This was written in response to yet another early death due to heroin. (I don’t use the term overdose, as that implies there is a standard dosage.)
Seems these newsmakers’ deaths happen with some regularity, followed by the usual astonishment and disappointment.
I was lucky that I couldn’t stand needles, or I might well have tried heroin in my younger, experimental days. Luckier still my children, who lost several friends in high school and college to the drug, never partook.
It surprises most people to learn that heroin was first sold by the Bayer (aspirin) Co. out of Germany. It was marketed as a cough suppressant for children! Its chemical affects on the lung are one reason why addicts are known by their cough. It’s similar to overmedicating a symptom that ironically increases its traits. Or over using an antibiotic renders it useless.
Anyway, this song traces how the addict(s) slides down that very slippery rope. It also contains one of my favorite reversals, which is what I call turning a cliché or axiom upside down, as in this song, where it says:
it so easy to be right
and so hard to do wrong
This is somewhat based on the notion that addicts must go to great lengths to get their dope. Same idea about how methodical and well organized criminals often are. It’s harder work than most folks realize.
Seems like it’s a lot easier just to do right!
The above is just me and my guitar.
What Goes Around
So many things he said he’d never do
heroin was of them and she probably said it to
now look at ‘em on a saturday night
he’s throwing up and she’s getting high
Now he’s the one who worries a lot
And she’s the one heating that black tar
What goes around comes around again
Doesn’t really matter if you’re sorry then
Or if you swore it wouldn’t happen again
There’s so many things a man will do
that when says he’s done he’s never really through
you don’t have tour Afghanistan
to be a lost soul in this promise land
now he’s the one looking out for cops
she’s the one who’s coughing a lot
What goes around comes around again
You can’t buy salvation at the five and 10
But better not wait til the very end
it so easy to be right
and so hard to do wrong
we’re all made in the same light
but when darkness comes
we don’t all know how to run
now he’s the one keeps hearing gunshots
she’s promenading in the parking lot
What goes around comes around again
and when the music stops it won’t start again
when the preacher’s finished we all say amen
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Sad, but a Good Song Thomas!
Good one!
Dark but true. Please do this Tuesday night!
Dark but true. Please do this Tuesday night!
scary and sad – so many lost souls – this song is darkest I’ve known you to write