Some people look at the way things are and say why.
Some People think of the way things should be and say, “why not”.
Lately I just look at things and think....what the fuck?
***
Have you ever had thoughts about things that that you have never seen but you imagine that you have seen them because they are so perfect and you cannot get them out of your head.
A horse and a flea and three blind mice
Sat on a curbstone shooting dice
The horse he slipped and fell on the flea
"Whoops," said the flea, "There's a horse on me!"
I have been having such a moment with this song and what I envision is Tom Waits at a microphone singing it.
Boom, boom, ain't it great to be crazy?
Boom, boom, ain't it great to be crazy?
Giddy and foolish the whole day through
Boom, boom, ain't it great to be crazy?
I do not know why I find this vision so totally compelling but i do know that I do. When I look around at george Bush’s America and the suffering we have wrought by our own hands it just seems...apropos.
Way down South where bananas grow
A flea stepped on an elephant's toe
The elephant cried, with tears in his eyes
"Why don't you pick on someone your own size?"
Indeed. With all of Waits naturally bent lyrics and romanticism isn’t this one that he should of covered? I mean he covered the eagles “Old 55” which was not a bad song, but it was after all just the Eagles. If he could sing the bad rhyme, “well the sun went so quickly, I went licketysplittly...” certainly he could sing this.
Boom, boom, ain't it great to be crazy?
Boom, boom, ain't it great to be crazy?
Giddy and foolish the whole day through
Boom, boom, ain't it great to be crazy?
In the current times it just seems like it would be such an awesome anthem. The bank bail out. The proposed car company bail outs... unemployment, bankruptcy, Brittany Spears coming back?
Way up North where there's ice and snow
There lived a penguin and his name was Joe
He got so tired of black and white
He wore pink slacks to the dance last night!
Blagojevich. Talk about crazy. Crazy as a shit house rat. Sociopath. And a stupid one. not crazy like a fox, at least not anymore. Just plain, stinking, stupid, crazy. A cancer on his family, his party and his state.
Boom, boom, ain't it great to be crazy?
Boom, boom, ain't it great to be crazy?
Giddy and foolish the whole day through
Boom, boom, ain't it great to be crazy?
Depression can lead to voices like this. Voices in your head just kind of overwhelmed by all the back ground noise of all the craziness. Self medicating with booze while watching MSNBC or even worse FOX as people you know buy guns to protect themselves and hoard can goods and water in their basement...
Eli, Eli had some socks
A dollar a pair and a nickel a box
The more you wear 'em the better they get
And you put 'em in the water and they don't get wet!
Wait’s has sung so many great songs. “Nighthawks At The Diner”, “Blue Valentines”, “Jersey Girl”, “Jesus Gonna be Here”, “Get Behind the Mule”. He always said that he was fascinated by the sound coming from down the hall. Leaky pipes or a crying baby. it is all music. In a crazy way.
Boom, boom, ain't it great to be crazy?
Boom, boom, ain't it great to be crazy?
Giddy and foolish the whole day through
Boom, boom, ain't it great to be crazy?
Lots of distress in the world right now. Lots of people not knowing where their next check might be coming from. In the mean time Bernie Madoff defrauds rich people and charities and banks out of 50 billion dollars. Seriously? 50 billion? Who knew until June or so of this year that there was even 50 billion dollars in the world and this guy is able to run a ponzi scheme that big?
Called myself on the telephone
Just to hear that golden tone
Asked myself out for a date
Said be ready 'bout half-past eight!
In a house of the blind the one eyed man is king. I am not sure if the same is true in a madhouse. i a slightly more sane person at an advantage or a disadvantage in a world that seems to have gone mad?
Boom, boom, ain't it great to be crazy?
Boom, boom, ain't it great to be crazy?
Giddy and foolish the whole day through
Boom, boom, ain't it great to be crazy?
In the mean time, Waits, singing this song (which he has never sung) resonating in my mind like a cancer, like a kiss. Chiding me. Soothing me. making me cry and making me smile as the gravelly voice rolls along the bottom of a smoky stream, just.... observing.
Took myself to the picture show
Sat myself on the very last row
Wrapped my arms around my waist
Got so fresh I slapped my face!
Bush, on his way out. leaving a mess of unparalleled proportions for Obama. Going to iraq and getting shoes thrown at his head. A crazy man who does not even know he is crazy. Shambling along, cannot get out of office quick enough. But it is too late. Too late for a legacy. Too late for kind words. Too late for anything but a shoe, narrowly missing a quick dodging head.
Boom, boom, ain't it great to be crazy?
Boom, boom, ain't it great to be crazy?
Giddy and foolish the whole day through
Boom, boom, ain't it great to be crazy?
I never noticed till I downloaded the lyrics that the chorus is a question. Maybe THE question.
