We Can't Make It Here
James McMurtry Lyrics

There's a Vietnam Vet with a cardboard sign
A veteran from the Vietnam war is panhandling with a makeshift sign.

Sitting there by the left turn line
He is at an intersection waiting for drivers to turn left.

The flag on his wheelchair flapping in the breeze
The man's wheelchair has an American flag attached that is flapping in the wind.

One leg missing and both hands free
He has lost a leg in the war but still has both his hands.

No one?s paying much mind to him
Most people are ignoring him.

The V.A. budget?s just stretched so thin
The budget for the Veterans Affairs (VA) Department is minimal, and they have little funds to help veterans.

And now there's more coming back from the Mideast war
Now veterans are coming back from the Middle East War.

We can't make it here anymore
We are unable to maintain our livelihood in this area anymore.

And that big ol? building was the textile mill
A building was housing a textile mill.

That fed our kids and it paid our bills
The textile mill provided employment for the residents of the area.

But they turned us out and they closed the doors
However, they closed down the mill and fired all the employees.

'Cause we can't make it here anymore
We can no longer sustain our livelihood in the area.

You see those pallets piled up on the loading dock
There are unused pallets stacked up on the dock.

They're just gonna sit there ?til they rot
They are going to remain untouched until they are unusable.

?Cause there's nothing to ship, nothing to pack
There are no products to be shipped or packaged.

Just busted concrete and rusted tracks
The infrastructure for industries is in disrepair as shown by the damaged concrete and rusty tracks.

Empty storefronts around the square
There are numerous unoccupied store buildings.

There's a needle in the gutter and glass everywhere
Drug addicts were using the gutter and left a needle, and there is broken glass all around the area.

You don't come down here unless you're looking to score
This area is not somewhere that you visit for leisure.

The bar?s still open but man it?s slow
The bar is still operating, but business is very slow.

The tip jar?s light and the register?s low
The tip jar does not have much money, and the cash register has little money.

The bartender don't have much to say
The bartender is not conversing much.

The regular crowd gets thinner each day
The regular customers are diminishing every day.

Some have maxed out all their credit cards
Some people have run up their credit card debts.

Some are working two jobs and living in cars
Others have two jobs, but are living in their cars.

Minimum wage won't pay for a roof, won't pay for a drink
Minimum wage is insufficient to cover the cost of both housing and drinks.

If you gotta have proof just try it yourself Mr. C.E.O.
The CEO should attempt to survive on minimum wage to see how difficult it is to get by.

See how far 5.15 an hour will go
See how difficult it is to survive on a wage of $5.15 per hour.

Take a part time job at one your stores
Take a part-time job at one of your stores and see how you would fare.

I bet you can't make it here anymore
It's unlikely that the CEO could survive if he were in the same position as the underpaid workers.

And there's a high school girl with a bourgeois dream
A high school girl dreams of having a high-class lifestyle.

Just like the pictures in the magazine
Her dreams are based on the images in magazines and advertisements.

She found on the floor of the laundromat
She discovered a magazine on the laundromat floor.

A woman with kids can forget all that
A woman with children cannot achieve the same level of wealth.

If she comes up pregnant what'll she do
If she gets pregnant, she will have a difficult time supporting the child.

Forget the career and forget about school
She will have to abandon her career goals and education.

Can she live on faith? Live on hope?
She will struggle to live on faith and hope.

High on Jesus or hooked on dope
She could either turn to religion or drug use to cope with her situation.

When it?s way too late to just say no
It's too late to undo past mistakes.

You can't make it here anymore
The community can no longer sustain a place for people to thrive.

Now I'm stocking shirts in the Wal-Mart store
Someone is working a job stocking Walmart's shelves.

Just like the ones we made before
The items are the same as those that used to be produced locally.

?Cept this one came from Singapore
The product is now manufactured overseas in Singapore.

I guess we can't make it here anymore
We are no longer producing enough goods to survive in this area.

Should I hate a people for the shade of their skin
Should race be the reason to hate others?

Or the shape of their eyes or the shape I'm in
Or should the reason for hating be someone's appearance or one's own situation?

Should I hate ?em for having our jobs today
Should I hate them for having the jobs that used to belong to us?

No I hate the men sent the jobs away
No, I hate the people who sent the jobs overseas.

I can see them all now, they haunt my dreams
I am tormented by the image of those who sent our jobs away.

All lily white and squeaky clean
The executives and CEOs are all wealthy and have no financial problems.

They've never known want, they'll never know need
They have never suffered a lack of money or the need to struggle.

Their shit don't stink and their kids won't bleed
They do not have any foul qualities and their children will not have to fight wars.

Their kids won't bleed in their damn little war
Their children will never have to face the dangers of combat in a war.

And we can't make it here anymore
Local industries are unable to survive in this area.

Will I work for food, will I die for oil
Am I going to have to work in exchange for food, or will I end up fighting and possibly dying in a war over oil?

Will kill for power and to us the spoils
People will kill others for the power and financial gain that it brings.

The billionaires get to pay less tax
The super-rich get to avoid paying taxes.

The working poor get to fall through the cracks
People who work but are still poor are neglected by society.

So let ?em eat jellybeans let ?em eat cake
The working poor should simply be happy with what they get and make do with it.

Let ?em eat shit, whatever it takes
Society does not care if the working poor have to face difficulties to survive.

They can join the Air Force or join the Corps
The poor can join the military for financial security.

If they can't make it here anymore
If they are no longer able to sustain their livelihood in their area.

So that's how it is, that's what we got
This is the current state of our society.

If the president wants to admit it or not
Whether the president acknowledges it or not.

You can read it in the paper, read it on the wall
It's evident everywhere in the news and graffiti.

Hear it on the wind if you're listening at all
You can tell if you pay attention to the environment around you.

Get out of that limo, look us in the eye
Come out of the luxury car, look at the people and acknowledge their struggles.

Call us on the cell phone tell us all why
Contact us directly and explain why you have chosen not to address the nation's problems.

In Dayton Ohio or Portland Maine
This is happening everywhere, not just in specific areas.

Or a cotton gin out on the great high plains
Even small communities based around agriculture are affected.

That's done closed down along with the school
Even schools are being closed down.

And the hospital and the swimming pool
Along with hospitals and public swimming pools.

Dust devils dance in the noonday heat
There are dust storms in the middle of the day.

There's rats in the alley and trash in the street
Rats roam the alleys and there are litter in the streets.

Gang graffiti on a boxcar door
There is graffiti painted on a boxcar door that signifies gang activity.