{"id":214,"date":"2006-04-14T06:59:00","date_gmt":"2006-04-14T06:59:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ayearofsongs.org\/blg\/?p=214"},"modified":"2018-05-17T11:29:46","modified_gmt":"2018-05-17T18:29:46","slug":"fading-away-in-california","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ayearofsongs.org\/blg\/2006\/04\/14\/fading-away-in-california\/","title":{"rendered":"Fading Away in California"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Year of Songs Debut <\/span>
\n\"Fading<\/p>\n

There was a period when I was damn glad to have a job in a gas station in a gritty, dangerous, inner city neighborhood. One week, there were three killings on the block, two of them in the squat next to the station.<\/p>\n

Needless, perhaps, to say, I met a lot of interesting folks from many cultures — if not all socioeconomic strata.<\/p>\n

I was hanging on by my fingernails but at least I had a roof over my head and a car and an old guitar.<\/p>\n

A lot of the folks around me weren’t so lucky.<\/p>\n

It was an era that got under my skin in funny ways and opened up my suburban-bred thought processes enough that I found myself exploring the milieu in my imagination and ultimately in my music.<\/p>\n\n

When I look back on my life
\nto see what’s comin’ next
\nAll I see is more unpaid bills
\nmore bad checks and auto wrecks<\/p>\n

Won’t someone help me please
\nJesus, get my feet back in the right tracks
\nwon’t someone help me please
\nCan’t everyone see that this wasn’t supposed to
\nhappen to me<\/p>\n

I’d be fadin’ away<\/em>
\n in the smoggy sun of Californ-i-a<\/em>
\n If I had my Way<\/em>
\n If I had my way<\/em><\/p>\n

But this place got a hold on me<\/span>
\ntighter than Alcatraz<\/span>
\nand it ain’t got half the charm<\/span>
\nthat I’ve heard that Alcatraz has<\/span><\/p>\n

My teeth are fallin’ out
\nand my liver’s going bad
\nmy wife’s gained 500 pounds
\nand my daughter has been had<\/p>\n

by every two bit piece of scum
\nin a low life rat bag town
\nthat’s known for its losers
\nbut then as my wife tells me every night as she
\ncrawls in bed next to me
\nhoney:<\/p>\n

beggars can’t be choosers<\/span>
\nwe’re just natural born losers<\/span>
\nwe’ve been losing since the day we were born<\/span>
\nwe’ll be losing til the day we die<\/span><\/p>\n

some of us was born to win<\/span>
\nand others just to wonder why<\/span><\/p>\n

beggars can’t be choosers…<\/em><\/p>\n

Won’t someone help me please
\nJesus, get my feet back in the right tracks
\nwon’t someone help me please
\nCan’t everyone see that this wasn’t supposed to
\nhappen to me<\/p>\n

I’d be fadin’ away<\/span>
\nin the smoggy sun of Californ-i-a<\/span>
\nIf I had my Way<\/span>
\nIf I had my way<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Year of Songs Debut There was a period when I was damn glad to have a job in a gas station in a gritty, dangerous, inner city neighborhood. One week, there were three killings on the block, two of them in the squat next to the station. Needless, perhaps, to say, I met a […]<\/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":[6,340],"tags":[186,857,1035,701,858],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ayearofsongs.org\/blg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214"}],"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=214"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/ayearofsongs.org\/blg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2758,"href":"https:\/\/ayearofsongs.org\/blg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214\/revisions\/2758"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ayearofsongs.org\/blg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=214"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ayearofsongs.org\/blg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=214"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ayearofsongs.org\/blg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=214"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}