The Day the Trucks Stopped

I got the rough mixes from the recording session I did. Once I get past the fact that I cannot and will never be a great vocalist, I can say that a couple of them sound good. Here's a sneak peek of a song that I have never recorded before but is a staple in my acoustic sets.

Here's a tune I call The Day the Trucks Stopped (mp3).

It's just me and an acoustic guitar, foretelling the apocalypse. Originally, it was my attempt to tell a story in a song, similar to "The Man Who couldn't Cry". I just love the Johnny Cash version of it, but I've since learned it was written by Loudon Wainwright. I would play it at open mike nights at Chelsea's. While my song mentions "clergymen", the Loudon Wainwirght song mentions theologians. The world ends in both songs too. So my song is clearly an homage.

When I sing The Day the Trucks Stopped, I get very self-conscious when I come to the word "asked". I'm convinced that it's impossible for me to enunciate it correctly. It always comes out "ast".

Here are the lyrics. Sing along if you like.

CHORUS:

On the day all the trains stopped a-rolling.
On the day all the trucks just up and quit.
Everybody had to stay home and sit quietly.
On the day all the trucks just up and quit.

All the freeway shoulders
were littered with their empty metal husks,
as they rusted away.

So everybody asked all the scientists
why the trucks has stopped
in that way.

And all the scientists said they couldn't say
until all their tests
"had been funded".

CHORUS

All the boats in all the harbors
could only stay afloat
and bob in the bay.

So everybody asked all the bureaucrats
why the trucks had stopped
and who was to blame.

And all the bureaucrats
enacted another useless tax
because someone had to pay.

CHORUS

All the flights on all the airlines
had to be put on
permanent delay.

So everybody asked all the clergymen
why the trucks had stopped
on that day.

And all the clergymen
said it was a sign that the world would end
the very next day.

CHORUS

Now that I've typed the lyrics, I'm quite proud of some of the internal rhymes.

Although there is a line in this song that is anti-tax, I should point out that I usually vote for taxes, especially library taxes.

Tell me what you think of the song.