Music copyright © 1957 by Buddy Holly, Jerry Allison, Joe Mauldin, and Norman Petty
Words 
1995 by Jim Bearden
Many of us were surprised to learn, after Newt Gingrich and his political views had become well-known, that he had a half-sister, Candace, who was an outspoken, and politically active, lesbian. I read an interview she gave in Newsweek a few years ago, in which she was told that her brother had said he was “tolerant” of her life style. She replied, “A leaky faucet, a barking dog — these are the kind of things you ‘tolerate’.” I thought this was too good a line not to use, and started working on a song about her. As I did, I found myself slipping into the musical mold of one of my favorite Buddy Holly songs, Well, All Right. After a while, I decided to stop fighting the impulse, and use it — and I think, considering some of the things that Buddy Holly said and did when he was alive, that he would not mind seeing his music “recycled” into this theme.
Verse 1:
Well, all right, so my brother’s in Congress;
Well, all right, so let his friends say
That they have every right to repress
All the love that comes our way.
Chorus:
We’re all right, we’re all right,
And we will live and love with all of our might.
We’re all right, we’re all right,
And our lifetime love, it’ll be all right.
Verse 2:
Well, all right, so he says he is “tolerant”
Of the kind of people his friends hate.
So we’re like a leaky faucet, or a barking dog —
Just one more nuisance you “tolerate”.
Chorus
Verse 3:
Well, all right, so Jesse says we should stop paying
For diseases brought on by what people do;
So I hope his friends remember what he’s saying
Next time a tobacco subsidy is due.
Chorus
Verse 4:
Well, all right, so it’s an accident we’re related;
Well, all right, so people say I’m being used.
But, if you were the one who was hated,
It just might seem a little less confused.
Chorus
Verse 5:
Well, all right, so this may not be “your thing”;
Well, all right, so why should you care?
You’ll see, when they kick in the door of your bedroom,
If we’re not safe, you’re not safe — anywhere.
Chorus
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