Thursday, November 12, 2015

"The Shadow Of Waving Flags"


This is from my song collection Cut Pieces. If I ever return to piano playing singer-songwriter gigs, my set will feature several songs from this collection, and also Rented Ideas. I’m not sure I want to do those gigs anymore though. Playing to empty coffeehouses gets old after a while. So does the bar scene. I wish the music scene didn’t rely so much on drinking. These days, a musician can’t rely on selling music for income. Everybody expects music to be readily available for free online. Today’s journeyman musician has to rely on live performance, and even then he is often reduced to the role of T-shirt salesman, more intent on peddling his “merch” than on his music.

The Shadow Of Waving Flags

© 2014 Brian Hutzell

I’m creeping around your room
Just being creepy
You’re in your bed
Just being sleepy
Peaceful as a godly soul
Reclining in a casket
Remains of the festivities
Floating in a grim basket

The armies gather in the shadow of waving flags
The band played on in the shadow of waving flags
When the big one falls,
The best place to be is directly underneath

This game allows
For reasonable cheating
Which makes winning
Naught but beating
During the performance
Silence your beeper
People burn as well as logs but cheaper

The armies gather in the shadow of waving flags
The band played on in the shadow of waving flags
In dollar we trusted until the coin rusted

The armies gather in the shadow of waving flags
The band played on in the shadow of waving flags
The legend I sing is a tiresome thing

The armies gather in the shadow of waving flags
The band played on in the shadow of waving flags
As I walk down the hall, I scratch my name on the wall


“Manifest Destiny”

Brian Hutzell
from A Fistful of Feet

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