Re: Song of the year - was: Ode to a Handle Cranker

Excellent.
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Mr. P.V.'d
formerly Droll Troll
"Emmo" <emmo@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:Y2kuf.20593$9e.1885@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Great song by James McMurtry, a local Austin singer songwriter, son of
> Larry, Well worth a listen...
>
> "We Can't Make it Here"
>
> Vietnam Vet with a cardboard sign
> Sitting there by the left turn line
> Flag on the wheelchair flapping in the breeze
> One leg missing, both hands free
> No one's paying much mind to him
> The V.A. budget's stretched so thin
> And there's more comin' home from the Mideast war
> We can't make it here anymore
>
> That big ol' building was the textile mill
> It fed our kids and it paid our bills
> But they turned us out and they closed the doors
> We can't make it here anymore
>
> See all those pallets piled up on the loading dock
> They're just gonna set there till they rot
> 'Cause there's nothing to ship, nothing to pack
> Just busted concrete and rusted tracks
> Empty storefronts around the square
> There's a needle in the gutter and glass everywhere
> You don't come down here 'less you're looking to score
> We can't make it here anymore
>
> The bar's still open but man it's slow
> The tip jar's light and the register's low
> The bartender don't have much to say
> The regular crowd gets thinner each day
>
> Some have maxed out all their credit cards
> Some are working two jobs and living in cars
> Minimum wage won't pay for a roof, won't pay for a drink
> If you gotta have proof just try it yourself Mr. CEO
> See how far 5.15 an hour will go
> Take a part time job at one of your stores
> Bet you can't make it here anymore
>
> High school girl with a bourgeois dream
> Just like the pictures in the magazine
> She found on the floor of the laundromat
> A woman with kids can forget all that
> If she comes up pregnant what'll she do
> Forget the career, forget about school
> Can she live on faith? live on hope?
> High on Jesus or hooked on dope
> When it's way too late to just say no
> You can't make it here anymore
>
> Now I'm stocking shirts in the Wal-Mart store
> Just like the ones we made before
> 'Cept this one came from Singapore
> I guess we can't make it here anymore
>
> Should I hate a people for the shade of their skin
> Or the shape of their eyes or the shape I'm in
> Should I hate 'em for having our jobs today
> No I hate the men sent the jobs away
> I can see them all now, they haunt my dreams
> All lily white and squeaky clean
> They've never known want, they'll never know need
> Their *** don't stink and their kids won't bleed
> Their kids won't bleed in the damned little war
> And we can't make it here anymore
>
> Will work for food
> Will die for oil
> Will kill for power and to us the spoils
> The billionaires get to pay less tax
> The working poor get to fall through the cracks
> Let 'em eat jellybeans let 'em eat cake
> Let 'em eat sh$%, whatever it takes
> They can join the Air Force, or join the Corps
> If they can't make it here anymore
>
> And that's how it is
> That's what we got
> If the president wants to admit it or not
> You can read it in the paper
> Read it on the wall
> Hear it on the wind
> If you're listening at all
> Get out of that limo
> Look us in the eye
> Call us on the cell phone
> Tell us all why
>
> In Dayton, Ohio
> Or Portland, Maine
> Or a cotton gin out on the great high plains
> That's done closed down along with the school
> And the hospital and the swimming pool
> Dust devils dance in the noonday heat
> There's rats in the alley
> And trash in the street
> Gang graffiti on a boxcar door
> We can't make it here anymore
>
> Music and lyrics © 2004 by James McMurtry
>


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