Talkin Covid 19 Blues

W Routhier © 2020


just last night I had the craziest dream, the whole world was hidin’ from covid 19
everybody was inside their houses walking around with pajamas for trousers
dress code was casual Friday… every day of the week

people all needed food and such so they went to the market but you couldn’t get much
the hoarders had already ransacked the place and all the shelves had was empty space
toilet paper had turned into a black market item
you had to know a guy, waiting in the back twice the usual price

crime rate started going way down, especially in all the bigger towns
nobody comin and goin to work, you could feel almost safe in New York
city, that is… hard to stick up somebody when can’t get closer than 6 feet

first president said it was just a hoax, one of them democratic jokes,
he said we’d stopped it before it could start nothing to worry about cross my heart
them scary viruses, they just have ‘em in China this here’s the US of A

well he must have been wrong cause it started to spread and people got sick and people got dead
so he started looking for someone to blame and once he got started out it came
he blamed the Chinese
The world health organization
governors, the deep state, hunter biden
the factories, shipping and most of all,
news reporters… who didn’t seem to understand fantastic, incredible, unprecedented job he was doin while people were droppin like flies

all the lawyers were feeling ok cause there were more divorces every day
married couples been together through thick and thin hated lookin at each other
for better or worse, but not 24 hours a day

people needed to be socially connected so on the internet they started doing the expected
having happy hours in the afternoon conducting yoga classes on Zoom
Saturday night live even had an episode that was filmed in the comedian’s houses
but there wasn’t any audience there so I didn’t know when to laugh

well, my girlfriend and I we live apart and couldn’t be together, that was the tricky part
we were talkin on the phone almost every night but we couldn’t hold each other tight
we gave making love on skype a shot but…. it was less that successful

everybody says we’re all in this together we gotta ride it out until things get better
but I have to hear another movie star talkin about how tough things are
I might shoot out my computer screen like a 21st century Elvis

so we were staying safe not doing anything rash like a wise man said, ‘all things must pass’
and when the whole thing has moved along we can take a good look at how things are done
how the rich without the workin people are just a bunch of abandoned stores
how healthcare for everybody isn’t negotiable anymore
how doctors and nurses might just be worth more than CEO’s
how socialism doesn’t mean communism, it means helpin one another out
and finally
how much it means to be able to shake each other’s hands, hug each other,
break bread together, look out for the least among us
who ain’t the least at all

which in my dream means being in this all together
I’ll let you be in my dream if I can be in yours
I think bob Dylan said that
it’s time for us all to wake up
I said that