biddy rich, yidle-diddle-didle-didle man

I’d build a big health clinic with rooms by the dozen Right in the middle of the town Doctors, nurses, techs went to school for free And there’d be workers whose one job is to check On you if you haven’t been around Co-pays and deductibles are banned!

We’d all have jobs that don’t make us want to die Because they’d value human life Instead of squeezing profits for billionaires And we’d find ways to stop destroying the Earth Because that’s a thing we could just do! Can you feel the breeze of that sweet air…

If I were a rich man…

I see my kids, my children, looking like a rich man’s kids With their bellies full of food Getting the care and attention that they need I see them putting on plays at cultural centers, Learning how to cook and how to swim, Singing, there’s a future still for me…

The politicians of the land would come to call on us! They would ask us to advise them Like Solomon the wise What do you see, my people? What do you need, my people? When they told us we were powerless they lied! Yabba dee die die…..

And it won’t make one bit of difference If you’ve got money to pay When we’re all rich We all really own

If we were rich we’d have the time that we lack To heal from centuries of pain Even if we don’t know exactly how Because the poor have always had to know How to make a way out of no way Can’t you see we’re doing it right now?

If we were a rich man! Yabba dibby….

Lord who made the planet and the stars You decreed we would be what we are Give us strength to carry us that far! Till we all are a…wealthy… man !!!!