Pasture Decomposed
"I lost you, America"
Today, a sadistic bill was passed by congressional Republicans that cuts more than a trillion dollars from Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act and $200 billion from food assistance, among many other terrible policies. These massive cuts to programs that support lower and middle income Americans are done in the name of redistributing trillions of dollars to the richest people in the country in the form of tax cuts they don’t need. 17 million people will lose access to health care. Children will go hungry. The thought of this bill being signed into law on the Fourth of July makes me sick to my stomach.
“Pasture Decomposed” is a song I wrote about economic and political inequality in America. I had a lot more written up about it before this bill passed, but now I think I can let it speak for itself. You can listen to “Pasture Decomposed” on Bandcamp.
Pasture Decomposed
We’re bound by rapacious generosity Your sermon solitude is lost on me Your cowboy carelessness And cynical idealists Keep me at your door Centered on the upper brackets The rest can get lottery scratchers Now there’s centuries Of future millionaires Lying dead on factory floors I guess that I got what they promised me The dream in all of its honesty A twenty dollar door fee For a ten dollar strip tease All the love I can afford I found you, America I caught you, America Who bought you, America? I lost you, America The only ones who live by your big talk Were dragged here and sold out on the boardwalk You play fast and loose with his dream Granting dissidents dignity Only once they become ghosts Your daughter is singing the sweetest song Quit telling her she’s got all the words wrong Heartland heartache to exploit Blame the breadlines in Detroit On that man without a coat I found you, America I caught you, America Who bought you, America? What did it cost you, America? Your new sons flee fields they made rich for you Now the trees are all bursting with endless fruit So here’s the job, sir, that they stole You can finally be made whole A full pasture decomposed I found you, America Unwound you, America I’d say “God Damn You, America” But I am you, America
Thanks to my friends who brought this song to life, especially Ken Broyles who has been pushing me to get into the studio for years and to Roman Garcia who worked so hard to find the sound we were looking for.
Recorded, Mixed, and Mastered by Roman Garcia at Sol Sound Lab
Colin Baillio (vocals, acoustic guitar, banjo, organ, piano)
Ken Broyles (drums, vocals)
Dustin Harvey (electric guitar, vocals)
Roman Garcia (bass, vocals)
Valeria Garcia Tavarez (vocals)
Muni Kulasinghe (violin)
Definitely hits hard