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

"Emmo" <emmo@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

>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
>
--
The Constitution wasn't perfect but it sure beats
what we have now.
.