{"id":134,"date":"2006-01-25T06:25:00","date_gmt":"2006-01-25T06:25:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ayearofsongs.org\/blg\/?p=134"},"modified":"2015-11-01T19:33:55","modified_gmt":"2015-11-02T03:33:55","slug":"babys-on-tv","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ayearofsongs.org\/blg\/2006\/01\/25\/babys-on-tv\/","title":{"rendered":"Baby’s On TV"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Baby's<\/p>\n

The rec room curtains drifted in and out of the open window, so slowly as to be all but unnoticeable. A fly droned several times around the room and smacked itself against the smudged and dingey closed half of the window.<\/p>\n

He looked at the fly and knew it wanted to die.<\/p>\n

The rec room TV was stuck on MTV. Which wouldn’t have been so bad if the sound worked. But one night a few weeks back someone had put a pool cue through the speaker so far it got stuck and stayed there sticking out into the room like a flagmast. But the picture was great and no one had bothered to turn the set off since then.<\/p>\n

Now, laid off for at least a week by a downturn at the plant, he was idling away the days nursing beers that soon turned warm and flat, watching Beavis and Butthead reruns, and thinking about what how good he had it before Mavis Jean went off with the talent scout from the spokesmodel try-out fair.<\/p>\n

It was looking like it was going to be another hot, smoggy San Bernardino Christmas but the deep greens and bright festive reds on the TV transported him for a few moment s to the fantasy Christmas he’d imagined everyone else enjoyed when he was growing up: a smiling family gathered around a glowing hearth, snowflakes fluttering outside frosty windows.<\/p>\n

And as he floated in the sway of the moment, the family holiday was replaced by sleek images from a trendy perfume ad, a stark modern art montage leading up to an oddly familiar, hollow-cheeked, waif-like face filling the screen. And then a series of flash-lit jump cuts to reveal Mavis Jean’s too-skinny body draped in dark pajamas, her blank eyes staring hypnotically into the camera.<\/p>\n

Her lips moved a tiny bit. At first he thought she was blowing a kiss to the camera as her level gaze held the camera. Then he realized she must be saying something… and it was hard to tell for sure, but he was convinced he knew what what it was:<\/p>\n

Sucker.<\/span><\/p>\n

Today’s acoustic version:<\/span><\/p>\n\n

Full version on Soundcloud<\/a><\/p>\n

Baby’s On TV<\/em><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Send for the doctor
\nsend for the priest
\nThe End must be coming
\n’cause Baby’s On TV
\nShe’s talking with her eyes<\/p>\n

She couldn’t hold a job
\ncould hardly spell her name
\nnow she’s lunching at the polo lounge
\nand wintering in spain
\n(she’s speaking from her heart)
\nshe’s talking with her eyes<\/p>\n

I’d been expecting
\nto be surprised
\nbut when I saw that advert
\nthe sun fell from the sky
\nshe’s talking with her eyes
\nsaying what a fool I’ve been to never realize<\/p>\n

just an average girl next door
\nwithout an ounce of style
\nnow she’s a jetset darling
\nsoul-kissing me good-bye
\nshes talking with her eyes<\/p>\n

I met her in a cross-dress bar
\ndown in San Antone
\nShe was draped across some gigolo
\nand most of her clothes were gone<\/p>\n

Her eyes were blue her hair was green
\nand her legs were impossibly long
\nbut most of all it was her blank-eyed stare
\nthat really turned me on<\/p>\n

I knew right then
\nshe was the only one
\nwho would ever break my heart
\nI took her home and we settled down
\nin the Camelot Trailer Park<\/p>\n

But Fate intervened in the mall that day
\nat the Spokesmodel Try-Out Fair
\nthey loved her look they loved her legs
\nthey loved here blank-eyed stare<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

send for a doctor send for the priest
\nthe End must be coming
\n’cause Baby’s On TV
\nShes talking with her eyes<\/p>\n

Shes got clothes She’s got cars
\nshe’s seen with politicians
\nshe’s seen with handsome stars
\nI’m sitting home watching baby on TV<\/p>\n

Babys on TV
\nBabys on TV<\/p>\n

she’s talking with her eyes
\nsaying what a fool I’ve been to never realize<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The rec room curtains drifted in and out of the open window, so slowly as to be all but unnoticeable. A fly droned several times around the room and smacked itself against the smudged and dingey closed half of the window. He looked at the fly and knew it wanted to die. The rec room […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pgc_meta":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6,8,27],"tags":[947,633,949,948,701],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ayearofsongs.org\/blg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ayearofsongs.org\/blg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ayearofsongs.org\/blg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ayearofsongs.org\/blg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ayearofsongs.org\/blg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=134"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/ayearofsongs.org\/blg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2172,"href":"https:\/\/ayearofsongs.org\/blg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134\/revisions\/2172"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ayearofsongs.org\/blg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=134"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ayearofsongs.org\/blg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=134"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ayearofsongs.org\/blg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=134"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}