1969 VIDEO: Beatles (and Yoko) speak out on immigration

Because some things never change, we offer up a bootleg of the Beatles singing about immigration. Brought to you by Harvey Dickson of The New York Times.

Dickson even manages to mention Tom Tancredo in his blog.

Dickson writes:

It’s not so much a song as it is an extended improvisation during the interminable “Get Back” studio sessions in 1969 (in fact, some theorize that “The Commonwealth Song” is a prototype for “Get Back”). “Commonwealth” name-checks Enoch Powell (the Tom Tancredo of his day, or Thilo Sarazin, if you prefer a German reference), who had delivered his anti-immigrant “Rivers of Blood” speech the previous year. “Commonwealth” was Paul McCartney’s mocking response.

Here, a link to the lyrics, which include:

Immigrants. Wilson Health said to the immigrants
you better get back to the commonwealth homes.
Yeah, yeah, yeah I said Get back home. Now Enoch
Powell was said to the folks color of his skin. He
said don’t care. So he said you better get up. He
said he said to Enoch Powell. You better go home.

Scot Kersgaard has been managing editor of a political newspaper, editor and co-owner of a ski town newspaper, executive editor of eight high-tech magazines (where he worked with current Apple CEO Tim Cook), deputy press secretary to a U.S. Senator, and an outdoors columnist at the Rocky Mountain News. He has an English degree from the University of Washington. He was awarded a fellowship to study internet journalism at the University of Maryland's Knight Center for Specialized Journalism. He was student body president in college. He spends his free time hiking and skiing.

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