Beefheart on inequality – pulling back the curtain a little to sing about the hunger and desperation of people living in misery. There is nobody to come to their rescue. There is no help. People are working and dying in conditions that are beyond our imagination and nobody cares.
Ain’t No Santa Claus on the Evenin’ Stage
There ain’t no Santa Claus on the evenin’ stage
There ain’t no way t’ pull the curtain
‘N hide from hunger’s rage
There ain’t no town t’ stop in
There ain’t no time t’ stop in
There ain’t no straw for my horse
There ain’t no straw for my bed
There ain’t no comfort in cold boards
There ain’t no rumours or food for my stomach
‘N someday I’m gonna be saved
‘Cause I gotta eat ‘n drink ‘n breathe ‘n sleep
‘N I’m ah slave
Down in hominy’s grotto there’s ah soul die’n ‘n leavin’
Every second on the evenin’ stage
There’s ah soul die’n ‘n rottin’ ‘n pickin’
Some new kinda cotton
With his fingers broken ‘n his heart ‘n back forgotten
There ain’t no Santa Claus on the evenin’ stage