Tuesday, June 22, 2004

Anyone caught speaking Esperanto
Is thought crazy or headed for jail
There's peace in the wilds of west Texas
Where the sun and the sky prevail

Take no notice of the rising waters
Take no notice where rivers run dry
They'll be digging through the landfills
To find evidence of our great demise

There's a changing pattern before us
And the past tells a story quite well
By the time we make it to Barstow
We'll be more than halfway to hell

Waves of adverts that promise revival
And trinketware that batters the brain
The devil bought the key to Branson
Drives a backho and wears a gold chain

Now we're living in the inane time frame
Bets in Reno are on the human race
Woke up in another test market
With a new headache filter in place

There's a changing pattern before us
And the past tells a story quite well
By the time we make it to Barstow
We'll be more than halfway to hell

-----Jay Farrar, "Barstow"

2 comments:

Sarah said...

I love the fourth stanza. Word pictures . . . mmmmm.

Christopher said...

yeah, the first time I heard that I nearly crashed my car into a bridge embankment. once I regained my composure I had to listen to it 5 or 6 times with this big smile on my face. it makes the whole song.