Stuck in a Depression On the Brink of War Again

Stuck in a Depression On the Brink of War Again

By Xeno Campanoli

[This paraphrase of Bob Dylan's memphis Blues was published in: News from Nowhere, #2, February 2003 (Free in person or for postage) PO Box 10384, Eugene OR 97440.]


Oh, the wagman draws dangers,
all around the world.
We ask about diplomacy
but that just makes him surly.
And the majority just follows
unquestioning like sheep,
it’s money not their consciences
that bothers them most from sleep.
Oh, Mama, can this really be the end,
To be stuck in a depression
On the brink of war again?

Well, Shrub, he’s in the Whitehouse,
with his cowboy hat and his swagger,
talking to all the cowards and hawks
about foreign policy matters.
And I would like to tell them all,
of how I do not have a job.
But the Congress doesn’t care,
and Shrub just thinks he’s God.
Oh, Mama, can this really be the end,
To be stuck in a depression,
On the brink of war again?

My friends try to tell me
not to talk about politics
your career will go down the toilet
and onto the blacklist you’ll stick.
And I said, “Oh, I didn’t know that.
But then again I haven’t tried that long
and since then I’ve been largely idle
and ignored by every one.”
Oh, Mama, can this really be the end,
To be stuck in a depression,
On the brink of war again?

The lockout died this week,
and now they’re trying to catch up.
But people are still getting layed off
and they don’t have enough trucks.
But you know Shrub had to stop it,
he couldn’t have it now.
It might effect the election.
He almost had a cow.
Oh, Mama, can this really be the end,
To be stuck in a depression,
On the brink of war again?

The Senators, they talked about it.
They had a real debate.
Some really wanted to stop Shrub
before it was too late.
But most wanted just to make sure
they had all their hands
in all the right pockets
in all the right pants.
Oh, Mama, can this really be the end,
To be stuck in a depression,
On the brink of war again?

Now the preacher of moral majority
insists “Sodom” Hussein is Gay,
and that the end times are here,
that we’re almost done anyway,
that we might as well “do what we should”
and be glorious as we end it all.
Some congressmen agree with him
as they mumble in the hall.
Oh, Mama, can this really be the end,
To be stuck in a depression,
On the brink of war again?

Now the organizers suggested protest.
Said we should all come on down
and walk up and down the streets
with signs and chants and frowns.
And me I helped them do that.
and all the congresscritters I called
but people largely ignored us
and just kept watching football.
Oh, Mama, can this really be the end,
To be stuck in a depression,
On the brink of war again?

Now Shrub insists it’s okay
in his honky-tonk vernacular.
He likes to think of his daddy’s wars
in Kuwait and Panama.
He says, “I get to do that too,
after all I’m the President!”
And many of us who would have stopped him
are out of ways to vent.
Oh, Mama, can this really be the end,
To be stuck in a depression,
On the brink of war again?

Now the rubble from the Twin Towers,
and the hundreds there that died
are dwarfed by all the mayhem
our nation has sewn worldwide.
And much of this country sits patiently
waiting to find out who can
get it all payed off secretly
and paint all dissenters as lambs.
Oh, Mama, can this really be the end,
To be stuck in a depression,
On the brink of war again?