Superfundamentalists
by Robert Wynne
Music: “Supercalifragalistic” from the musical Mary Poppins
© 1999
(chorus)
Superfundamentalists enforcing my salvation
They say if i dont follow them, it means my ruination
And hope their faith will one day be the sole law of the nation
Superfundamentalists enforcing my salvation
Long ago in England by a goverment decree
The King told you exactly what your faith was going to be
So some folks bought a leaky boat and sailed across the sea
So their children would not have to live with tyranny
(chorus)
They landed on a foreign shore with no one else around
And said “Here in this frontier land, a colony we’ll found!
And since a free society is what we must achieve
No one here will tell just what you ought to believe!”
(chorus)
In time upon that virgin shore a mighty nation rose
And built their goverment around the freedoms that they chose
To speak their minds without reprisal and to print the same
And most of all, the right to choose just what their god was named
(chorus)
Much time has passed and once again the zealots have grown bold
They say the time has come that all the prophets have fortold
“This country has gone wrong,” they cry, “it’s up to us to fix!
We’ll save you from the heathens” but it’s all a bag of tricks
(chorus)
The fundies have forgot the things that made our country strong
They think that only they can know the truth of right and wrong
Be sure to keep an eye on them and every thing they do
Or else they may succeed in gaining power over you!
(chorus)
At a housefilk in 1999, a discussion of religious zealotry cropped up, and I made the comment that I was tired of of “Superfundamentalists trying to enforce my salvation.” Jerrie Adkins pointed out that the phrase “Superfundamentalists enforcing my salvation” scanned to the Mary Poppins tune, and I thought “Well, that’s clever”, wrote it down, and forgot about it.
Some months later, Gwen Knighton asked me for help finding songs about the separation of church and state that she could play at a Unitarian service. We looked through all our songbooks and couldn’t find anything we thought was quite right, and so both set out to write something. Gwen emerged with the sublime Six Days, while I remembered that throw-away line and crafted it into this song. This is another song that always turns into a sing-along.
This song is written about the myth of America, rather than drawing from real history. I’m well aware of the shortcomings of those settlers with regards to religious tolerance, but I still hope it’s not too late to try and capture the spirit of the ideals they imperfectly enacted.
