Tuesday, August 29, 2006

One more post (good grief, I gotta get OUT the house!)

Lyrics to a song Iris Dement wrote: 

                                            Quality Time.

She's got a phone in one hand, a hairbrush in the other
and she says, "Life's too short to stay home and be a mother"
She says she can have it all 'cause that's The New Deal
so God give her a hand, 'cause she needs one for the wheel

When he gets home from work, it's well after seven
But he drives a nice car so he thinks he's in Heaven
and his kids hardly know him but they've all got nice clothes
and in just a few hours more overtime he can pay-off that boat

And they've got nice big houses, and they've got nice big cars
and it looks, from the outside, like they're really going far
but there's trouble in the engine and we're junkyard-bound
if some moms and some dads don't start hanging around

When they get around to dinner they're damn near half-dead
so they drive through McDonald's and put the kids off to bed
But they're upwardly mobile and everything is fine
'cause when they do get together, it's quality time

And they've got nice big houses, and they've got nice big cars
and it looks, from the outside, like they're really going far
but there's trouble in the engine and we're junkyard-bound
if some moms and some dads don't start hanging around

They want stickers on the music, they want the laws turned around
They want the cops to run Beavis and Butthead outta town
They say they care about their children, but it's just too damn hard
To turn off that TV or sell off that car

And they've got nice big houses, and they've got nice big cars
and it looks, from the outside, like they're really going far
but there's trouble in the engine and we're junkyard-bound
if some moms and some dads don't start hanging around

There's a whole lot of people who can't make ends meet
and on the wages that they're earning, I know a family can't eat
But I'm talking 'bout people who would sell their kid's soul
to keep up with the Jones', no matter the toll

And they've got nice big houses, and they've got nice big cars
and it looks, from the outside, like they're really going far
but there's trouble in the engine and we're junkyard-bound
if some moms and some dads don't start hanging around

When they do get together, it's quality time

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow, that is a powerful song.

Anonymous said...

Powerful song with some powerful lyrics!

Jackie

Anonymous said...

Soooo sad but sooo true.  Can't people see the "heart" of this country is it's children and they are being thrown away every day is the name of prosperity.

Anonymous said...

Wow this was good...and sadly so true!
Pam

Anonymous said...

Reminds me of an old song about ticky tacky houses and paving up the green spaces somehow. I know this song has a lot of truth but thankfully I don't see it in my kids families. One daughter does have a big house and they both work but they are all about family and spend all their time together. And the other has just one perfect child who their world revolves around. (Mine too!)

Anonymous said...

Good lyrics!  As a broke stay at home mom, I can say we do not typify that song.
Traci