Story Behind The Song
"The Dustbowl" is the central gathering place on the campus of Boston College, my alma mater. It was designed to be a grassy resting place for the studious youth who were going to change the world. Years of foot traffic has left it a vast wasteland.
Song Description
A girl draws attention to growing up within "the dustbowl," an essestial wasteland of brilliantly-bred college grads who never learned how to think for themselves.
| Song Length |
3:51 |
Genre |
Folk - Contemporary |
| Tempo |
Medium Slow (91 - 110) |
Lead Vocal |
Female Vocal |
| Mood |
Diplomatic |
Subject |
Liberal, Progressive |
| Language |
English |
Era |
2000 and later |
Lyrics
THE DUSTBOWL
lyrics by C.Heins
I see before me in this stranded town
No dictator rising, no man with a crown
My spectator's passion at long last died down
I've nothing to picket and no one to hound
For years they raised crosses in the faces of fools
Sidestepping senators, challenging rules
But the causes expired and the senators, too
And the thinking just stopped the more naked we grew
Oh fall oh fall oh fall off the rock
That would be a mountain if the floodwaters dropped
If you could have seen it if you only knew
He was larger than life
He was breathing in blue
I paused for a spell with my red violin
Closing my eyelids, taking you in
Then I played the sun, my bow all aglow
And the moon danced around me with its children in tow
The grass will grow yet I promised myself
But the seedlings lay dormant sewn up in themselves
On the banks of the Charles they loitered four years
Expanding their minds with dining hall beers
They stand they stand they stand by the rock
It makes them feel larger, that shepherd-less flock
If you could have seen them, if you only knew
These prep school pilgrims
That breathed in maroon
They'll lie in their lives for ten solid years
Awaiting that moment to rejoin their peers
Collecting promotions and husbands and wives
Dog-earing backs to drive in their knives
They?ll run for the Senate, they?ll run for the House
Then hire a Cat to run for the Mouse
Lunching on bills the taxpayers bought
Sacrificing their children to save Cardinal Law
I lift I lift I lift up the rock
And watch the ants scatter, confused and in shock
If you could have seen them, exposed to the land
Drowning in mirrors
Diplomas in hand