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Gotta Get Out of the City For Awhile

from Wet Match by Sam Steffen

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lyrics

Moved to the city the other day,
Less to be there than to get away
I got a quarter of the space I had, and the rent it costs a pile
My roommates all work through the night
Come home at dawn put out the lights
Sleep all day and all afternoon
Wake up again when they can see the moon
Their trash all through the apartment’s strewn
They say I’ll be like them pretty soon
I think I gotta get out of the city—for a while

Time came when I should’ve wrote
I sent a postcard to my folks
Dear Ma, I’m so depressed I’ve forgotten how to smile
Nobody knows my name
And every day is about the same
The sun comes up and the sun goes down
People just trine to move around
Everybody wears a frown
You say hello, they look at the ground
I think I gotta get out of the city—for a while

My coat’s dirty, tattered, torn
My pants is old and warped and worn
My boots is so full up of holes and get worse with every mile
Walkin round here and there
It’s hard to make it most anywhere
Trucks a honkin, trolley’s squeakin
Trains a rumbling, cars a beepin
At 3 am the neighbor’s screamin
Fore you know it, I’ll be leavin
I think I gotta get out of the city—for a while

I was bred in the place I’m from
But here I feel just like a crumb
When you’re used to woods and mountains, the city’s what seems wild
Sometimes people start to yell
What at, though, you can’t always tell
Hey—what’re you lookin at?
Hey—how are you doin, cat?
What do you know? How bout that?
Look out you don’t step on that rat
I think I gotta get out of the city for a while


A good job has been hard to find
That’ll keep you out of the daily grind
Every morning its like herded sheep, all in single file
The workers come in from outside
In a car or bus or train they ride
The builders build the buildings tall
Back you right up against the wall
Make you feel that you’re pretty small
Til you got no room to yourself at all
I think I gotta get out of the city for a while

Folks tell me in a while I’ll see
A change start to come over me
You’ll still think you’re miserable but you’ll just be in denial
You’ll get away for a week or two
Go to the shore, take in the view
Youll miss the sidewalks and the throng
They’ll sing to you like a siren-song
You’ll see you’ve loved it all along
You’ll start to feel like something’s wrong:
You’ll think you gotta get back to the city for a while

credits

from Wet Match, released October 13, 2019

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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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