You know what gets me…is the relative obscurity of the message in the song,  

whether it is meant to be a message or just one personal truth spoken out loud. So many

“war” songs played in so many dives across the country…and this ONE (as perhaps a

few of the rest do) does speak earnestly, directly to the disheveled and wild-eyed guy

(behind a million mile stare) toting a brown paper bag covered bottle or the needle, and a

penchant for self abuse. Good messages, some linger since the dawn of the pen, are as

maple leaves when the winter winds begin to gust….   They break loose their branches

and fall lightly to the ground, red-brown w/ what’s left of life & sound, and lay underfoot   

and die    and rot           and recycle back into the earth         (unlike most humans who

don’t anymore)      where it’s humanity lives to drain it                         not sustain it                       

bloodsuck it              and                     torment it                          & cheat it’s

better meanings for sake of            the…

…100th of this country/ …strangling all the rest/ and every policeman on the street/ is wearing a bulletproof vest/ …

~~

…most every parent that we know/ ain’t talkin turkey with their teens/ and the riot in your head/ could top the riots in the street/ and the boardroom boys with their database toys suck-out every drop o lifeblood from the people they employ/ …& there ain’t no joy/ but the joy of you and me/ no there ain’t no joy no more/ but the sound of little feet.........& laughter that repeats…

& a child that has ideas…………./  …said the stranger on the street………