{"id":255,"date":"2006-08-30T05:12:00","date_gmt":"2006-08-30T05:12:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ayearofsongs.org\/blg\/?p=255"},"modified":"2015-10-30T16:59:41","modified_gmt":"2015-10-30T23:59:41","slug":"its-your-second-chance-for-the-very-last-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ayearofsongs.org\/blg\/2006\/08\/30\/its-your-second-chance-for-the-very-last-time\/","title":{"rendered":"It’s your second chance for the very last time"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"The<\/p>\n

T<\/span>he cartoonish admonitory that is the subject of today’s post is a tribute, in its way, to the pre-Just Say No anti-drug movies I watched on rickety, flickering 16 mm projectors as a none-too wayward youth. (I was, likely as not, the guy tasked to setting up and monitoring the projector.)<\/p>\n

Thanks to the goofy, over-the-top antics of a lost generation of young educational film actors (“And now from his triumphant role in ‘Your Hygiene and You’ comes…”) some very unfunny drugs actually gained a sort of anything-for-a-laugh charisma.<\/p>\n

Projector geek I may have been but I got hip and cynical later and had many exciting adventures that do not bear talking about here (ahem). Still, I somehow managed to dodge the obvious and dangerous drug traps (unless you count alcohol, that is, but we’ll save that for another post). Unhappily, not all my friends and loved ones have been as lucky.<\/p>\n

Drugs can make you a clown — like the pathetic dude in this song — but at least in death a junkie can suddenly become a complex, troubled person again, gaining again a little of the dignity squandered in life.<\/p>\n\n

previous AYoS version<\/a> (2\/19\/2005)
\nInternet Archive page for this recording<\/a><\/p>\n

Special Insider Sneak: The long-hidden electric version<\/em><\/a>…<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Devil’s Quicksand<\/span><\/p>\n

It’s your second chance for the very last time<\/span>
\nwith your head in your hands and your future behind<\/span>
\ngrab your life pull as hard as you can<\/span>
\ncause your up to your neck in the devil’s quicksand <\/span><\/p>\n

if she told you once it was good advice
\nbut a thousand times now that’s just a slice
\nof some other reality you’d prefer to ignore
\nit’s just that easy you shut the door<\/p>\n

on the love she gave it was just too good
\nand you always hated how she understood
\nand you walked away and you felt so free
\nin the park that day spinning under the trees<\/p>\n

but now its cold and the darkness comes
\nand the drugs wear off and your chums are scum
\nand the cyst on your arm is turning green
\nand the one-eyeds guys sez it’s the worst he’s seen<\/p>\n

so you drag your ass to the ER room
\nand you wait 12 hours while the TV booms
\nand the little kids and the sobbing man
\nand the angel of death is right at hand<\/p>\n

you just cant wait and you run outside
\nin the streetlight night you stop and cry
\n“is this their pain–or is it mine?”
\nyou ask yourself but you knew all the time<\/p>\n

it’s your second chance for the very last time<\/span>
\nwith your head in your hands and your future behind<\/span>
\ngrab your life pull as hard as you can<\/span>
\ncause your up to your neck in the devil’s quicksand <\/span><\/p>\n

twenty cents is all it takes
\nbut ya drop the dimes cause ya got the shakes
\nya try again an ya get ’em in
\nbut the the phone just rings and your gut caves in<\/p>\n

your knees give out ya hit the ground
\npeople walking by just step around
\nya see the sky you see the rain
\nya see your ashes in a bag in a paupers grave<\/p>\n

but the phones in your hand and your hanging on
\nand just before the dark her voice comes on
\nand ya tell her “baby just one last time”
\nshe doesn’t say nothing you hear her crying<\/p>\n

her sobbing lasts for such a long time
\nyou almost forget why you’re on the line
\nthen it comes back like a drano slam
\nyou got one last chance slip this jam<\/p>\n

“come on baby i’m on the bricks”
\nyou can almost hear her kitchen clock tick
\n“I ain’t done nothin’ in 36 hours
\nand I need a place to take a shower”<\/p>\n

and then it comes and you know you’re dead
\nher hollow laugh fills up your head
\nshe drops the phone and it hits the floor
\nyou hear her walk away and laugh some more<\/p>\n

it’s your second chance for the very last time<\/span>
\nwith your head in your hands and your future behind<\/span>
\ngrab your life pull as hard as you can<\/span>
\ncause your up to your neck in the devil’s quicksand <\/span><\/p>\n

(C)1997, TK Major<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The cartoonish admonitory that is the subject of today’s post is a tribute, in its way, to the pre-Just Say No anti-drug movies I watched on rickety, flickering 16 mm projectors as a none-too wayward youth. (I was, likely as not, the guy tasked to setting up and monitoring the projector.) Thanks to the goofy, […]<\/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":[793],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ayearofsongs.org\/blg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255"}],"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=255"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/ayearofsongs.org\/blg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1864,"href":"https:\/\/ayearofsongs.org\/blg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255\/revisions\/1864"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ayearofsongs.org\/blg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=255"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ayearofsongs.org\/blg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=255"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ayearofsongs.org\/blg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=255"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}