Here’s a demented video of a demented performance of an inspired song: Tom Waits’ “God’s Away On Business“.
Another inspired move was to place this song beneath the credits of “Enron: The Smartest Guys In The Room” – a documentary of corporate greed and corruption whose effects pale in comparison to the current economic crisis. Is there a song – or any work of art – that could capture the mindset that led to our current situation?
I’d sell your heart to the junkman baby
For a buck, for a buck
If you’re looking for someone
To pull you out of that ditch
You’re out of luck, you’re out of luck
The ship is sinking
The ship is sinking
The ship is sinking
There’s leak, there’s leak,
In the boiler room
The poor, the lame, the blind
Who are the ones that we kept in charge?
Killers, thieves, and lawyers
God’s away, God’s away,
God’s away on Business. Business.
God’s away, God’s away,
God’s away on Business. Business.
Digging up the dead with
A shovel and a pick
It’s a job, it’s a job
Bloody moon rising with
A plague and a flood
Jain the mob, jain the mob
It’s all over, it’s all over, it’s all over
There’s a lick, there’s a lick,
In the boiler room
The poor, the lame, the blind
Who are the ones that we kept in charge?
Killers, thieves, and lawyers
God’s away, God’s away, God’s away
On Business. Business.
God’s away, God’s away,
On Business. Business.
As I was thinking the other night, that tune is originally from Waits’ album “Blood Money” for use in a play (which sounds like it is as every bit as bizarre as the lyrics imply). Maybe someday we’ll see “Enron: The Musical”
From Amazon:
Blood Money’s 13 songs were cowritten by Tom Waits and longtime collaborator and wife Kathleen Brennan for a Robert Wilson production of Georg Büchner’s unfinished, protomodernist 1837 play, Woyzeck, about a Kafkaesque German soldier who goes crazy after doing medical experiments for money and kills his girlfriend after witnessing a perceived infidelity. The album’s worldview is, necessarily, bleak. The lyrics are hilariously misanthropic, occasionally hallucinatory, and ring with the truth of Tin Pan Alley clichés turned inside out.
I’d love to see “Enron: The Musical” – although it might be eclipsed by “Financial Meltdown 2008: The Tragedy!”
I’m thinking it could sort of be a re-visitation of all the famous musicals. It would open with Maria Bartiromo from CNBC singing “The Sound of Money” leading into a chorus of “How do you solve a problem like Maria?” sung by the Federal Reserve Board Governors. Maybe Bernie Madoff with a beard and prayer shawl singing “Fiddler of the Books” and “Yes, I am a Rich Man”. Perhaps a tune like “I’m Gonna Wash that TARP Right out of my Hair” sung by Alan Greenspan. Henry Paulson could do a humorous tune as “Officer CorruptKe”. And then for a rousing finish, the whole cast singing “Broke-Lahoma”.
This could work! How about we pool what’s left of our investments and finance this thing?
John, you’ve outdone yourself. I’m up for it. If only I had any investments left! I’ve retreated to CD-ville.