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Pushcart Blues

from Darkland Express part one by Greg Segal

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about

Puschart Blues
This was an attempt to put the modern nightmare into a handy metaphor. When I wrote it, there was no music intended for it. When I decided to use it, I couldn't come up with a melody. The idea came for a homeless street poet to read it. I went out and recorded traffic noises with my portable cassette deck, then transferred them back into the multi-track, where I performed the vocal somewhat a la Bill Murray in Caddyshack.

lyrics

When I was a child, I was told
As soon as they could, they'd make me old
And give me a cart to push around
In circles
For the rest of my life.

I asked if there was an option;
They laughed and soon I was old.
I was given a cart to push around
like everyone before me.

I cannot get my hands free;
if I let go, the cart will run over me.
So they took my hands away
But they could not take my eyes.

Now I sit and watch everyone push their cart
While the rivers and oceans die
While the air gets harder to breathe
'Til the earth no longer bears food

While people sell their eyes
I must stand by and watch

As the children are trained for their pushcarts,
The fools build on a top-heavy world
Still I must push my cart
And I must fight the urge to be blind

Everything's falling down
Still I push the cart
Now they say we've got less than a lifetime left
And everyone still pushes their carts

Without hands
Without eyes
Though a few still remember how to cry
I watch without a sound
As the sun goes down.

G.S., 11/12/86

credits

from Darkland Express part one, released April 29, 2016
GS: taped street noise, vocal, guitar

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Greg Segal Portland, Oregon

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