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Just Another Day

from Unravelled Tales - Volume 2 by Sam Steffen

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lyrics

A borrowed suit emerging from a rented limousine
At an empty filling station, a mile from the red car-pet—
The tank now overflowing, covers him in gasoline
He takes a step back to ignite himself one final cigarette
And while they pray and pray—even as the angels sing
Their eyes they stray, when their miracle appears—
Someplace else maybe you’d think to call it interesting
But o, you know it’s just another day round here

The girlfriend of the governor finally made it to his place
When he got there, she was laughing with his wife who had made tea
As a curious expression made its way onto his face
She calmly said, “It’s a funny thing your wife here was telling me,”
chorus

At the meeting of the generals they’ve begun gambling with souls
Disputing lines they’ve scribbled on a map that’s poorly drawn
The leaders of large countries endorsing things they won’t divulge
Til someone blows the whistle and turns the war back on
chorus

Running rampant in the castle’s vacant halls
The ghost of Hamlet dancing with a goblet of champagne
Candlepin bowling with the madame’s crystal ball
Shouting slander from the parapet, prophesying rain
Chorus

Flotsam floating in the mind’s discrete mirage
Reveals a keepsake stolen from a bookcase that was a door
Later it will turn up in some framed-criminal’s garage
Who will turn it over, saying, “I’ve never seen that thing before—”
chorus

Inside the Zone there are still many places you can’t go
“There’s too much radiation” read the signs in foreign words
You could build a mighty fortress with all the things you’ll never know
If you hadn’t written off impossibles as being for the birds
chorus

the city hides an alley where a man holds out a cup
he rings a bell on Christmas Eve, dressed as Santa Claus
he’s dying and he knows it but he can’t seem to give up
the thought that someone will take pity and give unto his cause
chorus

the hero from his armchair gazes at the frozen scene
a painting he was given for his bravery in the war
in the quiet of the lamplight he still hears the dead marines
while his wife in the nursery shouts, “I can’t take this anymore—”
chorus

stamping passports at the entrance of the gate
an official’s asking everyone the purpose of their trip:
a man who’s fleeing circumstance, leaving home because of hate
is told: I’m sorry, sir, your answer doesn’t seem to fit
chorus

Jesus on the cross cried out “Why has thou Forsaken me?
Did I not accomplish everything that you desired?”
God said nothing but someone shouted pityingly,
“hey man don’t you realize you’ve just been preaching to the choir?”
Chorus

The asylum after midnight is an escalating plot:
A wheelchair has gone missing and a patient can’t be found
Someone’s dumped the medication in the nurse’s coffee pot
Any minute now the fire-alarm is probably going to sound
Chorus

the tax-man’s come to gather up the store-owner’s receipts
but he’s out collecting mercy from the parson, for his soul
while the barber’s window takes a brick thrown in by the police
the farmer’s out to pasture, being gored by his own bull
chorus

America the beautiful for all your amber waves of grain
for instituting freedom with a rifle and a cage
For perfect mountain majesties above the fruited plain
For corruption, waste, hypocrisy, insanity and rage
chorus

credits

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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