Post by Deleted on Jan 25, 2017 4:31:26 GMT -5
First song of 2017. Wrote it after reading a couple of articles about Walmart and Trump voters, then applied it to my hometown. Casey doesn't have a Walmart but there's one in Marshall, the county seat 19 miles to the east on I-70. When it opened in 1985, it not only negatively affected stores in Marshall but in Casey, too. But, hey, survival of the fittest -- right? -- and if mom and pop aren't fit, they should die out. Right?
Thoughts/suggestions welcome....
Strike the Match
© 2017 by David Hanners
This town is black dirt and American rust
Grain elevators, 3/4-ton trucks
Outtakes from the American Dream
A generation stretched at the seams
South of the stoplight at Central and Main
Conrail freight sings its sad refrain
Single track where there used to be two
Like that train's in a hurry to leave here, too
(Chorus)
I feel like striking a match
I feel like lighting the fuse
Standin' back while it all blows up
What've I got to lose?
(repeat chorus)
Walmart come in around '85
Mom & pops downtown could not survive
Shawver's, Arndt's, Bell's and Perry's Hardware
Storefronts blank like a 1,000-yard stare
Get a job on a farm or at the Walmart
Part-time's all they got
Thirty hours a week, no benefits
Medical plan is "don't get sick"
(chorus)
One night on break by the dumpsters out back
Bummed a light from a girl I knew from way back
As our smoke drifted into the autumn air
Asked her why she stayed around here
Got three kids, dads are long gone
This job and county aid is what she lives on
Eleven bucks an hour after seven years
Can't get ahead when you're grinding gears
(chorus)
Thoughts/suggestions welcome....
Strike the Match
© 2017 by David Hanners
This town is black dirt and American rust
Grain elevators, 3/4-ton trucks
Outtakes from the American Dream
A generation stretched at the seams
South of the stoplight at Central and Main
Conrail freight sings its sad refrain
Single track where there used to be two
Like that train's in a hurry to leave here, too
(Chorus)
I feel like striking a match
I feel like lighting the fuse
Standin' back while it all blows up
What've I got to lose?
(repeat chorus)
Walmart come in around '85
Mom & pops downtown could not survive
Shawver's, Arndt's, Bell's and Perry's Hardware
Storefronts blank like a 1,000-yard stare
Get a job on a farm or at the Walmart
Part-time's all they got
Thirty hours a week, no benefits
Medical plan is "don't get sick"
(chorus)
One night on break by the dumpsters out back
Bummed a light from a girl I knew from way back
As our smoke drifted into the autumn air
Asked her why she stayed around here
Got three kids, dads are long gone
This job and county aid is what she lives on
Eleven bucks an hour after seven years
Can't get ahead when you're grinding gears
(chorus)
Laughing at the comment