(C) BoingBoing
This story was originally published by BoingBoing and is unaltered.
. . . . . . . . . .
"Measles and Polio Down in the Schoolyard" is a perfect musical critique of RFK, Jr. [1]
['Jennifer Sandlin']
Date: 2025-09-10
As I watch the current "leaders" of our public health systems gleefully spreading disinformation and dismantling our once premier public health institutions, I am definitely a part of the growing cadre of educators, scientists, activists, and other just regular folks who are "deeply concerned for the future of public health" and who are fighting back against the current regime via working tirelessly to ensure continued access to vaccines, to counter medical disinformation, and much more. In addition to forming community and fighting back, sometimes, my coping strategy of choice consists of finding humorous ways to channel my anger. So I was delighted to recently stumble upon the latest musical offering from the Marsh Family, an RFK, Jr.-focused rewrite of Paul Simon's "Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard," entitled "Measles and Polio Down in the Schoolyard." It's a humorous — and scathing — critique of RFK, Jr.'s dangerous (and deadly) attack on public health. And it's exactly what I needed to hear today. The Marsh Family describes the original song and why they rewrote it to highlight the current public health crisis being manufactured by RFK, Jr.:
The original was the second single from the album "Paul Simon" (released 1972) and the inscrutable story in the lyrics is set in the Queens neighbourhood where he grew up. By coincidence, it was apparently performed with Stephen Colbert in 2015 on The Late Show – the programme that this week tore into Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s record and showed some of his fiery testimony in the Senate, an episode which also made it into European news coverage (story here:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c…. Needless to say, the world is watching with alarm the compromising of America's public health systems, including the dismantling of the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) – which has now lost its chief medical officer, director of immunisation, and director of emerging diseases (among many others) – while misinformation spreads, rates of vaccine uptake plummet, new outbreaks of measles kill again, and some states gallop headlong towards removing mandates that had the overwhelming backing of the scientific and medical communities.
Check out some of the lyrics:
The medics looked round, saw the shit going down
And resigned or faced termination
The panel destroyed by conspiracy boy
Now they're restricting who gets immunisation!
Hell, it's RFK
He don't know what he's doing!
It's RFK
He's faking the science, so you'd best beware
Cos heaven knows: it's not only Corona
We'll see measles and polio down in the schoolyard
We'll see measles and polio down in the schoolyard
. .
We'll see measles and polio down in the schoolyard
We'll see flu and rubella down in the schoolyard
We'll see varicella, down in the schoolyard
We'll see hepatitis, down in the schoolyard
We'll see parotitis, down in the schoolyard
We'll see coronavirus, down in the schoolyard
The six members of the Marsh Family live in Kent, UK. They went viral during the first year of the pandemic when they began uploading what they call "pandemic parody songs" in 2020 that captured their "unique mix of humour, heart, and hope." Their bio on their website describes them as "versatile, earthy, and independent" and explains that they put their own twist on a wide variety of genres, including musicals, folk, Motown, and funk.
To see more of their work — including my other favorite, a Trump-focused rewrite of the song "Fixer Upper" from the Frozen movie, aptly titled "F*&ker Upper" — check out their website or YouTube.
Previously:
• 'I have a this active measles virus — I just wanna stab everybody' — Jon Hamm steals show as unhinged RFK Jr on SNL
• Trump and RFK Jr blame 'a drug or something' for autism
• RFK Jr demonstrates exciting new medical technique: wild guessing
• RFK Jr and grandkids celebrated mother's day with a swim in a sewage-filled creek
• RFK Jr establishes Soviet-style pre-approval system for 23 'controversial' research topics at National Cancer Institute
[END]
---
[1] Url:
https://boingboing.net/2025/09/10/measles-and-polio-down-in-the-schoolyard-is-a-perfect-musical-critique-of-rfk-jr.html
Published and (C) by BoingBoing
Content appears here under this condition or license: Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 3.0.
via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/boingboing/
