Pilgrim Street Lament

(by Kevin Brown)



I know that I don't look like much
I can confess
But I seen my share of life and times
I'd bet you couldn't guess
The shelters kinda cold
I know it aint the best
If you got a minute I could tell you somethin'

I might tell you 'bout the time
With two outs in the ninth and two men on
We were playin' where the Reds played
Man I was so young
All my Glory Days
Were in that summer sun
Man I was somethin'

My feet they got the frostbite on a winter night
Man it was cold
I was sleepin' in the back of a Dodge
That I made my home
I just don't know where it was
That things could go so wrong
But I can't cry over that

But, once there was time
When I had all my toes
My feet were fast and fleet
And how my legs could run
And I could hit that ball
clear up into the summer sun
How I can recall

Now I come here when they let me
Just two or three days a week
I do my chores, pray to the Lord
They give me a nice hot meal to eat
Then I lay down where they give me
A place to sleep
And I can dream

That once there was time
When I had all my toes
My feet were fast and fleet
And how my legs could run
And I could hit that ball
clear up into the summer sun
Man I was somethin'

Note: Like to do a special callout to Mitch Albaum who inspired this song. I don't know him ... would love to some day ... but it's his relating of the story of a homeless shelter and one man in particular in Detroit (one out of many other similar stories that could be told) that prompted me to try and relate it with dignity in a song. Hope it succeeded.

Another Failed Believer

(by Kevin Brown)



When I was just a boy
Down at my momma's Church of Christ
The doors they opened wide
And they welcomed you inside
And the voices they were raised
To the sweet Lord by and by
Let us fly Lord
Let us fly

...hear 'em singin'

I feel
My soul rising
Today
I feel
My soul rising
Today
Lord I'm
On my way
Goin' home
Goin' home
I feel
my soul risin'
Today

Well a man can find himself
In dark trouble in a hurry
The booze and pills will make you sick
And the money ... pain and worry
They told me "take the hand of Jesus
Let him lift your earthly burden"
Let us fly Lord
Let us fly

... singin'

Won't be slowed down
By worries
Anymore
Won't be slowed down
By worries
Anymore
Well I'm bound
To Heavens door
Won't be troubled
anymore
No worries
Slow me down
Today

The years have come and gone
I'd like to say I found the answer
I'll tell you true and honest
I'm just a failed Believer
The voices that I hear
Its just the whiskey in the bottle
Got to fly Lord
Got to fly

Yeah, the voices that I hear
It's just the whiskey in the bottle
Got to fly Lord
Got to fly

Note: For some more explanation on this songs early origin check out this posting.

Interstate 23 (Frozen)

(by Kevin Brown)

I reach into my jacket
Pull the keys out of my pocket
And slide behind the wheel

A crystal silouhette
Of my breath is still hangin' there
Frozen in the air

Like the last look that you gave me
As we parted on the street
Now I'm sittin' in the front seat
In suspended disbelief
And I'm starin straight ahead
at that two lane Interstate

That leads to nowhere ...

What was it I was thinkin'

What could I have been thinkin'

as Im shakin' off the cold

studying my fingers

frozen on the wheel

and look off down the road

Like the last look that you gave me
As we parted on the street
Now I'm sittin' in the front seat
In suspended disbelief
And I'm starin straight ahead
at that two lane Interstate

Where was I goin' ...

My Loaded Ninety-Eight

(by Kevin Brown)



My name is Harold Brown
And I'm Detroit's native son
I worked the day-shift on the line
from sunup to sundown
Building V8 twin carb Oldsmobiles
Never had a drink on break
Punched the clock there every day
One day buy me a Ninety-Eight

I met up with this nice girl
in Nineteen Fifty Three
We moved from Southern Illinois to Detroit
Once she married me
Can't say why she did it
For all my faulty lines
For her I punched that clock
So I could do more than rub together dimes

We set up house in a little place
Over on Lorraine
It wasn't much to look at
But, to wife, three kids and me ... a mansion all the same
All of my good fortune
Was sittin' right there on that street
Along with my new Motor City built and paid for
Brand new Ninety-Eight

This plant that I been workin' at
It worked through two World Wars
And when I came home from Korea
well it worked a little more
To break me and to make me
Into the man I need to be
The Army never did do that
GM did that to me

We raised three kids on Union wage
Got 'em all through school
They bought machines of their own
And nice big houses too
Ain't that the way it's supposed to be
Seems like it is to me
Tell 'em all up there in Congress
It's what feeds the economy

So today I'm listenin' to the news
On the TV in the home
Detroit was up in Washington
Askin' for a loan
Those Senators told Detroit
"You must atone for all your sins"
They got taxpayers to protect
But ain't I one of them?

So I guess the thing that you could say
Is Detroit can go to hell
Congress could be right on that
You can't never tell
But if the Motor City
Goes off down that track
It's likely gonna carry Congress out
Right on its back

I guess it sounds fashionable these days
To tell Detroit to go to hell
Congress could be right on that
Well, you can never tell
But if the Motor City
Is told to just pound sand
You might as well start callin' us
The United States of Japan

I'll bet somebody loves my Olds Ninety-Eight
there in Japan ...

notes: An Apolitical tune ...

I live up in the rustbelt states ... and the Auto Industry is everybody's main lifeline ... so I wrote this song based on all the recent turmoil going on with Detroit, Congress, bailouts, and all that.

There are some factual inconsistencies in the song ... anybody who knows cars (Detroit steel that is ) knows that Oldsmobiles have never been built in Detroit ... they were built in Lansing before Olds' great demise. But somehow that just didn't help convey the song so .... I just changed it.

And Lorraine is a little street up in Lansing where my folks migrated to from Southern Illinois ... back in the 50's when people were moving North from Kentucky, Illinois, Tennessee ... to work on the production lines in Detroit and Lansing.

And I guess this ain't even "auto-biographical" either ... written from the pov of my old man. We are on the third generation now of a family who's lives, fortunes ... and misfortunes ... have been made from the Detroit Auto Industry.

Most everything else is true ... or will be.