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Working Class Warfare Blues
 

Kevin Eberhardt & Steven B. Smith

I see a sign on a locker at work 'Lightning Safety'
Is that a sick joke / am I not getting it / what's
Next / 'Proper Procedures For Slitting Your Wrists'

I worked my ass off and now my pants won’t fit
Kiss so much behind my lips are starting to stick
This working class hero bit’s just another bag of it

This work is not my work / this life is not my life
I'm a government mule with Uncle Sam on my
Back climbing that endless mountain to my grave

My work is my family / my friends / my dog / my
Would would be word work / or casting asides
Not pimping lawyers and their Babylon bride

Or fighting for companies pumping more blood than
Oil / wood on the fire / no longer desired or believed
Stock sliding down / limp shadows on the ground

Ghosts of gone before host our yet to be / no
Flowers for the finished / no hour for their song
Ground zero works in theory only when you’re wrong

With guts for garters / lipstick around the rim / the
General drinks from the bidet while the Major wipes
His past of all mistaken identities and innuendoes

Reason drips in dropped disguise red through white
Through blues departing in the night / the never right
Hype the Man / his chicken stripe / and his doo doo do

Da Da says you did good under the hood of military
Cuisine / cookin' that poteen 'til you can't see
Straight / no chaser / no later than you think (it is)

Weren’t for Monk I’d catch Coltrane / weren’t for TV
I’d have a brain / heart and soul sold for junk / if I’m
The rat / best step back / I’m not the one gonna jump

We proffered from their genius / they died from all our
Sins / The psychiatrist pronounced them crazy but the
Verdict's not in / I'm keepin' my old records just in case

Our case of killing softly for another’s song is based
On Fundamental heresy / their God not near as strong
Says our Mr. Murderer who grows in nose quite long

Pay no attention to the man pulling the strings / it's a
Minimum wage job and the maximum age is 55 miles
Per hour / with clown suit and headset / optional

Give motley to the mass / money to the crass / crack
To the ass / rules to road / fools to goad / loopholes
To close / and to me? / an all-ee all-ee out's in free

Check the eyes of all the passengers / check the
List for all their names / nobody told the engineer that
God was on his train (say 3 Our Fathers & 4 Hail Marys)

I’d eat the rich / but their taste is so bad / I’d serve
The poor / but too many have / I’d play with myself
But I’m not all here / so I asked God She still there

Shake shake shake / shake your booty / dangle your
Diamonds / rub your rubies / Pirate disco / so mis-
Understood / shiver me timbers / island fever reruns

Our country’s murdering for profit while dancing
Their lice away / our leaders keep filling their pockets
Costing how many American coffins they won’t say

They can't say / they can't count that high without
Removing their shoes / haven't seen their toes in
Years / pot-belly politics staining their white shirts

Mad militarians licking their bombs slowly seal our
Doom / not enough toilet paper to clean Republican
Goons / lie now / pay later / C.O.D. to Judge Crater

Comin' off the freeway / lookin' for that free lunch
Nothin' left of my pay followin' a misshaped hunch
I'm off the screen / can't hit my ass with both hands

My taxes go to Intelligent Design / yet monkeys mock
My monk / dry hump my rub for luck / for butter or
Verse such clues in the blight bring about the dollar

I looked up at the night sky / searchin' for my sign
Realizin' that it dates me / prayin' no one notices
Tryin' to get even just gets me more behind (?)

8 ball boogie gets you every time / tried to fax the
Factors in / they made me stand in line / try to share
My truth with them / they stamp my life as lie

Ain't got no passport / ain't got no visa / ain't got
No ticket to ride / I'm gamblin' with a heart attack
Takin' sucker bets on the side / coughin' up alibis

I agree to agree & consume / my job’s to nod and buy
Nod and buy / material junk / shoot and die / lick
Your boots / hold you high / and nod and nod and die

But not to cry / all is rust and dust / particles of life
Dry as a bone / yet happy as a clone in a fun house
So / which is the real me / quick now / time is money

Tithe me 37 cents of your time / I’ll make you heel
Brain limbic do limbo in ritual repeal / never kneel
Never bow your head until their money you feel

Or steal before their steel finds you out / out and about
Without a gizmo to re-peal you / to re-seal the deal / all
Miracles happen at closing time / last call / wind fall / ya'll

There’s steps in / steps out / there’s thoughts to
Conceal / barking wrong tree ain’t the right way to
Win / dead don’t make you hero / nor loss of limb

Don't rise again / the Beast goes East and the Pest goes
West / the Minister votes for assassination / the Mistress
Missed their assignation / must be his time of the month

We worship Amway / Scientology too / as long as it’s
Brand Named / we pay full first born foreskin / may
Be a nipple or two / so break out your dead deal duel

It's high noon at the loony bin / draw your weapons /
(crayons only) / don't eat the yellow snow / remember
Which side the moss grow / and double dippin' is a sin

Take four paces / turn and lie / reach for word with
In / the winner gets to sunset ride / with a new bag
Of begin / the loser goes skinny dipping with friends

Jesus wasn't a Christian / He was a militant-pacifist-Jew
Identities always get us into trouble / especially mistaken
Ones / I crave anonymity / some passions prove painless

I ache therefore I am to thine own self be cruel / or
Others surely will / nothing is free / pay / or pain / or
Suffer shelf / you become your lies / so make em good

Forescore and so many foreskins ago our great forefathers
Forethought themselves out of getting fornicated by the
British / the French make better foi grois anyway / oui oui

This little piggy / that little piggy / all feeding at the
Fray / but these little piggies are already biggies / so
Why not let some of the skinnies play / what you say

The disease spreads from tongue to tongue / from ear to
Ear / from gland to gland / the antidote is given a hand
While the autocrat juggles your balls / turn head / cough

We need autopaper for the autocrap we’re fed hourly
Daily weekly monthly forever & never all men and woe
Men too / hear me see me free me Mammon overdrive

For if I am imposter don't tell me / don't remove the mask
To reveal the charlatan beneath / I bequeath to all the fools
And fooled my ignorance / wear it in good health / happy

Happy mirth day certainly for Lady Earth / may Her
Nipples nibble nicely / Her cures move at will / Her
Byways ooze unsightly / best beware / She’s no fool

She's the summer rain / she's a hurricane / she's a force
Majeure that can't be bought / can't be taught 'cause
She's always changin' her mind / it's a female's prerogative

I change my mind it’s via Dr Frankenstein / he makes
A new man of me / from leftover parts and pieces of
hearts / he re-soles my soul with recharged art farts

And ignites the spark that excites my engine / that races
The Reaper / that misses the turn / that changes direction
And brings me back to the unanswered question / who (?)

And who it goes / this funhouse pome's clone of a close
Now excuse me / in proper procedure I'll slit my wrist
Soon's these reruns of Fever Disco Deceivers are done

                                eberhardt / smith August 14-29, 2005