Talkin Disillusion Blues

by Michael West

I was born in 1947

North of hell and south of heaven

About that time the sun went down

On San Francisco, my home town

I stuck my head out to see what’s cookin

But it was dark I should have crawled back in

Cause there I was by the Golden Gate

Just about a hundred years too late

For the great Gold Rush of ‘49

O my darling Clementine

How time does fly – tempus fugitive –

Like a jailbird, hounds on his tail

I was raised up on the American Dream

It was lily-white and toothpaste clean

With TV sets and movie screens

Subscriptions to Life magazine

Then Life folded and God died

They held the services on the cover of Time

To the British Isles my daddy went

Spying for our government

And it was there in London town

Saw em hang Old Glory upside down

Shouting “Go home, Yank!” and “Ban the Bomb!”

Years before I’d ever heard of Vietnam

Back stateside on an ocean liner

I found myself in North Carolina

With the Devildogs of Camp LeJeune

I felt like howling at the moon, you know

Them jarheads say a service brat is lower

Than whale shit on the ocean floor

Yeah there’s more to this story as I know you’ve thought

But this is just about as far as I’ve got

Winter come around I’m gonna add a verse --

You know it can’t get too much worse…

So stay tuned folks, you’ve got nothing to lose

You’ve been listening to them Talking Disillusion Blues.