I Vote This THE BEST SONG Of The Bush Years

[lame54]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTW0y6kazWM

"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 sh@# don't stink and their kids won't bleed
Their kids won't bleed in the da$% 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

[Arctic Dave]

1. Love this song. Pisses me off everytime I hear it.

[Lorax7844]

2. Mosh and AMerican Idiot were my favorites

they got me thru 2004 at least

[lame54]

8. American Idiot is great - don't know Mosh

[Lorax7844]

9. EMinem

Here is a link to the video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HvVIAAmQGcI

Even if you don't like rap, listen to the whole song the lyrics are boss.

[unapatriciated]

10. lame54 has heard it and yes it is good....

It is one of my son's favorites. When I visited them last june he played it over and over again. I liked it and I'm not a rap lover, but looked it up when i got home.


patty lame's wife

[Chulanowa]

15. I love Mosh

I got a few others, of course. One that really stands out is TIMZ' "Iraq" - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRiy4yfh-IM

Also, there are three versions of the Mosh video. The uncut one prior to the elections, a "clean" version that removes a few things (such as Bush' picture stabbed to a wall), and then there's the post-election version, which I find far superior: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EEsQ2NYGECo

If only because it has Kucinich applauding.

[BuyingThyme]

3. That song by Pink is the one that kills me.

[MotorCityMan]

11. Yes! "Dear Mr. President"

A very powerful song. Pink really hits the nail on the head;

Dear Mr. President
Come take a walk with me
Let's pretend we're just two people and
You're not better than me
I'd like to ask you some questions if we can speak honestly

What do you feel when you see all the homeless on the street
Who do you pray for at night before you go to sleep
What do you feel when you look in the mirror
Are you proud

How do you sleep while the rest of us cry
How do you dream when a mother has no chance to say goodbye
How do you walk with your head held high
Can you even look me in the eye
And tell me why

Dear Mr. President
Were you a lonely boy
Are you a lonely boy
Are you a lonely boy
How can you say
No child is left behind
We're not dumb and we're not blind
They're all sitting in your cells
While you pave the road to hell

What kind of father would take his own daughter's rights away
And what kind of father might hate his own daughter if she were gay
I can only imagine what the first lady has to say
You've come a long way from whiskey and cocaine

How do you sleep while the rest of us cry
How do you dream when a mother has no chance to say goodbye
How do you walk with your head held high
Can you even look me in the eye

Let me tell you bout hard work
Minimum wage with a baby on the way
Let me tell you bout hard work
Rebuilding your house after the bombs took them away
Let me tell you bout hard work
Building a bed out of a cardboard box
Let me tell you bout hard work
Hard work
Hard work
You don't know nothing bout hard work
Hard work
Hard work
Oh

How do you sleep at night
How do you walk with your head held high
Dear Mr. President
You'd never take a walk with me
Would you

[Lorax7844]

12. on repeat for that whole year almost.

Pink, Green Day, and Eminem will forever get a pass from me for speaking out in the dark times.

[Chulanowa]

16. Live video here

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9eDJ3cuXKV4

[Warren DeMontague]

4. I've been a James McMurtry fan for years. He really nailed it with that one.

The rest of that album is good, too.

[lame54]

5. .

[Berserker]

6. One of the best but

My Sweet Neo-con by the Rolling Stones has to be the best to me.

[sendero]

7. Absolutely awesome..

... I heard this song on a country station near Sherman TX about a year ago. I got enough of the lyrics to find it with Google.

My sad observation is that it will be country music, not rock, that starts telling the hard truth about American life.

[lame54]

13. .

[yowzayowzayowza]

14. I nominate:

Ani Difranco - Self Evident

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJcOWQ1rym8

eta: lyrics- http://www.mp3lyrics.org/a/ani-difranco/self/

[Wednesdays]

17. K&R

:kick: