Landlord

D                                 
   The patroons came from Holland 
to America, became landlords where 
                 A
none had been before
Soon one man owned half a million 
acres, on both sides of the Hudson 
      D
River shore
He invited families to move in, and 
                    A
give him thirty percent
Of everything they grew each year, 
                           D
this is how they'd pay the rent
His name was Rensselaer, he became 
                            A
one of the richest men on Earth
In today's terms ninety billion 
                              D
dollars, is how much he'd be worth
All this for doing nothing, but 
                        A
saying all of this was his
“I have the power of the state 
behind me, and I'm in the landlord 
D
biz”
After two hundred years of this, and
                 A
 one revolution won
                                D
Another Rennsalaer had another son
And this Rennsalaer was greedier, 
                              A
than his ancestors dead and passed
It was now the 1840's, and things 
                 D
started changing fast
It was the straw that broke the 
                        A
back, the bottle was uncorked
They started organizing meetings, 
                          D
the tenant farmers of New York
They found the strength of numbers, 
                             A
they found the power of suggestion
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They found each other, asking the 
           D
same question


[Chorus]
D                            
Who gave you the right to be a 
landlord, to live a life of ease 
                A
while others toil
Who gave you the right to be a rich 
man, while the rest of us pay you so
              D
 that we can work this soil


[Verse]
D                                 
They vowed that they would stop 
the rent collection, they vowed 
                              A
they'd bring this madness to an end
And when one blew the tin horn of 
distress, they'd soon find they had 
           D
a thousand friends
Dressed in calico skirts with masks 
upon their faces, on horseback, 
                      A
armed with knives and guns
They chanted and they yelled, they 
kept their farms, and they kept the 
        D
sheriffs on the run


[Chorus]
D                            
Who gave you the right to be a 
landlord, to live a life of ease 
                A
while others toil
Who gave you the right to be a rich 
man, while the rest of us pay you so
              D
 that we can work this soil


[Bridge]
D A A D


[Verse]
D                              
The governor's militias tried to 
stop them, but nothing could be done
                 A
 to break their will
And by 1848 the landlords buckled 
and sold their holdings to the 
               D
farmers in the hills
Yes they overthrew this feudal 
system, but it's replaced now by 
                A
speculators and banks
And you can still hear the homeless 
families asking of all the landed 
             D
gentry in our ranks


[Chorus]
D                            
Who gave you the right to be a 
landlord, to live a life of ease 
                A
while others toil
Who gave you the right to be a rich 
man, while the rest of us pay you so
              D
 that we can work this soil

D                            
Who gave you the right to be a 
landlord, to live a life of ease 
                A
while others toil
Who gave you the right to be a rich 
man, while the rest of us pay you so
              D
 that we can work this soil

D
Who gave you the right?