Union card-packing satirical song writer says it's hard to keep pace with Trump 'absurdities and outrages'
By BERRY CRAIG
AFT Local 1360
“Ol’ Man Fibber” isn’t California crooner-guitar picker Roy Zimmerman’s only Kentucky connection.
His satirical song is about Sen. Mitch McConnell, who lives in Louisville. But Zimmerman and his wife, Melanie Harby, honeymooned in the Falls City in 1987.
“We were playing at the Actors’ Theater,” said Zimmerman, 59, a member of the Los Angeles SAG-AFTRA local.
He and his spouse barnstorm the country combatting racism, gun violence, climate change, income inequality, bigotry, ignorance, war and greed with funny tunes, which they compose together.
In the 30 years since they tied the knot, Zimmerman and Harby—she usually drives on road trips--have been back to the Bluegrass State 10 times. They put on four shows in the Falls City, three in Lexington and a trio in Henderson.
They call the 90-minute show "ReZist."
Zimmerman and Harby's latest musical spoof is “Junior: ‘T-R-E-A-S-O-N,” which is about Donald Trump Jr.’s controversial huddle with a Russian lawyer who he evidently figured had dirt on Hillary Clinton.
“We’ve been working together to seed Facebook with these song parodies,” Zimmerman said. “We’re trying to keep up with the absurdities and outrages of the Trump administration, but it’s almost impossible.”
Zimmerman and Harby live in Lakeport, Calif. They have two sons, Joe, 27, and Sam, 25, who reside elsewhere in California.
“We’re on the road two thirds of the time,” Zimmerman said. “We drive, too, because that’s the only way we can reach a lot of the places we go to.”
Zimmerman’s website says he’s spent more than 20 years appearing “on stages, screens and airwaves across America,” bringing “the sting of satire to the struggle for peace and Justice.”
He’s shared the limelight with Bill Maher, Ellen DeGeneres, Robin Williams, Holly Near, Arlo Guthrie, John Oliver, The Roches, Andy Borowitz, The Chambers Brothers, George Carlin and Al Franken.
He’s sung on HBO and Showtime and recorded at Warner/Reprise Record studios. His YouTube videos have collected more than seven million views.
Also handy with a word processor, Zimmerman is a featured Huffington Post blogger.
“Ol Man Fibber” is based on “Ol' Man River," composer Jerome Kern and lyricist Oscar Hammerstein’s storied 1927 tune from the musical "Show Boat." Zimmerman resists comparing himself and his wife to the legendary music duo.
He also admits he's no Paul Robeson, the immortal civil rights activist, actor and bassist who famously belted out "Ol' Man River" in the 1936 movie "Show Boat."
“There’s an old man name of Mitch McConnell,” the parody starts.
“He’s the old lion of the GOP.
“What does he care if our health ain’t covered?
“Long as he gets his tax-exctomy.”
Zimmerman vowed that he and his wife composed “Ol’ Man Fibber” – McConnell is 75—the same way they dream up other songs.
“We hold hands, sit there with our eyes closed and give ourselves five minutes to come up with something.”
Zimmerman started writing songs in junior high in Cooperstown, Calif., where he grew up near San Francisco. “The ones that came out of me were naturally funny. But it wasn’t too long before they turned political.”
“We go to a lot of red states,” Zimmerman said. “We call it playing to ‘blue dots’ – progressive people-- in red states. People accuse me of preaching to the choir. But I consider it entertaining the troops.”
Zimmerman also composes pro-worker songs including “The Unions are to blame.”The parody “faults” unions for winning for workers benefits like weekends off, paid vacations, overtime pay, jobsite safety regulations and pensions. He recorded it on Labor Day, 2011, at the historic old Western Federation of Miners union hall in Victor, Colo.
“It was the site of the Colorado Mine Wars,” said Zimmerman. In 1903-1904, wealthy gold and silver mine owners, backed by the governor, national guard troops, vigilantes and the press, battled to crush miners who belonged to the WFM.