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Better World A'Comin (It's Already In The Mail)

from Unravelled Tales - Volume 2 by Sam Steffen

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lyrics

It’s 9am at USPS office #315
On Broad St, Philadelphia PA
I’m half-dead where I’m standing but I’m trine to look alive
I tell myself, “You never know, today might be the day—”
They burst in all disheveled with their hopes out on a limb
Every one of them surviving on a prayer
They can all tell you the story about their big ship coming in
But you’ve already seen the harbor, and you know it isn’t there—
Lord knows, I hate to be the bearer of bad news
But I’m afraid you’re out of luck again, today—
I guess I’d hate me too if I were in your shoes—
All the same, I don’t know what else there is to say…

Mr. Pomerantz on food-stamps he got robbed again last night
While sleeping in the threshold of a shop
He was thrown out of the shelter for starting up a fight
Though in his mind he was only trying to make the violence stop;
He’s waiting on a new card coming from the CAO
When it gets here it will mean that he can eat;
Til then he’ll be on exit ramps panhandling for dough
Shakin his empty coffee-can at strangers on the street
Lord knows I hate to be the bearer of bad news
To knock the wind from right out of a sail—
I wish I could tell him something that he might could use:
That your waiting aint for nothin—
it’s all been for something—
A better worlds a comin—it’s already in the mail

Jane Finnegan is in again, still going on about
How her folks are sending money from the farm
They think she’s still in college, don’t know yet that she dropped out
And took up a nasty habit that’s puttin holes into her arm
She’s been in and out of detox, says she’s trying to get clean
She can’t say it without drawing up a tear
she says, “Soon as I get that money, I’ll buy a ticket for the train—
to anywhere, I don’t care, long as it’s far away from here—”
Lord knows I hate to be the bearer of bad news
But it’s just a part of what the job entails
I wish I could tell her something that could cure her blues…
That some day she won’t be bummin
she’ll be all through with runnin
there’s a better world a comin—it’s already in the mail

John Dixon’s out of prison, he walked here, ten miles, all the way
He looks tired and he says his feet are sore
The guards released him sometime early morning yesterday
But his clothes, wallet and money all got sent out the day before—
He’s in need of food, employment, and most of all, some place to stay
His PO thinks he’s got somewhere to be
Three months ago he got word his grandmother passed away
She was his only living family, his only chance at staying free—
Lord knows I hate to be the bearer of bad news
To see a man caught tween a graveyard and a jail
I wish I could relieve him of what he’s been accused
That he could come home to somethin
Better than a DA summons
We got a better world a comin—it’s already in the mail

Doug Hurley came home early from his tour in Afghanastan
Where he went he said, to “be all he could be”
One night he found a landmine planted by the Taliban
That blew off his foot and ankle and his leg up to the knee
He’s got a letter from the VA, says they couldn’t save his house
Tho they appealed his case to eleven different banks
He tears it up and says, “It figures how these kinds of things play out
You fight to defend your only country, and this is how they show their thanks—”
Lord knows I hate to be the bearer of bad news
To lack the remedy for all that ails—
I wish that I could tell him that he’s paid his dues—
That his debts have been forgiven
And he hasn’t yet been done in—
There’s a better world a comin—

If I had the answers for you, I’d be screaming them out loud
I’d fight to share em with you, tooth and nail
As it is I’m just the messenger with no news to lend right now—
But I can tell you somethin—
The machinery is buzzin—
a better world’s a comin—it’s already in the mail

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from Unravelled Tales - Volume 2, released July 24, 2021

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Sam Steffen Boise, Idaho

Sam Steffen is a Pennsylvania-bred, Boise-based singer-songwriter whose songs are the torch-wood for a new generation of folk music that has learned from the best stuff in the tradition and aims in spite of everything to keep the human spirit alive and kicking. A versatile musician and skilled finger-picker, Sam is at heart a story-teller, and a prolific one. ... more

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