As I was driving west on the I-40 this past weekend, I was playing the radio as I tend to do when I'm driving, and I heard this song, called "Cost of Livin'" come up on one of the Country Top 40 programs. It's Ronnie Dunn's new single, follow up to his solo hit, "Bleed Red," and I have to confess, I was stunned almost speechless by it.
You're seeing him do it live in the video above, and it's quite rough -- which may be even more effective given the subject matter -- but the version released as a single is very polished... and completely heartbreaking.
There once was a time when country music had lots of Outlaw song and Outlaw performers as part of the culture being celebrated. But that's no longer the case, and it hasn't been for quite a while. Instead, the genre is dominated by "I know my place, and I HAPPY with my place! HAPPY!" songs that are kind of stomach turning when you think about it. The whole point of these songs is to make sure the underclass, specifically the redneck Stars 'n' Bars underclass, stays tame in the midst of so much suffering for the masses.
And this song, "Cost of Livin'," fits into that category nicely.
Until you listen to it.
And then if you don't feel the need to do something about the horror that people are being put through -- or slit your wrists in despair -- I would wonder if you really have any sense of another's pain, lack of dignity, and reduction to abject submission.
The lyrics:
Everything to know about me
Is written on this page
The number you can reach me
My social and my age
Yes I served in the army
It’s where I learned to shoot
Eighteen months in the desert
Pourin’ sand out of my boots
No I’ve never been convicted of a crime
I could start this job at any time.
I got a strong back
Steel toes
I rarely call in sick
A good truck
What I don’t know
I catch on real quick
I work weekends
If I have to
Nights and holidays
Give you 40
And then some
Whatever it takes
Three dollars and change at the pump
Cost of livin’s high and goin’ up.
I put Robert down as a reference
He's known me all my life
We attend the same church
He introduced me to my wife
Gave my last job everything
Before it headed south
Took the shoes off of my children's feet
The food out of their mouths
Yesterday my folks offered to help
But they’re barely getting by themselves
I got a strong back
Steel toes
I rarely call in sick
A good truck
What I don’t know
I catch on real quick
I work weekends
If I have to
Nights and holidays
Give you 40
And then some
Whatever it takes
Three dollars and change at the pump
Cost of livin’s high and goin’ up.
I'm sure a hundred others have applied
Rumor has it you're only takin' five
I got a strong back
Steel toes
I'm handy with a wrench
There's nothing I can't drive
Nothing I can't fix
I work sun-up to sun-down
Ain't too proud to sweep the floors
Bank has started calling
And the wolves are at my door
Three dollars and change at the pump
Cost of livin’s high and goin’ up.
Before I left New Mexico this time, I was yakking with neighbors who were having a yard sale -- trying to sell off practically all the remaining contents of their house before they sell the house too. They've been having yard sales every few weeks for a year. They put the property on the market a few months ago and they just reduced the price to what the bank has said they will accept, which is considerably less than they owe. They say they have not had an offer yet, but they are hoping that an older couple from further out of town will buy their house so as to live close in. It will be a little less expensive for them, too. It may seem like these are small things, selling off your stuff, your house, your spare car -- what really got to me was that Walter was selling off his Gibson guitar, a beautiful Les Paul Signature, something he's treasured for years, and something you just don't sell lightly. Nor is it that they are poor, nor have they fallen completely out of the middle class... yet. No, they've been maintaining two households, one in town (ie: Albuquerque) where the jobs are -- such as they are, and I'll get to that in a moment -- and one out in the country where the kids have been going to school. But the oldest daughter just graduated from high school, and the cost of the commute back and forth, together with the cost of maintaining two households was just too much. (Believe me, I understand!) Something's got to give. So, they're... liquidating their assets in the country. To say they've been somewhat disappointed with results is to be kind.
Meanwhile, before I left New Mexico this time, I was yakking on the phone with a former neighbor who moved into Albuquerque a couple of years ago when she was offered a free-rent house-sitting gig for a University couple who were going on sabbatical overseas. She still comes out to our place in the country from time to time to feed the feral cats she was taking care of before she moved. But it's getting harder and harder what with the cost of living and the fact that she has to pay rent now, and so many other things have gone wrong -- she was in a terrible accident on the freeway, injured and her truck was totaled, among so many other incidents -- and now she was telling me that her employer is cutting back, letting go 7 people last week, more likely soon, and everyone else has had their work cut by one day a week for the last two months. Naturally she's scared.
We were talking about all the news of "good times" coming back to New Mexico, but for whom exactly would that be? Not for the masses, not a bit of it, not at all. Things are getting worse. She said her son just found a job, at half the salary he was making before. He'd been out of work for two years before landing this position, and he feels lucky to have a job at all.
There is no economic recovery for the many; and in New Mexico, the difference between the many and the few is stark and very visible.
Ronnie Dunn has a house up in Santa Fe, up off of Hyde Park Rd, a beautiful spread with a expansive view of the city lights below and the Jemez (burning) to the west. Down below, the working people, if they can find a job at all, look up to the houses of the High and the Mighty dotting the hillsides all around the town and think, "Gee, it must be nice."
Yeah, well. I'm sure it must. Happy Fourth.
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