Ballad for the Forgotten Workers
down by the river, down on the street,
past the empty factory buildings,
smokestacks that no longer smoke.
past the run down tenements,
past the vacant store fronts.
to fires that dont burn, and...
...engines that dont stroke.
down the road, leaving the city behind,
there's miles and miles of fields,
stone silent and turning brown.
tractors rusting in the sun,
a bucket by the well...
old house lies empty, falling down.
the sea of hands lost forever;
red and white, brown, and black.
headstones in the parking lots,
but they're never coming back.
built your cities, built your country,
plowed your fields, fed your hungry.
thrown away in your quest for power...
but their names mark the hours!
(steel workers, no more steel!
teachers, no more books!
farmers in the food lines,
no carpenters, no cooks.
cotton mills moved to Asia,
we cant even make tables and chairs.
no time clocks and no paychecks, ...
... nobody really cares!)
poem by Eric Cockrell
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Looking For Sugar!
following the trail of the ants,
past empty factory buildings.
past fields not planted.
past vacant store fronts.
past cars up on blocks,
and signs yelling 'for rent'...
following the trail of the ants,
looking for sugar!
following the trail of the sun,
from day unto night.
from family to forsaken.
from home to the road.
from god to the faces
that ring like haunted church bells,
following the trail of the sun...
looking for sugar!
poem by Eric Cockrell
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Have Mercy!
Have Mercy!
with final thoughts
i walk these streets,
past vacant buildings hallowed.
in silent mourning,
my heartbeat joining,
the concrete scarred by living.
passing strangers hurrying,
as if they had a life to return to.
while the shouts and cursing of working men,
rings inside the empty walls!
past tenemant buildings,
and unemployed stoops,
and eyes staring from windows.
dogs too hungry to bark,
squad cars passing slow,
tis the funeral of poverty.
while meth lab food stamp children,
sharpen knives against the curb.
and everything's grey, even the sounds,
the air is drunk with anger.
i caught a ride
with a trucker wired,
who mumbled slamming gears.
out into the country
once green and rich...
now brown and deserted.
fields not worked,
farm's foreclosed,
houses left to ghosts and memories.
tractors rusting in the sun,
the air is drunk with anger.
back into town,
past libraries closed,
and churches that ache with empty.
i can hear the sound
of the distant bells...
be it freedom or infinity.
past hospitals full,
and graveyards that move
with shadows in the night.
back to the small room
where i cant sleep...
where god weeps in the stillness.
America, America...
the air is drunk with anger!
poem by Eric Cockrell
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Sudden Sureness!
the bullets
in your hands
are the jobs,
houses, and families,
lost to the mouth
that devours....
the dreams burning
like trash on the side
of the road....
the fields empty, turning brown.
cities of ghosts,
empty buildings to streets,
streets that kill with sudden sureness,
leaving no trace,
and no memories!
poem by Eric Cockrell
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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It Is The Act!
it is not...
the house, the temple,
the city, or the country
that you built.
it is the act of building!
it is not...
the hours, the shifts,
the fields plowed,
or the steel forged.
it is the act of working.
it is not...
the sacrifices, the passion,
the forgiveness, or even
the life you shared.
it is the act of loving!
poem by Eric Cockrell
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Workers Of America
Workers of America shout long and loud
As we work together hard and proud
We are the ones that built this great country of ours
From the strain on our backs and our blisters and scars
We were the ones to clear the fields and lay the tracks
We are the ones to build the cities and break our backs
And we are the ones to sweat and bleed and die
As we built this great country, which no one can deny
We work the factories, and the stores and the mills
We dig the ditches and collect the garbage to pay our bills
We are the ones to work in the snow and in the heat of the sun
If it wasn't for us the workers, no work would ever be done
It wasn't the politicians or the judges who built this great land
But it was the workers of America as destiny had planned
Also we are the ones to fight the fires and all the wars
When our elected officials send us away to foreign shores
And we are the ones to feed the deprived and the needy
While the rich man cares for no one, but himself and the greedy
Without us the workers this land or any land would certainly fall
As we are the one that mixes the mortar and builds the wall
We pay the taxes to keep America's heart beating
And we are the ones to keep America always competing
Workers of America look up, as GOD gives us a nod
And listen to the past, as our forefathers do applaud.
Randy L. McClave
poem by Randy McClave
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We Built This City
Chorus:
We built this city, we built this city on rock and roll
Built this city, we built this city on rock and roll
Say you dont know me or recognize my face
Say you dont care who goes to that kind of place
Knee deep in the hoopla sinking in your fight
Too many runaways eating up the night
Marconi plays the mamba, listen to the radio, dont you remember
We built this city, we built this city on rock and roll
Chorus:
We built this city, we built this city on rock and roll
Built this city, we built this city on rock and roll
Someone always playing corporation games
Who cares theyre always changing corporation names
We just want to dance here someone stole the stage
They call us irresponsible write us off the page
Marconi plays the mamba, listen to the radio, dont you remember
We built this city, we built this city on rock and roll
We built this city, we built this city on rock and roll
Built this city, we built this city on rock and roll
Its just another sunday, in a tired old street
Police have got the choke hold, oh then we just lost the beat
Who counts the money underneath the bar
Who rides the wrecking ball in two rock guitars
Dont tell us you need us, cos were the ship of fools
Looking for america, coming through your schools
(Im looking out over that golden gate bridge
Out on another gorgeous sunny saturday, not seein that bumper to bumper traffic)
Dont you remember (member)(member)
(whats your favorite radio station, in your favorite radio city
The city by the bay, the city that rocks, the city that never sleeps)
Marconi plays the mamba, listen to the radio, dont you remember
We built this city, we built this city on rock and roll
We built this city, we built this city on rock and roll
Built this city, we built this city on rock and roll
Built this city, we built this city on rock and roll
Built this city, we built this city on rock and roll
(we built, we built this city) built this city (we built, we built this city)
(repeats out)
song performed by by Starship
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Walking With The Lover...
walking with the Lover...
i see empty fields plowed,
come alive with crops abundant.
empty factory buildings filled
with the ghosts of hard working lives.
empty houses lit up,
and the sounds of families.
empty hands given cups and bowls,
empty hearts held close!
empty words given meaning,
empty promises fulfilled.
walking with the Lover...
touching the plenty of empty!
poem by Eric Cockrell
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Where Are the Birds of Wenzhou, Bei Bei
‘The skies are empty and grey at dawn,
They’re empty and brown at noon,
Where are the birds of Wenzhou, Bei Bei
Deep in the afternoon?
Even at dusk when the air is still
Or the cool breath heaves from the sea,
I wait for the beat of wings then, Bei Bei
Rushing to comfort me.’
‘The birds were once when the paddy fields
Ran down by the river tides,
When the sky was blue and the air was clean
And the trees reached up to the stars.
The birds were here when the skies were clear
No buildings blocked the view...’
‘But where are the birds of Wenzhou, Bei Bei
Why have they gone from you? ’
‘They left when the smog came rolling in
And the insects died on the ground,
When the grass turned white and the acid rain
Caused all the trees to drown.
They left when the river turned yellow mud
And the fields died under the road,
When men built towers of thirty floors,
They left the town in droves.’
The skies are empty and grey at dawn,
They’re empty and brown at noon.
‘The birds of Wenzhou took their nests
And travelled to old Hangzhou.
They went to live by a wondrous lake
That tales will tell, is blue...’
‘Where are the birds of Wenzhou, Bei Bei...
Have they forsaken you? ’
8 November 2005
poem by David Lewis Paget
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Million Miles Away
Friday night, Id just got back
I had my eyes shut, was dreaming about the past
I thought about you while the radio played
Should have got loaded but for some reason I stayed
I started drifting to a different place
I realized I was falling off the face of the world
And there was nothing there to bring us back
cause youre a million miles away
A million miles away
And theres nothing there to bring us back today
Todayoh no
I took a ride and I went downtown
The streets were empty, there was no one around
I went to places that we used to go
Seen all the places that we used to know
Im at the wrong end of the looking glass
Im trying to hold on to the hands of the past and you
And theres nothing there to bring us back
cause youre a million miles away
A million miles away
And theres nothing there to bring us back today
Todayoh no
cause youre million miles away
A million miles away
Just a million miles away
A million miles away
And theres nothing there to bring us back today
Todayayayoh no
song performed by by Goo Goo Dolls
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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America Revisited
put down your crack bowls
and your republican flags...
and let's go walking thru
the streets and alleys of America....
let's walk past the empty houses
with foreclosure signs in the yard...
past the vacant factory buildings
where the homeless break in
at night and sleep...
past the lily white churches
and the dead zone schools...
past the county jails and the courthouses
and the rooms where lawyers
buy and sell justice...
past the housing projects
where babies buy groceries...
down to the tent cities where
dreams hang in the air like opium.
down the dark streets where young
girls and boys sell their bodies
for their vampire pimps...
and everyday citizens buy them!
down to the unemployment offices
where angry people stand in
numbered lines...
past renegade gas pumps
guarded by dollar store slaves...
past the words of Jefferson, Franklin,
and Thomas Paine....
to the hypnotic ads of puffy-faced
liars with titles and plans...
down to the cemetary where
the last shreds of freedom
lie in unmarked graves....
and we call this....
America!
poem by Eric Cockrell
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I Am
i am, become...
i worked your steel mills,
i walked the i-beams of your scrapers.
i dug deep in your coal mines,
i plowed your fields, picked your crops...
i picked your cotton, milked your cows,
worked your furniture factories,
in your cotton mills...
built your tracks, rode your trains,
popped your trucks, poured your concrete...
my sweat and blood, the foundation,
the nails in the wall!
i an America, the common,
and the magnificent...
i am the pulse, the breath, the beat.
i am the lover, the fighter, the dreamer...
i am the father, and the mother...
i am the sinner and the holy.
i am the truth, at all costs.
i am the man behind the wheel,
the dream behind the man...
the faith behind the dream...
poem by Eric Cockrell
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Ruins
Its so quiet in the ruins walking though the old town
Stones crumbling under my feet I see smoke for miles around
Oh its enough to make you weep, all that remains of the main street
Up in the park on sunday, dogs chasing and the children played
Old man with his head down, cant see nothing more around...no
But he remembers how it used to be, back in the old days,
So nice to see you coming back in this town again
Its nice to see a friendly face come peeping through having tea
In the afternoon, so nice to see you coming back in this town again...
Ah but its all changed winter turned on a man
Came down on day when no-one was looking and it
Stole away the land, people running scared, losing hands
Dodging shadows of falling sand, buildings standing like empty shells
And nobody...helping no-one else
Young child with his hands high, aint able to see no reason why...no
But he remembers how it used to be, back in the old days,
So nice to see you coming back in this town again
Its nice to see a friendly face come peeping through
Youd better know what youre going through now
You came back here to find your home is a black horizon
That you dont recognize, evil destruction has taken everything
Youd better walk on the side while youre still walking
Just keep on walking on down the street keep your distance
From the people you meet. oh lord and youd better watch your eyes
cause if smoke gets in them, baby you wont rise again.
Wheres it leading to freedom at what cost
People needing more and more and its all getting lost
I want back, I want back
Back to the time when the earth was green
And there was no high walls and the sea was clean
Dont stop that sun to shine, its not yours or mine...no.
song performed by by Cat Stevens
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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The Revolution Began....
the revolution began this morning...
the trains and buses stopped running,
long haul truckers shut down their rigs.
miners came up out of the mines,
gulping air free and clear.
migrant workers left the fields,
farmers got off their tractors,
and walked for the house.
teachers put down their papers,
and locked the doors.
nurses and aides left the hospitals.
minimum wage slaves left stores,
restaurants, and trash trucks.
while bankers bolted the doors,
and sat in suicidal silence...
and Wall Street went deadly black.
armed troops deployed to guard assets,
laid down their weapons and walked away.
the wealthy shuddered in sudden panic,
as the tables were finally turned over!
the revolution began this morning,
and the morning news sounded the panic.
while somewhere atop empty buildings,
bells rang with the cadence of liberty!
poem by Eric Cockrell
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Pacific Highway
Tryin to make it back
To my old home town
Ive been driving since
The break of dawn
Got a feeling like a fever
Burning in my brain
When I see her
Itll be all gone
Pacific highway
Getting nearer now
And I feel like
The dream is coming true
Pacific highway
Getting closer now
I dont need directions
To find my way back to you
Take another turning
On the old creek road
Making sure I dont get lost
Im hoping to hell
My tacos reading right
Get ahead no matter
What the cost
Tryin to take it easy
On the old home stretch
But city limits come into sight
Im getting ready for my betty
God how I missed that girl
Were rock-n-rollin
Through the night
I dont need directions
To find my way back to you
I only got five more miles, yeah
Only four more miles, yeah
I only got three miles, two miles
One mile to go
song performed by by Uriah Heep
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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This House
(nile rodgers)
This house is built
On a foundation of love
This house is built
On a foundation of love
Our toys are in the attic baby
Pictures on the wall
We can see our memories
From the days past in the mirror
Down the hall, oh yeah
Our love will survive in our own little paradise
So inspired, so inspired
Palatial it may not be
But its a home and a castle to me
A dream from a magazine
And well never give it up cause
This house is built
On a foundation of love
This house is built
On a foundation of love
Ill try to comfort you baby
You try to comfort me yeah
I know you love me
With all your heart, oh yeah
cause you say you do
You know that when you are sad
Ill be there in a flash
At the drop of a hat, oh yeah
cause I want you to feel love
And you dont have to say a thing
You dont have to ask, cause baby
This house is built
On a foundation of love
This house is built
On a foundation of love
Maybe well strike it rich
One day really make it big
And I know because our love is so strong
Well always have a home
This house is built
On a foundation of love
This house is built
On a foundation of love
This house is built
On a foundation of love
This house is built
On a foundation of love
This house is built
On a foundation of love
This house is built
On a foundation of love
song performed by by Diana Ross
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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100,000 Tons Of Steel
I know these rails were on like I know my ladys smile,
We see a dozen dreams in every passing mile.
Cant begin to count the trips she and I have made,
But I wish I had a dollar for each time weve both been down this grade.
And 100,000 tons of steel, made to roll.
The brakes dont work and this grades too steep, her engines sure to blow.
And 100,000 tons of steel, out of control,
Shes more a rollercoaster than the train I used to know.
Its one hell of an understatement, to say she cant be beat.
Shes tempermental, more a bitch than a machine.
She wasnt built to travel at speed or through mud slides.
These wheels are bound to jump the tracks before they burn like the ties
And 100,000 tons of steel, made to roll.
The brakes dont work and this grades too steep, her engines sure to blow
And 100,000 tons of steel, out of control
Shes more a rollercoaster than the train I used to know.
Murphy sure out done himself to pick this stretch of track
I can only hope my luck is ridin in the back.
Well I have pray to God this aint the day we meet,
Ive done about everything, but try dragging my feet.
And 100,000 tons of steel, made to roll.
The brakes dont work and this grades too steep, her engines sure to blow
And 100,000 tons of steel, out of control,
Shes more a rollercoaster than the train I used to know.
Oh, oh I want to go down slow.
song performed by by Grateful Dead
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Tons Of Steel
I know these rails were on like I know my ladys smile,
We see a dozen dreams in every passing mile.
Cant begin to count the trips she and I have made,
But I wish I had a dollar for each time weve both been down this grade.
And 100,000 tons of steel, made to roll.
The brakes dont work and this grades too steep, her engines sure to blow.
And 100,000 tons of steel, out of control,
Shes more a rollercoaster than the train I used to know.
Its one hell of an understatement, to say she cant be beat.
Shes temperamental, more a bitch than a machine.
She wasnt built to travel at speed or through mud slides.
These wheels are bound to jump the tracks before they burn like the ties
And 100,000 tons of steel, made to roll.
The brakes dont work and this grades too steep, her engines sure to blow
And 100,000 tons of steel, out of control
Shes more a rollercoaster than the train I used to know.
Murphy sure out done himself to pick this stretch of track
I can only hope my luck is ridin in the back.
Well I have pray to God this aint the day we meet,
Ive done about everything, but try dragging my feet.
And 100,000 tons of steel, made to roll.
The brakes dont work and this grades too steep, her engines sure to blow
And 100,000 tons of steel, out of control,
Shes more a rollercoaster than the train I used to know.
Oh, oh I want to go down slow.
song performed by by Grateful Dead
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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A Month Of Sundays
I used to work for harvester
I used to use my hands
I used to make the tractors and the
Combines that plowed and harvested this
Great land
Now I see my handiwork on the block
Everywhere I turn
And I see the clouds cross the weathered
Faces and I watch the harvest burn
I quit the plant in 57
Had some time for farmin then
Banks back then was lendin money
The banker was the farmers friend
And Ive seen dog days and dusty days;
Late spring snow and early fall sleet;
Ive held the leather reins in my hands
And Ive felt the soft ground under my feet
Between the hot, dry weather and the taxes
And the cold war its been hard to make
Ends meet
But I always kept the clothes on out backs;
I always put the shoes on our feet
My grandson, he comes home from college
He says, we get the government we
Deserve.
My son-in-law just shakes his head and says,
That little punk, he never had to serve.
And I sit here in the shadow of the suburbs
And look out across these empty fields
I sit here in earshot of the bypass and all
Night I listen to the rushin of the wheels
The big boys, they all got computers:
Got incorporated, too
Me, I just know how to raise things
That was all I ever knew
Now, it all comes down to numbers
Now Im glad that I have quit
Folks these days just dont do nothin
Simply for the love of it
I went into town of the fourth of july
Watched em parade past the union jack
Watched em break out the brass and beat
On the drum
One step forward and two steps back
And I saw a sign on easy street,
Said be prepared to stop.
Pray for the independent , little man
I dont see next years crop
And I sit here on the back porch in the
Twilight
And I hear the crickets hum
I sit and watch the lightning in the distance
But the showers never come
I sit here and listen to the wind blow
I sit here and rub my hands
I it here and listen to the clock strike,
And I wonder when Ill see my
Companion again
song performed by by Don Henley
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Vacant Eyes
standing in line
for a cup of soup,
second hand coats,
and worn out shoes.
the hands that
built your houses,
paved your roads,
worked your steel mills...
harvested your crops,
worked on your cars,
built your cities and towns,
your stores and your churches.
tremble with the cold,
hold the steaming cup
like a prayer...
wipe the corners of vacant eyes!
poem by Eric Cockrell
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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On The Air
Built in the belly of junk by the river my cabin stands
Made from the trash I dug out the heap, with my own fair hands
Every night, Im back at the shack and Im sure no one is there
Im putting the aerial up, so I can go out on the air
On the air
On the air
On the air
Every morning Im out at dawn with the dwarfs and the tramp
For a silent communion lit from above by the sodium lamps
Everyone I meet on the street acts as if I wasnt there
But theyre all going to know who I am cos I can go out on the air
On the air
On the air
On the air
Leaving the car down leafy lane
Turning out tarzan for my jungle jane
Anyone at all
From captain zero and his brand of superhero
Standing by a call
Oh its not easy
No its not easy
Making real friends
Dont give me your steak-reared milkboys, milkboys
Half alive on empty white noise, white noise
I got power, Im proud to be loud; my signal goes out clear
I want everybody to know that mozo is here
On the air
On the air
On the air
song performed by by Peter Gabriel
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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