Song from the Soup Kitchen

[AuntShecky]

Song from the Soup Kitchen


I'm here again at the end of the line.
There’s money around, but none of it’s mine.
I got no food, no work, no dough.
Don't want to be seen by someone I know.

They're scraping soup from the dregs o’ the pot.
Whatever I get, I hope it’s still hot.
Shouldn't come late when supplies run low
and risk being seen by someone I know.

It’s true that man can't live by bread alone:
I lost my house, my car, my phone.
This place where I dine allows casual dressing.
Signs say at the door:
“It’s no disgrace to be poor”
but if you ask me it sure ain’t no blessing.

Forget tomorrow, I exist day to day.
Nothing to do but sit tight and pray:
“Dear God, from whom all blessings flow,
don't let me be seen by someone I know.
Don't let me be seen by someone I know.

[NickAdams]

I hope I don't have to sing that song in the future.;)
Is this from personal experience?

[PrinceMyshkin]

That repeated line is a killer - and for those of us who might have fallen from a privileged or a merely comfortable position, how psychologically true it rings!

I'm reminded a little of "Joe Hill," "Hallelujah, I'm a bum" and "Once I built a railroad..."

[AuntShecky]

thanks both for your comments.

The repeated line is a refrain, as I was in popular song mode--
attempting to emulate the great Frank Loesser or Johnny Mercer grain, more than that of Guthrie, Joe Hill and our national treasure, Pete Seeger.

No, I've never, ever been in a privileged position and I've never had to use the services of a soup kitchen, but man, have I ever been close. It's possible I may have to someday. As Thomas "Fats" Waller famously said, "One never knows, do one?"

[firefangled]

I thought this was so interesting and well done because the rhyme and cadence could have diminished the seriousness of this, but it didn't at all, mostly due to the way the refrain kept coming in. What a bag of worry it presents and so true.

That makes for a heavy thinking cap, Aunt Shecky. Excellent poem.

[Pendragon]

Great one, Auntie! :thumbs_up

[Virgil]

Nice Aunty. Let's hope you won't need to. To my ear, the rhythm is off in this stanza:

It’s true that man can't live by bread alone:
I lost my house, my car, my phone.
This place where I dine allows casual dressing.
Signs say at the door:
I didn't scan the metrics but it seems like the meter's off from the others.

[qimissung]

Yes, those of us who live paycheck to paycheck can feel this pain. "I love that line "...it sure ain't no blessing." While money isn't everything, having enough of it is.

The refrain is indeed ' a killer', in this era when more people everyday become homeless.

[AuntShecky]

Nice Aunty. Let's hope you won't need to. To my ear, the rhythm is off in this stanza:

I didn't scan the metrics but it seems like the meter's off from the others.

Different from the choruses, yes, it was supposed to
be the "bridge," in which if I'm not mistaken, can have a
different melody and rhythm from the chorus part of a
song. Of course I may be wrong, and I probably am!

[ASHERA]

very nicely done...... and yes, very much in the tradition of our national treasure Pete

[PrinceMyshkin]

very nicely done...... and yes, very much in the tradition of our national treasure Pete

Well, there you go! If you revere Pete Seeger as much as Aunt Shecky - and I - do then you've enjoyed many of his lyrics, which are a particular form of poetry.