Trouble Every Day
Lyrics by Frank Zappa
Well I'm about to get sick
From watchin' my TV
Been checkin' out the news
Until my eyeballs fail to see
I mean to say that every day
Is just another rotten mess
And when it's gonna change, my friend
Is anybody's guess
So I'm watchin' and I'm waitin'
Hopin' for the best
Even think I'll go to prayin'
Every time I hear 'em sayin'
That there's no way to delay
That trouble comin' every day
No way to delay
That trouble comin' every day
Wednesday I watched the riot . . .
Seen the cops out on the street
Watched 'em throwin' rocks and stuff
And chokin' in the heat
Listened to reports
About the whisky passin' 'round
Seen the smoke and fire
And the market burnin' down
Watched while everybody
On his street would take a turn
To stomp and smash and bash and crash
And slash and bust and burn
And I'm watchin' and I'm waitin'
Hopin' for the best
Even think I'll go to prayin'
Every time I hear 'em sayin'
That there's no way to delay
That trouble comin' every day
No way to delay
That trouble comin' every day
Well, you can cool it,
You can heat it . . .
'Cause, baby, I don't need it . . .
Take your TV tube and eat it
'N all that phony stuff on sports
'N all the unconfirmed reports
You know I watched that rotten box
Until my head begin to hurt
From checkin' out the way
The newsman say they get the dirt
Before the guys on channel so-and-so
And further they assert
That any show they'll interrupt
To bring you news if it comes up
They say that if the place blows up
They will be the first to tell,
Because the boys they got downtown
Are workin' hard and doin' swell,
And if anybody gets the news
Before it hits the street,
They say that no one blabs it faster
Their coverage can't be beat
And if another woman driver
Gets machine-gunned from her seat
They'll send some joker with a brownie
And you'll see it all complete
So I'm watchin' and I'm waitin'
Hopin' for the best
Even think I'll go to prayin'
Every time I hear 'em sayin'
That there's no way to delay
That trouble comin' every day
No way to delay
trouble comin' every day
Hey, you know something people?
I'm not black
But there's a whole lots a times
I wish I could say I'm not white
Well, I seen the fires burnin'
And the local people turnin'
On the merchants and the shops
Who used to sell their brooms and mops
And every other household item
Watched the mob just turn and bite 'em
And they say it served 'em right
Because a few of them are white,
And it's the same across the nation
Black and white discrimination
Yellin' "You can't understand me!"
'N all that other jazz they hand me
In the papers and TV and
All that mass stupidity
That seems to grow more every day
Each time you hear some nitwit say
He wants to go and do you in
Because the color of your skin
Just don't appeal to him
(No matter if it's black or white)
Because he's out for blood tonight
You know we got to sit around at home
And watch this thing begin
But I bet there won't be many live
To see it really end
'Cause the fire in the street
Ain't like the fire in the heart
And in the eyes of all these people
Don't you know that this could start
On any street in any town
In any state if any clown
Decides that now's the time to fight
For some ideal he thinks is right
And if a million more agree
There ain't no Great Society
As it applies to you and me
Our country isn't free
And the law refuses to see
If all that you can ever be
Is just a lousy janitor
Unless your uncle owns a store
You know that five in every four
Just won't amount to nothin' more
Gonna watch the rats go across the floor
And make up songs about being poor
Blow your harmonica, son!
Just for kicks:
Zappa was Indeed what people would call the man.
-- Jason Collins
(photo credit, The Googly, from flickr creative commons)
funny this should come to my attention when it does. today i was shuttling a group of 12 and 13 year old girls to an extracurricular activity and they were tossing around their status as having downloaded the lada gaga video for "telephone" to their itunes. having heard the the song on the radio in my daughter's room 3 times an hour i didn't think much of it.
ReplyDeletecuriosity led me to the internet where i saw the video in question. if you haven't seen it, let's just say there's a huge disconnect between the lyrics of the song and the soft core jailhouse porn and murder-revenge video that accompanies the song. while i would agree with FZ that there are no offensive words, and am certainly not for censorship, i am nonetheless alarmed at the images presented as they neither represent the song nor are the positive images appropriate for teens.
FZ would have been the first to point out (as he does in his semi-biography "the real frank zappa book") that most popular music is the greatest cause of mental illness among americans today. i won't break it down – FZ does a fine job on his own, read the book – but if we agree that what passes for music is actually a result of poor education (another of his arguments) then it's no surprise we find these arguments about censorship are misdirected.
FZ had three driving forces in his work: social commentary, modern compositional theory, and total contempt for the vast majority of what passed for popular culture. he studied classical music, applied jazz structures to his rock & roll, and spoke his mine about the world around him with the social conscious of a woody guthrie. he was always discounted as a kook in his time, and until we begin incorporating a comprehensive cultural history to our educational systems will continue to sound like a madman in the distance.
where are the songs today about what's going on politically? six days after the kent state massacre CSNY had a single released – neil young's angry "ohio" – and it became a hit. where are the scathing attacks on racists hiding behind the "reform" movement known as teabaggers? where are the musicians who can make sense of health reform in 3 minutes? who in popular music is saying anything relevant to our age?
i find it ironic that FZ would be considered "the man." he was forever trying to "stick it to the man."