Roy Zimmerman (born October 7, 1957) is an American satirical singer-songwriter and guitarist now based in

Northern California Northern California (commonly shortened to NorCal) is a geocultural region that comprises the northern portion of the U.S. state of California, spanning the northernmost 48 of the state's List of counties in California, 58 counties. Northern Ca ...

Biography

A native of

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural List of regions of California, region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Its densely populated coastal reg ...

, Roy Zimmerman wrote a series of satirical musical reviews in the 1980s that were produced by the San Jose Repertory Theatre, including ''YUP!'' (1984), ''UP the YUP'' (1985), and ''YUP It UP!'' (1986). The musicals parodied the excesses of the evolving

yuppie Yuppie, short for "young urban professional" or "young upwardly-mobile professional", is a term coined in the early 1980s for a young professional person working in a city. The term is first attested in 1980, when it was used as a fairly neu ...

culture in

Silicon Valley Silicon Valley is a region in Northern California that is a global center for high technology and innovation. Located in the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area, it corresponds roughly to the geographical area of the Santa Clara Valley ...

. The songs included "Teen-age Computer Tycoon", "The Bay Area Sprawl", and "I Want to Be in a Pepsi Commercial," which many

Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a region of California surrounding and including San Francisco Bay, and anchored by the cities of Oakland, San Francisco, and San Jose. The Association of Bay Area Governments ...

professionals have remembered since their young adult years. Zimmerman founded the Southern California satirical folk quartet,

The Foremen The Foremen were a satirical folk music band from Los Angeles founded by Roy Zimmerman. They were known for their politically charged lyrics, which usually discussed United States politics from a left-wing point of view, such as by mocking Rush ...

. It performed at the national conventions of both major American political parties in 1996. Continuing as a solo act, Zimmerman explained the philosophy behind writing and performing humorous songs on increasingly political subjects: "There's nothing funny about World Peace. Social Justice never killed at

The Comedy Store The Comedy Store is an American comedy club opened in April 1972. It is located in West Hollywood, California, at 8433 Sunset Boulevard on the Sunset Strip. An associated club is located in La Jolla, San Diego, California. History The Comedy ...

. If we ever attain a worldwide consciousness of peace and justice, I'll be happily out of a job. But as long as there's poverty, war, bigotry, ignorance, greed, lust and paranoia, I've got a career". Among the counter-events to the 2004

Republican National Convention The Republican National Convention (RNC) is a series of presidential nominating conventions held every four years since 1856 by the Republican Party in the United States. They are administered by the Republican National Committee. The goal o ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, Zimmerman performed his song, "Chickenhawk." It indicts those who approve of militarism, as long as neither they nor anyone they know has to be directly involved. Zimmerman played in the ''Rock Beyond Belief'' concert on March 31, 2012, at

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

Fort Bragg Fort Bragg (formerly Fort Liberty from 2023–2025) is a United States Army, U.S. Army Military base, military installation located in North Carolina. It ranks among the largest military bases in the world by population, with more than 52,000 m ...

. His songs have been played regularly on the ''

Dr. Demento Barret Eugene Hansen (born April 2, 1941), known professionally as Dr. Demento, is an American radio broadcaster and record collector specializing in novelty songs, comedy, and strange or unusual recordings dating from the early days of phonograp ...

'' radio show. To date he has recorded and released five versions of Solomon Linda's song " Mbube", better known in America as "

The Lion Sleeps Tonight "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" is a song originally written and first recorded in 1939 by Solomon Linda under the title "Mbube", through South African Gallo Record Company. In 1961, a version adapted into English by the doo-wop group the Tokens bec ...

", each with a different set of satirical lyrics about Donald J. Trump, and several of which feature appearances by Jay Siegel of

The Tokens The Tokens were an American doo-wop band (rock and pop), band and production of phonograph records, record production company group from Brooklyn, Brooklyn, New York City. The group had four top 40 hits on the Billboard Hot 100, ''Billboard'' H ...

, who made the song popular. Roy Zimmerman lives and works in

Marin County, California Marin County ( ) is a County (United States), county located in the northwestern part of the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 262,231. Its county seat a ...

, with his wife and collaborator, Melanie Harby, and their sons Joe and Sam.

Discography

*''Comic Sutra'' (2004) *''Security'' (2004) *''Homeland'' (2004) *''Homeland/Security'' (combined double album, 2004) *''Peacenick'' (2005) *''Best of the Foremen'' (2006) *''Faulty Intelligence'' (2006) *''Thanks for the Support'' (2008) *''Real American'' (2010) *''You're Getting Sleepy'' (2011) *''The Faucet's on Fire!'' (2015) *''RiZe Up'' (2018)

References

External links

Official website
* AllMusic Foremen pagebr>
Roy Zimmerman to sing at Rock Beyond Belief (2011/03/01) * {{DEFAULTSORT:Zimmerman, Roy American male comedians American satirists American satirical musicians 1957 births Living people Place of birth missing (living people) Musicians from Marin County, California Singer-songwriters from California Comedians from California Jewish American comedians Jewish male comedians Guitarists from California 20th-century American guitarists 20th-century American comedians 21st-century American Jews Jews from California Jewish American musicians American political music artists