Purple Toupee

by John Linnell

I remember the year I went to camp
I heard about some lady named Selma and some blacks
Somebody put their fingers in the president's ears
And it wasn't too much later they came out with Johnson's wax

I remember the book depository
Where they crowned the king of Cuba
Now that's all I can think of, but I'm sure there's something else
Way down inside me, I can feel it coming back

Purple toupee will show the way
When summer brings you down
Purple toupee and gold lame
Will turn your brain around

Chinese people were fighting in the park
We tried to help them fight, no one appreciated that
Martin X was mad when they outlawed bell bottoms
Ten years later they were sharing the same cell

I shouted out, 'Free the Expo '67!'
'Til they stepped on my hair and then told me I was fat
Now I'm very big, I'm a big, important man
And the only thing that's different is underneath my hat

Purple toupee is here to stay
After the hair has gone away
The purple brigade
Is marching from the grave

We're on some kind of mission
We have an obligation
We have to wear toupees