February 8, 2009 11:21PM 

# Tom Paxton’s Grammy 

By [David Boaz](https://www.cato.org/people/david-boaz) 

---

<a class="js-popover-trigger cursor-pointer popover-trigger" data-bs-placement="bottom" data-bs-trigger="click" id="popover-trigger"> 

SHARE 

</a> 

Folksinger Tom Paxton [received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/06/AR2009020603708.html) Sunday night. He’s probably best known for his antiwar and civil-rights songs from the 1960s and 1970s. But on this blog he’s [most celebrated](https://www.cato.org/2008/12/29/im-changing-my-name-to-bank-holding-company/) for “I Am Changing My Name to Fannie Mae” (originally written in 1979 as “I’m Changing My Name to Chrysler.”) You can hear [Paxton](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=etUq7IY_7Mc&feature=related) sing it here. Those who think Tom Paxton is a better songwriter than singer can hear [Arlo](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAG0XMRty5Y) Guthrie’s version instead.

If only they’d let him sing “I Am Changing My Name to Stimulus” at the Grammys: “When they hand a trillion grand out, I’ll be standing with my hand out.” Or maybe even “[The Ballad of Ron Paul](https://www.cato.org/2008/11/08/the-ballad-of-ron-paul/)”!

##### Related Tags 

[General](https://www.cato.org/general) 

[![Creative Commons License](/build/cato_2020/images/creative-commons.svg)](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) 
This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/).