Dan Costello “Recession Songs”

Recorded, Mixed and Mastered
by Brian Speaker at Brooklyn Tea Party

Dan Costello - Piano, Guitar, Vocals
Debe Dalton - Banjo
Rachel Devlin - Vocals

Artwork by Piwi

This album is for my parents.

1. Hey Mister
Hey Mister, where’s my bailout?
I think you left my name off your list.
Look under “poor”, under “hungry”
And there are millions more like me
Who it appears that you have missed.

Hey Mister, where’s the breadline
For the average guy like me who’s working hard?
You’re giving handouts to the three piece suits
But we’ve all got debts, look at my credit card!

Give me a bonus Mister,
You gave one to AIG
My overdraft is maxed
And my income is so taxed
That to hold on to a dollar
I have to earn three.
It’s not that I’m jealous
I’m not trying to pout
But it’s only fair Mister
Bail me out!

Hey Mister, where’s the billion?
It takes a billion to raise a kid they say.
And who’s to say no, if I want children
I want eight or ten or fifteen and I want em right away.

Buy Mister, pay the child care
Because I don’t know how I’ll work to feed them all
I just assumed that you would chip in
When the market dipped 
you propped up Freddie Mac
And now I’m slipping

So hey Mister, where’s my bailout?
I thought you said that the check was on the way
But the check went to my car payment
So can you send another quick?
I have more bills to pay!

You help the upper classes,
Now Mister, save the masses.
You know it’s only fair
The fed should have to share
And then I can repair
My rosy glasses.
It’s not that I’m jealous
I’m not trying to pout
But it’s only fair mister
Bail me out!

2. When Recession Hits
I think I'll take a second job
So I don't have to worry anymore
Bout how I'm gonna pay my rent
In this expensive city

I think I'll dumpster dive at Whole Foods
Day old bread that can still be chewed
Organic Apples that are slightly bruised
But ugly produce is still good for you

When the recession hits, get ready
There's no telling what you'll do to get by
You live your live
And let it through.

I really need a pair of new jeans
But I also need the high speed
Good thing it's April cuz I got no heat
All that money went to other needs

I think I'll go grease up my bicycle
Because I can't afford the train pass
They raise the rates because they think we're trapped
Nobody's gonna bike to work or class

When the recession hits, get ready
There's no telling what you'll do to get by
You live your live
And let it through.

I'll just get used to drinking PBR
If I even go out at all
Can't afford to pay the nanny fees
So Sunday's Family Day at The Mall

I think I'll get another credit card
So I don't have to choose
If I get that pair of new jeans
Or do I get my wife these awesome shoes?

They were both made in China
And cost eighty five American Dollars
And I want em both!

When the recession hits, get ready
There's no telling what you'll do to get by
You live your live
And let it through.

3. Tide Water Rising
I feel the floodgates
About to open
The tide water is rising

I am floating
I am not drowning
I am smiling
I am alive

I see the heat waves
Bubbling Over
The mercury is boiling

I am melting
I am not freezing
I am holding on
I am free

I can see heaven
like a window
The gates are disappearing

I am reborn
I am a changed man
I am not forgetting
And I am gone.

4. The Boy With The Gun
Don't turn your gun on the boy with the gun
Cuz the gun is what's wrong all along
Don't raise your fist if you want to resist
For the fist of the foreman is strong

May we please interject
The results you expect
Have been cancelled in favor of war
The few with the might
Have decided they're right
And we've been left completely ignored

Don't turn your gun on the boy with the gun
Cuz the gun is what's wrong all along
Don't raise your fist if you want to resist
For the fist of the foreman is strong

If you take to the streets
First have something to eat
Cuz on lock up the feedings are few
When you sit in that jail
Don't believe that we've failed
We are coming to rescue you.

Don't turn your gun on the boy with the gun
Cuz the gun is what's wrong all along
Don't raise your fist if you want to resist
For the fist of the foreman is strong

And don't bring your axe to my Thanksgiving Table
For an axe is no way to give thanks.
And raising the price is no way to win customers
And free money still costs the banks.
But the banks have been printing
And the mints have been minting
And the lenders are lending defaults
And the buyers they buy and their debts pile high
And the houses and cars turn to pillars of salt.

But don't turn your gun on the boy with the gun
For the gun is what's wrong all along
Don't raise your fist if you want to resist
For the fist of the foreman is strong.

As we sing this tune to a futureless moon
Full of Darkness and Misery, oh my son
I pray that someday we’re as smart,
as we say “That was then, this is now...”
...so now, put down the gun!

But don't turn your gun on the boy with the gun
For the gun is what's wrong all along
Don't raise your fist if you want to resist
For the fist of the foreman is strong.

5. Green Cars For Detroit
Green cars, green cars
Detroit has to learn to make clean cars
Repeating the past is the wrong thing to do
Think green, red white and blue.

While some of the good old American brands
Are shipping their factories to foreign lands
American workers are waiting to learn
To build engines that don’t need oil to burn.

When you ask the president to sign
A bailout plan for your credit line
He wants some idea of how you will grow
Past the private jets for your CEOs.

With a scientist now as the Energy man,
We can start doing things to protect our land.
New high speed trains like they have in Japan
Can be built right in Flint by American hands.
Design them we can, and build them we must.
Our blue collar cities are turning to dust.

Now some people say that it cannot be done.
Putting men on the moon, can’t we harness the sun?
The wind, and the water, and workers combined
Are a green revolution that’s fit for our time.
And not just Detroit, but Schenectady too.
And Akron, and Dayton, and Kalamazoo
We need to revive the American Dream.
We won’t be in the red if we stay in the green.

6. Memphis is a Desert
Well the river is dry
And the fish are flopping
There's dust in my eye
And the sandstorm shows no signs of stopping
There is blood all over my face
And sweat all over my brow
The little bit of water in my body
Is all that I have left now

7. Hard Times
Oh Hard Times
Oh Hard Times
Why you got me down so?
I been on the bottom
For so long, with this song
Oh hard times, don't come back around.

Take my house, man
Take my daughter
Take my pay man
I'm a goner.
And while you take it
You know it's wrong
But I can take it
If you take this song.

It used to be easy
And never so bad
When I was a boy
The freedom I had!
But now things change
And now I am grown
And going through hard times.
We all have our own Hard Times.

What will I leave you
When I have left you
Will there be music
Will it be gone too
Will there be truth when
The gavel pounds
We've got enough fight
For twenty rounds of Hard Times.

You can break me
You can rob me
You can kill me
But you can't stop me
Cuz I don't owe you
What I have not.
You have the most, Sir.
While all I’ve got are Hard Times.

8. Two Buck Chuck
Two Buck Chuck and Lost Online
Internet TV and Cheap Red Wine
It’s a real nice way to spend a real fun night
Drinking good red wine when money’s tight.

I moved to the city in 2003
And I didn’t know what things were waiting for me.
Got a place in Spanish Harlem, went looking for a gypsy.
Found a nice little bar I could walk home tipsy.

Got a job as a temp, and I dressed up real clean.
Man, they sure loved the way I used the fax machine.
Pretty soon I got a full-time job with benefits.
But two years later I had to call it quits
I was going crazy.

Said “I’m gonna be a singer, in the biggest of towns.”
I headed south on the Bowery, started making the rounds.
Met a funny man with glasses, and he said to me, “Kid,
You’re doing the same kind of stuff that I did.”

With his advice I got a part time job, just to pay
My new rent in Brooklyn, where I’d moved, by the way
Met a girl, and I spent every dollar I had
Til she left, and I sat, thinking I’m so sad....

Instead of staying down about my bad luck with the ladies,
I just thought of my friend, and how he did things in the Eighties.
Got a place to make music any time that he wants.
And I thought, hey I got a plan, called a couple of friends:

I said “Tonight I’m having a party, guess what, you’re invited!
We’re gonna drink wine, eat food, and play songs, so be excited!
And if we get bored, I got a free download.
Ten episodes of my favorite show!

Well I got a new gal, and I got a new place.
And my friends still come over, and we play drums, and bass
And maybe watch an internet movie or three
Cuz Netflix is cheaper than a DVD.

And I know a lot of folks are complaining about this recession.
But not a lot has changed for this poor musician.
And I don’t want it different, no I like it just fine.
Only difference now is the cost of the wine.

Yeah it’s Three Buck Chuck and Lost Online
Internet TV and Cheap Red Wine
It’s a real nice way to spend a real fun night
Drinking good red wine when money’s tight.

9. Walkin’ Round In Circles.
I’m walkin’ round in circles and the old men are scrubbing the subway.
I’m walkin’ round in circles and the old men are scrubbing the subway.
I’m walkin’ round in circles trying to exercise my mind
And I keep getting distracted by the men working behind.
I’m walkin’ round in circles and the old men are scrubbing the subway.

I'm walking in circles and swimming in debt
And I'm applying for jobs that aren't even jobs yet
And my online status says to be determined
And I'm starting to wish I was french or swiss german

Got a free haircut in my bathroom mirror
It’s a little uneven, but I used a beard trimmer.
It adds to my cred in a hip neighborhood
Where I can’t afford to live but the music sounds good.
I’m walkin’ round in circles and the old men are scrubbing the subway.

The price of concert tickets is rising by the note
And my pockets are empty and I’m trying to stay afloat
And the trains are expensive and the service is bad.
And pretty soon it might be cheaper just to take a cab.
And I’m walkin’ round in circles and the old men are scrubbing the subway.

Well, ever since Obama I do not feel alone
Still, I don’t know the safety of my cellular phone.
I’ve always been curious to take you to task.
There are some things you shouldn’t be afraid to ask.
And I’m walkin’ round in circles and the old men are scrubbing the subway.

We’ve ben talking about it and it's time to speak up
We cannot say so much from behind our tea cup
If we ask you a question it’s because we wanna know
If you know what you’re doing, or where we’re gonna go.
If we fair-tax the few to benefit the many
Why’s all the change I’ve got just a handful of pennies.

10. We Are Gone Away
We are gone away, gone away
We are all around, all around.
We are momentary like a song.
We are in the air, in the air.
We are you are they are they or are they?
We are all around, all around.
We are you are we are they or are we?
We are all around, all around.

© 2009 Dan Costello Music (BMI). All Rights Reserved.