1. |
Empty taxicabs
02:20
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Empty taxicabs
Cruising empty streets
Bankrupt drivers drive
Highways of defeat
Chefs and waiters wait
Idle with no pay
Tip jars sit untouched
Café closed today
Ghosts walk in the park, keeping six foot distance
Not many are exempt from needing assistance
Paycheck to paycheck
Now counting cancellations
An old decaying building
Cracked to the foundation
How much is going to change
What will be restructured
The myths of social contracts
Now forever ruptured
Pandemics and depressions have come and gone before
Meteor in the night sky, are we the dinosuars?
(c) M. Skliar 2020
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2. |
Pandemic musings
02:39
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Bright summer morning, birds chattering
Blue sky with grey clouds scattering
But like a dream that blew away
Replaced by bad news that’s here to stay
I take a walk in a beautiful park
Birds chirp, geese honk, dogs bark
But all the people wearing masks outside
A thousand pairs of sad eyes
Open refrigerator, a kingly feast
Foods from the north, south, west and east
But oh yeah there’s that other thing
I hear the tv news, and all that’s happening
We talk and text, skype and zoom
From the comfort of our rooms
But I can’t visit and linger lounge and hang
With family, friends, and the old gang
I pass the clubs, bars and restaurants
The brunch, the jazz, mimosa, croissant
Just a memory, something to remember
Will those places be around in December
My moods go from sunny to dark
The future is one big question mark
But I still believe we’re gonna recover
Still so much joy, left to discover
(c) M. Skliar 2020
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3. |
Pandemic blues
03:36
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Some want to get rid of Fauci
Others blame China or 5G
Some are worried about freedom
Or thinking about the economy
This ain’t the time for selfish behavior
We gotta be each others’ saviors
This is gonna take some time
Maybe I’ll see you at Christmastime
I got the pandemic, you got the pandemic
We got the pandemic blues
There’s no quick solution
Except for strengthening our institutions
Medical staff and front-line workers
Gotta be paid more for their contribution
If you’re thinking of a quick fix
You’re not listening to scientists
This is a hard way of living
Maybe I’ll see you a year from thanksgiving
I got the pandemic, you got the pandemic
We got the pandemic blues
We need a new commander in chief
That we’re stuck with this one is beyond belief
A two-bit clown and a lying thief
Steering the ship of state into a reef
If you’re still defending him, you’re a moron
Time to get serious there’s a war on
This is gonna take months and years
I hope we’re bigger than our fears
I got the pandemic , you got the pandemic, we got the pandemic blues
(c) M. Skliar 2020
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4. |
Open the window
03:12
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Open the window at seven o’clock
Open the window wide
Sound that applause with everything you got
Show them how they’re turning the tide
Where would we be without our first responders
Taking care of everyone
The odds against them but they came thru
Almost nothing that they can’t get done
Open the window at seven o’clock
Open the window wide
Sound that applause with everything you got
Show them how they’re turning the tide
The way people rise up
despite all their fear
The least we can do
is open the window and cheer
Open the window at seven pm
For the heroes of a thousand bedsides
Sound that applause with everything you got
Show them how you feel inside
(c) M. Skliar 2020
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5. |
Science fiction world
02:40
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We’re living in a science fiction world v.2
We would not last year have recognized
The things we took for granted
Now they all are jeopardized
things that used to worry us
now don’t seem so pressing
no shortage of reasons
that things feel so depressing
there’s little else to think about
another day another cancellation
we journey every day
in a strange hallucination
all the inequality
and division that existed
magnified by this moment
forever we’ll be twisted
we walk thru empty streets
hand in hand like two ghosts
the one thing I hold on to
I’m here with the one I love the most
Its an ending and a beginning
Like a chrysalis shedding skin
There’s a crack in the universe
Let’s hope that the lights gets in
(c) M. Skliar 2020
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6. |
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Out for a jog when you’re not Caucasian
Some racist idiot thinks its an invasion
This stuff’s still going on across the nation
How much longer, how much longer,
how much longer will this continue
Minimum wage workers are keeping us alive
Its always the worker bees that take care of the hive
tax cuts going to those with ten million or just five?
How much longer, how much longer
How much longer will this continue
Oh the humanity, oh the absurdity
The contradictions, fact vs fiction
There’s an evil and vile captain of this here boat
Only two choices this November, that’s all she wrote
Don’t tell me on principle you’re not gonna vote
How much longer, how much longer
How much longer will this continue
(c) M. Skliar 2020
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7. |
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I’ve got no right, to sing the blues
I don’t have it half as hard as many folks do
I can’t complain, should not feel down
So many others have had their lives turned around
Some have had their futures, wrecked beyond repair
I sing these fake blues, in my easy chair
But its still not easy, it feels so strange
Small amount of time, large amount of change
There’ll be a reckoning, in the world to come
We’ll never get back lost time or lost income
But us lucky devils, who make it thru
Have to make a better world, make it come true
We owe it to the dead, it’s our obligation
We gotta repair the world after our hibernation
(c) M. Skliar 2020
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8. |
Angels and magicians
03:12
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All the children ask their mothers
Why do I have to stay inside?
And why can’ we go and visit grandma
Its only a short ride
How to explain a pandemic
Like trying to build a house from a toothpick
There’s a monster
No he can’t hurt you
He will be gone soon
We will take care of you
We keep our distance
And with persistence
If we’re all careful
That monster will be gone
How long will it last, can’t it be over now?
Why do I need a mask to play?
And are there angels, are there magicians
Who can cast a spell and make it go away?
How to explain a pandemic
How to explain all these statistics
there are angels
there are magicians
some are nurses
some are physicians
and you’re a hero
we are all heroes now
flattening that curve
till that monster’s gone somehow
(c) M. Skliar 2020
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9. |
City hum
02:33
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Socially distancing from myself
Staying six feet away from my anxieties
Let someone else shake hands with the devil
Im gonna be sitting home alone with me
Nothing’s gonna get me back on the subway
No matter how many times you disinfect
Never gonna put my ass back on mass transit
The very thought of it, and I’m a wreck
But wait,
What makes this city hum, what makes this city run
The only thing we have to fear is fear
This moment’s gonna end, a new day is coming
I just wish that day would hurry up and appear
we used to be afraid of people with masks
Now I’m afraid of people without
don’t’ even talk to me about bikers and joggers
just cover that pie hole when you go out
But wait,
What makes this city hum, what makes this city run
The only thing we have to fear is fear
This moment’s gonna end, a new day is coming
I just wish that day would hurry up and appear
(c) M. Skliar 2020
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10. |
Hints
03:12
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We search for hints of encouraging signs
This goes out to those on the front lines,
from all of us on the side lines
We cheer you at seven, in these crazy times
we search for hints of encouraging news
behind your mask I bet you’ve got the blues
whatever we’ve lost there’s always more to lose
but the things that make us strong are the things still true
we search for hints of a miracle cure
In the labs from Chicago to Kuala Lumpur
The questions you are asking are premature
Its gonna be a while before we feel secure
Slow and steady is the only path
But the things we will have lost, I don’t want to do the math
We search for hints of encouraging signs
This goes out to those on the front lines
(c) M. Skliar 2020
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11. |
What's left to say
01:49
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Socially distance and wash your hands
someone's laughing while humans plan
every storm runs out of rain
are we just starting to feel the pain
predictions are worthless the rest of the year
in this block, city and hemisphere
sure doesn't look like my downtown
ramping up or hunkering down
whats left to say, its beyond category
a billion people a billion stories
every storm eventually dies
history will judge if we were wise
(c) M. Skliar 2020
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12. |
January 20, 2021
02:03
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January 20, 2021 can't come soon enough
every day until that date is gonna be rough
feels like the election of 2016 was several centuries ago
if there's one thing we can agree on, orange man has got to go
don't disappoint me don't let me down, no time for excuses or jive
i don't care about perfection, just want to stay alive
there are only two choices we have on Nov. 3rd
aren't you sick and tired of a leader who is toxic and absurd
(c) M. Skliar 2020
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