friday refrains · happy jason’s birthday
Friday 4 July 2008 | I like a cookie
[Addendum: I should explain belatedly that I chose this particular refrain because the Brujo and I witnessed an identical event taking place outside the lavandería the night before. Except for the vacationing sonfabitch had no shoes, walking barefoot on 120º blacktop, and was preaching Jesus to one cop while the other checked out a bogus 911 call made from the pay phone. Then he must have said something the B. and I didn’t hear—something inflammatory, something that made the (young, white) cop slam his hand down on the hood of his cruiser and walk menacingly toward the shoeless raver demanding WHAT DID YOU CALL ME?! “Don’t you know better than to talk to cops that way? You need to show respect!” “Yessir, especially around here,” muttered the new center of attention. The B. and I supervised covertly, bearing witness as the cops shook down their tweaked-out suspect, confiscating some controlled substance or another from his pocket straight into a plastic evidence bag. No, we’ll never live long enough.]
•
they caught the last poor man
on a poor man’s vacation
and they cuffed him and they confiscated his stuff
and they dragged his black ass down to the station
and said okay the streets are safe now
all your pretty white children can come out and see spot run
and they came out of their houses
and they looked around but they didn’t see no one and
my country tis of thee
to take swings at each other on the talkshow tv
why don’t you just go ahead and turn off the sun
cuz we’ll never live long enough
to undo everything they’ve done to you
undo everything they’ve done to you
above 96th street
they’re handing out smallpox blankets so people don’t freeze
the old dogs have got a new trick
it’s called criminalize the symptoms while you spread the disease
and i hold on hard
to something between my teeth when i’m sleeping
and i wake up and my jaw aches
and the earth is full of earthquakes
my country tis of thee
to take swings at each other on the talkshow tv
why don’t you just go ahead and turn off the sun
cuz we’ll never live long enough
to undo everything they’ve done to you
undo everything they’ve done to you
they caught the last poor man
flying away in a shiny red cape
they took him down to the station
and they said boy you should’ve known better than to try to escape
i ran away with the circus
cuz there’s still some honest work left for bearded ladies
but it’s not the same going town to town
since they put everyone in jail except the cleavers and the bradys and
my country tis of thee
to take swings at each other on primetime tv
why don’t you just go ahead and turn off the sun
cuz we’ll never live long enough
to undo everything they’ve done to you
undo everything they’ve done to you
—”tis of thee,” ani difranco
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