Auto bailout song

[Cornflake]

One problem with topical songs is that events may soon render them moot. If we ever work this up, by the time we play it I'll probably need to revise the lyrics.

[Free-form introduction]

Our car industry is dying
What they make, nobody's buying
And it looks as if the Big Three may succumb
As the doctor shakes his head
Let us gather 'round the bed
And sing a requiat eternam....

Well I was sixteen when I got my first Ford
The fins were so snazzy, the chrome was ornate
That thing did ninety when the pedal was floored
The backseat was roomy if you had a date

Goodbye to Chrysler and Ford and GM
You've lost all your vigor, you're plumb out of vim
The pundits are saying your prospects are dim
And no, we won't give you a loan

For years I kept buying the cars you would sell
I wanted my autos American-made
But I got to know my mechanic too well
My patriotism soon started to fade

Goodbye to Chrysler and Ford and GM
You've lost all your vigor, you're plumb out of vim
The pundits are saying your prospects are dim
And no, we won't give you a loan

[Bridge]
Lately your stuff doesn't do a lot for us
So soon the Suburban and Tahoe and Taurus
Will die like diplodocus and brontosaurus
They too were real big and dumb

[Instrumental verse]

[Bridge]
To see what you've come to is really a bummer
Japan got creative while you guys got dumber
They made the Prius while you made the Hummer
I'll drive to your wake in my Honda

My Blazer would get me through thick and through thin
It had four-wheel drive so I never got stuck
Gas mileage was never an issue back then
These days it is, though, and your products suck

So goodbye to Chrysler and Ford and GM
You've lost all your vigor, you're plumb out of vim
The pundits are saying your prospects are dim
You dug this big hole on your own
So no, we won't give you a loan

[Fingerplucked]

But what if we give them a loan?

Like you said, topical songs are tough. This one could be outdated next year or even next month.

Then again, if everybody thought like that, we wouldn't have had any music at all in the '60's.

[Marshall]

Lovely Rita, Meter Maid, is as current and poignant as ever.


I wouldn't recommend booking a Detroit tour with that one, though, flake.


Topic tunes are very tricky. If you have a video camera and can put up a YouTube shot in a few days you might get some mileage off current events. But otherwise, I recommend avoiding the genre.

Though, as I alluded in the discussion about my War Game tune, I think using the discust/sorrow/admiration/empathy/horror you feel about a current event, and cloaking it in another more universal metaphorical story, is a viable approach.

You can explain in your pre song chatter, "This one is really about the big 3 automakers."

[Marshall]

The whole YouTude inference is a viable thing to consider. Us old guys aren't going to quit our day jobs and start gigging the planet. But for someone who wants to make a dent in the real world music culture, writing some quickly produced clever current-event tunes and getting them up on the net can spread name recognition.

[Fingerplucked]

Whatever you were going to do with this song, I hope you already did it, because Bush just outdated it for you. ($17 billion I think is the figure I heard this morning.)

Here's a thought if you still have the urge to do a song like this: What do you think the car industry will be like in 5 or 10 years? You could write a song from that perspective -- 10 years down the road, looking back at this current crisis as a pivotal point in time.

Of course, you'd still have to guess right.

[Cornflake]

Good point about YouTube, marshall.

Plucked, I suspect the car industries' woes will be with us for a while. If my bandmates think this one is worth doing, a few edits may avoid obsolescence.

[Deleted]

i really like it flake. a lot. and as for it being tough to write about topical things, it depends on the topic. and this one probably won't be forgotten any time soon.

a small recommendation; i would change this:

[Bridge]
Lately your stuff doesn't do a lot for us
So soon the Suburban and Tahoe and Taurus
Will die like diplodocus and brontosaurus
They too were real big and dumb

to this:

[Bridge]
Lately your stuff doesn't do a lot for us
So soon the Suburban and Tahoe and Taurus
Will die like diplodocus and brontosaurus
They too were real big and real dumb

that is, of course, if it fits the rhythm.