I Vote This, Hands Down, Song Of The Decade

[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

[FiveGoodMen]

1. Great song from a great songwriter.

Who knew it would be relevant forever?

[Louisiana1976]

2. It captures this decade exactly.

[Warpy]

3. I bought the CD just for that song

and found the whole album was solid.

And I hate country music.

This guy is a great talent.

[lame54]

5. Then check out this song...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_SakvKz3bM

James McMurtry - "Choctaw Bingo" - the best version is on the album Live in Aught-Three

Strap them kids in
Give em a lil bit of vodka
in a cherry coke
were goin to oklahoma
to the family reunion
for the first time in years
its up at uncle slatons
cuz hes gettin on in years
no longer travels but hes
still pretty spry
hes not much on talk
and hes too mean to die
and they'll be comin down
from kansas and west arkansas
it'll be one big old party
like you've never saw

uncle slaton's got his texan pride
back in the thickets with his asian bride
hes got an airstream trailer and a
holstein cow
still makes whiskey cuz he still knows how
plays that chocktaw bingo every friday night
you know he had to leave texas but he won't say why
he owns a quarter section up by lake ufalla
caught a great big ol bluecat on a driftin jugline
sells his hardwood timber to the chippin mill
cooks that crystal meth cuz his shine don't sell
he cooks that crystal meth cuz his shine don't sell
you know he likes that money, he don't mind the smell

my cousin roscoe, slaton's oldest boy
from his second marraige up in illinois
hes raised in east st louis by his
mammas people where they do things different
thought he'd come on down
hes goin to dallas texas in a semi truck
caught from that big mcdonalds
you know that one thats built up on that
big old bridge across the will rogers turnpike
took the big cabin exit stopped and bought a carton of cigarrets
at that indian smoke shop with the big neon smoke rings
and the cherokee nations hittin the skogee late that night
somebody ran the stoplight at the shawnee bypass
roscoe tried to miss him but he didn't quite

bob and mae come up from
some little town way down by
lake taxoma where he coaches football
they were two-A champions for two years running
but he says they wont be this year
not they wont be this year
and he stopped off in tuska at the pop knife and gun place
bought a sks rifle and a couple full cases of that steel core ammo
with the beardam primers from some east bloc nation
that no longer needs em
and a desert eagle thats one great big old pistol
i mean fifty caliber made by bad-ass ebers
and some surplus tracers for that old B-A-R
of Slaytons as soon as it gets dark
were gonna have us a time
were gonna have us a time

ruth-anne and lynn come from baxter springs
thats one hell-raisin town way down in
southeastern kansas
got a biger bar next to the lingerie store
thats got rollin stones lips up there in
bright pink neon
and they're right downtown where everyone can see em
and they burn all night
you know they burn all night
they burn all night

Ruth Anne and Lynn
They wear those cut-off britches
And those skinny little halters
And they're second cousins to me
Man I don't care I want to get between 'em
With a great big hard on like a old B'Darc fence post
You can hang a Pipe rail get from
Do some sister twisters till the cows come home
And we'll be havin' us a time
Havin' us a time

Uncle slaton's got his texan pride
back in the thickets with his asian bride
hes got a corner pasture and an acre lots
he sells them owner financed strictly to them
its got no kind of credit
cause he knows they're slackers
and they'll miss that payment
and he'll take it back
plays that choctaw bingo
every friday night
he drinks his johnny walker
at that club 69
were gonna strap those kinds in
give em a lil bit of Benadryl
were gonna have us a time
were gonna have us a time

[truebrit71]

4. Wow. Just Wow.

.

[tk2kewl]

6. James McMurtry has been one of my favorites since I came across "Too Long in the Wasteland" in 1990

:thumbsup:

[lame54]

7. I'm listening to Live in Aught Three...

it's really good

[FiveGoodMen]

12. Fantastic album.

Still probably his best.

[12string]

8. We Can't Make It Here

I went to the link and listened to this song for the first time.When it finished I just had to say,"Wow",out loud to myself.Now I'm going to learn it.Thanks

[bahrbearian]

9. We can't make it here ,, on youtube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZbWRfBZY-ng

[blindpig]

10. Are we angry yet?

We damn well ought to be.

[ZombieHorde]

11. I am not a fan of that style of music, but the lyrics are great. nt

[unapatriciated]

13. Saw James live last October in Athens.

He was great.

[unapatriciated]

14. .

[alfredo]

15. Yeah, and they say we can't get it back.

[lame54]

16. .