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Lesson 30: The Bob Show.

Posted on March 16th, 2006.

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Preview:

Yes, a preposterous notion: Bob minus Rob. However, because Bob is currently down in Kyushu in southern Japan and Rob is still up in Tokyo, we have no way to do a show. We tried Skype - the software that allows you to use your computer as a phone - but Rob’s internet connection is too slow (thanks, Rob!). Anyway, we’ll be back next week in full force.

Song:We Can’t Make It Here.
Artist: James McMurtry

Lyrics

Vietnam Vet with a cardboard sign
Sitting there by the left turn line
Flag on the wheelchair flapping in the breeze
One leg missing, both hands free
No one’s paying much mind to him
The V.A. budget’s stretched so thin
And there’s more comin’ home from the Mideast war
We can’t make it here anymore

“Vet” refers to someone who fought in the Vietnam War. “V.A.” stands for the “Veterans Administration”. He is begging for money on the side of the road. “Can’t make it’” has two meanings. The first means literally you can’t make something; example: if you don’t have an oven, you can’t make bread. The other idiomatic meaning means “can’t survive or live”

That big ol’ building was the textile mill
It fed our kids and it paid our bills
But they turned us out and they closed the doors
We can’t make it here anymore

“ol’” means “old”. “turn out.” means to “fire” or “lay off”.

See all those pallets piled up on the loading dock
They’re just gonna set there till they rot
‘Cause there’s nothing to ship, nothing to pack
Just busted concrete and rusted tracks
Empty storefronts around the square
There’s a needle in the gutter and glass everywhere
You don’t come down here ‘less you’re looking to score
We can’t make it here anymore

“till” is an abbreviation of “until”. The rusted tracks are train tracks. The needle is a drug needle. “Lookin to score” means “trying to get some drugs”

The bar’s still open but man it’s slow
The tip jar’s light and the register’s low
The bartender don’t have much to say
The regular crowd gets thinner each day

A light tip jar means that there is little money in tips. The register means cash register. If a crowd gets “thin”, it means it has fewer people than before

Some have maxed out all their credit cards
Some are working two jobs and living in cars
Minimum wage won’t pay for a roof, won’t pay for a drink
If you gotta have proof just try it yourself Mr. CEO
See how far 5.15 an hour will go
Take a part time job at one of your stores
Bet you can’t make it here anymore

The federal minimum wage in America is only $5.15 per hour. Working at this wage for 40 hours a week makes it very hard to survive, especially if you have kids. Some states, like California, have higher minimum wage laws. “how far 5.15 an hour will go” means “how long it will last, or how much it will buy”

High school girl with a bourgeois dream
Just like the pictures in the magazine
She found on the floor of the laundromat
A woman with kids can forget all that
If she comes up pregnant what’ll she do
Forget the career, forget about school
Can she live on faith? live on hope?
High on Jesus or hooked on dope
When it’s way too late to just say no
You can’t make it here anymore

“High” means to feel very good; usually, “high on drugs”. “Hooked on dope” is slang for “addicted to drugs”. “Too late to just say no” refers to former First Lady Nancy Reagan’s anti-drug campaign in the 1980s, in which she told kids to “just say no” to drugs. It was derided by many people as being an overly simplistic solution.

Now I’m stocking shirts in the Wal-Mart store
Just like the ones we made before
‘Cept this one came from Singapore
I guess we can’t make it here anymore

Wal-Mart is a large chain of department stores in America, and now in several other countries. They are able to offer very cheap prices because they pay their workers very little and do not provide most of them with health insurance. Most of their goods are manufactured in China rather than America, and this makes their prices very cheap. However, this leads to job loses in the U.S.. This system is great for consumers, but not very good for U.S. workers in manufacturing.

Should I hate a people for the shade of their skin
Or the shape of their eyes or the shape I’m in
Should I hate ‘em for having our jobs today
No I hate the men sent the jobs away
I can see them all now, they haunt my dreams
All lily white and squeaky clean
They’ve never known want, they’ll never know need
Their sh@# don’t stink and their kids won’t bleed
Their kids won’t bleed in the da$% little war
And we can’t make it here anymore

The men who sent the jobs away: The CEO’s, Company Presidents, etc. “Their kids won’t bleed” means the CEO’s kids won’t have to fight in the Iraq war. (The U.S. military is currently an all-voluntary force,. Compared with the regular civilian population, it has a higher percentage of people from low-income backgrounds, many who have joined in the hope of improving their lives or getting college aid.)

Will work for food
Will die for oil
Will kill for power and to us the spoils
The billionaires get to pay less tax
The working poor get to fall through the cracks
Let ‘em eat jellybeans let ‘em eat cake
Let ‘em eat sh$%, whatever it takes
They can join the Air Force, or join the Corps
If they can’t make it here anymore

Jelly beans were former President Reagan’s favorite candy. “Corps” is short for the U.S. Marine Corps.

And that’s how it is
That’s what we got
If the president wants to admit it or not
You can read it in the paper
Read it on the wall
Hear it on the wind
If you’re listening at all
Get out of that limo
Look us in the eye
Call us on the cell phone
Tell us all why

In Dayton, Ohio
Or Portland, Maine
Or a cotton gin out on the great high plains
That’s done closed down along with the school
And the hospital and the swimming pool
Dust devils dance in the noonday heat
There’s rats in the alley
And trash in the street
Gang graffiti on a boxcar door
We can’t make it here anymore

____________________________________________________
Joke
Bubba Bohacks

____________________________________________________

Both sides of the pond
(US) toilet (UK) toilet / Lavatory / Loo (slang) / bog (slang).
(US) butt (UK) bum
(US) toilet paper (UK) toilet paper / loo paper
____________________________________________________

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