We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.

There Just Ain't Enough To Go Round

from Poor Thing by Sam Steffen

/

lyrics

They say by next year this land’ll be buried neath 35 feet of the sea
Those that can’t get out by liner or ferry will be sunk as sure as can be
Pharaoh traded his army for a fleet of sleek vessels, if the seas part he’ll just run aground
Tell Moses we’re sorry: salvation’s backordered—there just ain’t enough to go round

Ma quit her job the day she delivered tho she took all six weeks of her leave
The breadcrumb of income in the end hardly differed, daycare costs more than you’d believe
And dad’s been out lookin for a job that’ll get him off the trail of them debt-collector hounds
Wherever he goes the employers all tell em, there just ain’t enough to go round

Man on the sidewalk’s been asking for quarters from people who pretend he ain’t there
His cardboard sign reads: "I’ll Have What You’re Having—Anything That You Can Spare"
He says, “I been all through the towns of this country, small kindness is all that I’ve found
Love's all you need to get by in this life, and there just ain’t enough to go round

You’d better wear waders if you’re headed to Washington, I hear the bullshit there’s pretty deep
Power is one thing that people in power usually do their darndest to keep
They’re redrawing districts, makin maps into mazes so that when voting day rolls around
The hopes’ll wear thin til the votes are all in and there just ain’t enough to go round

The army recruiters are lookin for heroes to wave their American flag
They’ll send you abroad like they need you to be there til you get sent back home in a bag
A six-gun salute, an immaculate coffin, a white cross they’ll stake in the ground
The letter to mom says “your son was a patriot—wish there were more like him to go round.”

They ask for our patience in the questing for justice, that holy of holymost grails
They ask us to trust their defunct machinery that history shows usually fails
The judge in his throne hasn’t even been listening—you’ll know when the gavel comes down
They’re doling out justice like there’ll be no tomorrow—and there just ain’t enough to go round

We’ve dug ourselves into a fine mess of trouble spending money that we never had
To buy things that wore out and made us unhappy which they told us would make us more glad
The poor get some—yes, but the rich get a tax-cut: and do you know why it’s called ‘trickledown’?
a trickle’s what happens before it shuts off completely leaving what ain’t enough to go round

Time is a bastard and a thieving deceptor, a current you fight the whole way
Tomorrow eludes you while yesterday woos you meanwhile it’s always today
And life is a tale told by an idiot full up of fury and sound
You look for the meaning with the hourglass bleeding—there just ain’t enough to go round

credits

from Poor Thing, released July 24, 2022

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

Sam Steffen image

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

contact / help

Contact Sam Steffen

Streaming and
Download help

Redeem code

Report this track or account

If you like Sam Steffen, you may also like:

Bandcamp Daily  your guide to the world of Bandcamp

On Bandcamp Radio

Featuring interviews with LA music scene pillar Kamasi Washington, and new London-based duo Mrcy.

listen now