We Can’t Make it Here by James McMurtry
Lyrics:
There’s a Vietnam Vet with a cardboard sign
Sitting there by the left turn line
The flag on his wheelchair flapping in the breeze
One leg missing and both hands free
No one’s paying much mind to him
The V. A. Budget’s just stretched so thin
And now there’s more coming back from the Mideast war
We can’t make it here anymore
And that big ol’ building was the textile mill
That fed our kids and it paid our bills
But they turned us out and they closed the doors
‘Cause we can’t make it here anymore
You see those pallets piled up on the loading dock
They’re just gonna sit there ’til they rot
‘Cause there’s nothing to ship, nothing to pack
Just busted concrete and rusted tracks
Empty storefronts around the square
There’s a needle in the gutter and glass everywhere
You don’t come down here unless you’re looking to score
We can’t make it here anymore
The bar’s still open but man it’s slow
The tip jar’s light and the register’s low
The bartender don’t have much to say
The regular crowd gets thinner each day
Some have maxed out all their credit cards
Some are working two jobs and living in cars
Minimum wage won’t pay for a roof, won’t pay for a drink
If you gotta have proof just try it yourself Mr. C. E. O.
See how far 5. 15 an hour will go
Take a part time job at one your stores
I bet you can’t make it here anymore
And there’s a high school girl with a bourgeois dream
Just like the pictures in the magazine
She found on the floor of the laundromat
A woman with kids can forget all that
If she comes up pregnant what’ll she do
Forget the career and forget about school
Can she live on faith’ Live on hope’
High on Jesus or hooked on dope
When it’s way too late to just say no
You can’t make it here anymore
Now I’m stocking shirts in the Wal-Mart store
Just like the ones we made before
‘Cept this one came from Singapore
I guess we can’t make it here anymore
Should I hate a people for the shade of their skin
Or the shape of their eyes or the shape I’m in
Should I hate ’em for having our jobs today
No I hate the men sent the jobs away
I can see them all now, they haunt my dreams
All lily white and squeaky clean
They’ve never known want, they’ll never know need
Their shit don’t stink and their kids won’t bleed
Their kids won’t bleed in their damn little war
And we can’t make it here anymore
Will work for food, will die for oil
Will kill for power and to us the spoils
The billionaires get to pay less tax
The working poor get to fall through the cracks
So let ’em eat jellybeans let ’em eat cake
Let ’em eat shit, whatever it takes
They can join the Air Force or join the Corps
If they can’t make it here anymore
So that’s how it is, that’s what we got
If the president wants to admit it or not
You can read it in the paper, read it on the wall
Hear it on the wind if you’re listening at all
Get out of that limo, look us in the eye
Call us on the cell phone tell us all why
In Dayton Ohio or Portland Maine
Or a cotton gin out on the great high plains
That’s done closed down along with the school
And the hospital and the swimming pool
Dust devils dance in the noonday heat
There’s rats in the alley and trash in the street
Gang graffiti on a boxcar door
We can’t make it here anymore
Lyrics by James McMurtry
Compadre Records. 2005
James McMurtry song that takes a strong Conflict Theorist view towards society:
James McMurtry’s song Can’t Make it Here is a song about a depressed economy and how every day people’s lives look making minimum wage. McMurtry’s song is clearly viewed through the lens of the conflict theorist. The song is highly critical and skeptical of wealthy and those politicians currently in power. This song is hauntingly familiar to anyone who has lived in a depressed region or city in the United States. What makes this piece very interesting is that it covers several themes whilst it is not clear as to if the narrator of the song is black, white, Hispanic, man or woman. Three major themes stand out which share a common thread on how people vote and who poor people blame for their economic status; 1) Politicians 2) Capitalists 3)Media.
Media:
The song describes a girl in a laundry mat who finds a magazine, which is said to have a “bourgeois dream,” that this girl wishes dearly to have. We do not know what the magazine is, however, it is implied by the description that it is something that likely that it prominently displays an expensive home, A-list actors’ lives or some combination of the two. Interestingly McMurtry’s song then moves to the next few lines which demonstrate how unrealistic it is and that it is all an illusion; the reality is that a woman with children cannot accomplish the unrealistic ideal that the magazine sets forth. A woman’s life is ruined or at a minimum her ambitions will be starkly reduced as a result of becoming pregnant. With the economy and lack of health care, a woman who becomes pregnant will not have a successful career, or finish school; it is a dead end. McMurtry demonstrates the hopelessness of being “structurally unemployed,” a town where there is no work and seemingly no way to escape.
Capitalists
Even stronger criticisms are thrown toward the capitalists who seemingly caused the economic downturn in the town, centering on the closed down textile mill. It is very clear here that McMurtry or at least the narrator believes that the people are being oppressed by those with money; the view of a conflict theorists. Not only do the capitalist close the textile mill, turning all the employees out into the street, the capitalists in charge of the textile mill are indifferent to the suffering of those in need. The wealthy industrialists “haunt” the narrator’s dreams; they don’t care about the small people and their children will not die in the wars. The narrator clearly holds those in charge of the textile business in contempt; the capitalist business owners are given fault for the economic hardships resulting in the poor condition of the streets. The narrator wryly observes that the reply from the business owners would likely be:
So let ’em eat jellybeans let ’em eat cake
Let ’em eat shit, whatever it takes
They can join the Air Force or join the Corps
If they can’t make it here anymore
This is a jab at the Marie Antoinette style retort that business owners/capitalists seem to give when it is demonstrated that there is economic hardship and that they might have some responsibility to those individuals.
Politicians
The dire illustration of life by the commoner is further darkened by the ongoing conflict in the “Mideast war.” The beginning of the song starts by describing a Vietnam vet, who even though is obviously severely crippled, still believes in the “American” way of life. Vietnam was several decades ago, this veteran has been in his wheelchair for this time and yet he is still poor and in need of help. The VA, is described as not caring or having enough money to be able to care; there are more and more veterans coming home from our conflicts in the Middle East who will need medical attention and help. What is demonstrated here is that the state or the government does not care enough, and they never have. The message is one of hopelessness; politicians are not paying attention to those who need it. The apathetic behavior on part of the politicians is revisited, the narrator calls out the inaction on part of the President of the United States, and claims that he may be in denial. The narrator even suggests that the government is letting the rich capitalists off by letting them pay less taxes. The narrator is looking to the government or president for help; looking for someone to ease the suffering and do something to help the commoner:
So that’s how it is, that’s what we got
If the president wants to admit it or not
You can read it in the paper, read it on the wall
Hear it on the wind if you’re listening at all
Get out of that limo, look us in the eye
Call us on the cell phone tell us all why
Furthermore, it is a very interesting double entendre that is repeated often throughout the song, variations on the phrase: “we can’t make it here anymore.” This is a very powerful statement as it is used to mean, that the people living in this segment of society, are unable to survive with the lack of economic opportunities and lack of political will to help those in need. “We can’t make it here anymore,” also means exactly that, as a jab at the capitalists who closed the textile mill and moved jobs overseas to Singapore.
“We Can’t Make It Here” is a very interesting song as it could describe anywhere in the US that has moved on to a post-industrial economic system. The manufacturing jobs are going away but the people remain without help from those that employed them, or the government. They are left to their own devices to figure out their own way out of their misery. This song truly covers all the based, it demonstrates how those who worked are losing out, the city is dying out as are the local business that still somehow hang on, there is crime on the rise and no empathy or compassion from either the wealthy or the political classes. This song helps give insight as to how people might vote when put in this economic situation. If one political party can promise answers and welfare, school or a way out of the misery, people would probably jump on it.
“Can’t Make It Here.” James McMurtry. Compadre Records. 2005
Breakdown - Socio-Political Commentary 