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All the Thanks You'll Get

from Maxims, Mantras & Moral Tales by Sam Steffen

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lyrics

Well I had me a girlfriend a while ago; I loved her, and she loved me
So I got the crazy notion to ask her if she’d want to start a family
She said yes, we both got dressed and went before the priest
He said “Anyone know why these two shouldn’t wed? Speak now or hold your peace!”

Well grandpa jumped up in his mighty old age and he said “there’s one reason I can see
Getting married’s not all fun and games, it’s a lot of responsibility
I don’t want to say you can’t do it, it’s just that there’s a lot to risk
Soon as you have kids, they’ll take all you got, then forget that you exist—

And that’s all the thanks you’ll get
All the thanks you’ll get
You work hard to keep a roof abovem
They call you liar when you tellem you love em
All the thanks you get
All the thanks you get
It’s a raw deal, full-time gig
And you sure can’t raise em like your parents did
Otherwise they’ll just try and get rid—of you

Well I went to school like folks said I should and I graduated in four years
and soon as I had received my diploma, they said, now find yourself some career
well I looked around and I couldn’t find nothing until one day, suddenly
I got a job hauling furniture for a moving company

my first day there, they threw this party for a guy they all admired
said he’d been with the company forty years and was time for him to retire
course he was injured something terrible, he could barely keep up his head
but when he saw what he got for severance pay, this is what he said:

That’s all the thanks I get
All the thanks I get?
broke my back, ruined my knees
paid all my own hospital fees
and that’s all the thanks I get?
All the thanks I get?
For all the time and effort I gave
Just to be treated like a slave
A one way ticket to an early grave—is my reward?

Well I was walking by the recruiting office, with my thumb I was flippin a coin
A man was out there telling me that Uncle Sam wanted me to join
I said, “Join what?” and the recruiter said, “Why, buddy, that’s all up to you—”
Air Force, Navy, National Guard—long as it’s red, white, and blue,”

Well I was about to sign up when all of a sudden another man comes up to me
He’s in a wheelchair and he’s got no legs and he’s wearing military fatigues
The recruiter told him to get lost, but the fella shouted out “Beware!”
He said, “I used to be just like you, now stead of legs all I got’s this chair—”

And that’s all—the thanks you’ll get
That’s all—the thanks you’ll get
fight and kill just to stay alive
Make it home, you start to wish you had died
All—the thanks you’ll get
All—the thanks you’ll get
I’m a shell-shockd, manic-depressed
Got shards of shrapnel in my chest
Had nothing to start, now I got less—than that

Well I was feeling sorta lost and a little confused about what I ought to do
Seems like everywhere I could think to go, there was some good reason not to
Friend of mine told me to seek some counsel, the counselor said, “Try church”
I said alright, I need help, I don’t see how that could hurt

The preacher that Sunday was preachin a sermon bout this fella named Jesus Christ
Who helped the poor and healed the sick and never sinned in his whole life
Who taught humanity all the lessons it would ever need to learn
Who was betrayed, tortured, mocked, flogged and crucified in return

And that’s all the thanks you’ll get
all the thanks you’ll get
you see a problem and you try to be kind
people treat you like you’re out of your mind
all the thanks you’ll get
all the thanks you’ll get
you try to do a simple favor
lend a hand to your struggling neighbor
he don’t give you nothing for your labor—hell no—just a slap in the face

credits

from Maxims, Mantras & Moral Tales, released October 3, 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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