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Stack Come Down (v24) by Postludes Trio [Email]

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SONG STATS:
Hits: 181
Comments: 12
Votes: 4
Plays: 26
Last Played: Oct 09, 2008 - 11:02:12 AM
Downloads: 8
Fans: 5
Uploaded: Oct 01, 2008 - 01:29:33 PM
Last Updated: Oct 01, 2008 - 08:31:56 PM
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Description:
Still workin' the song. Will present at a songwriting workshop on October 5 in St. Paul. We'll see what Pat Pattison has to say. Be sure to check out Warren Smith's adaptation of the same theme -- called "Stacked".

Lyrics:
Stack Come Down

I was one of seven raised in the cloak
of a big tube belching blackfire smoke
Did my Dad die young from the vapor dome
of the old coal plant near our West Side home?

A silent killer, standing tall
by the High Bridge near downtown Saint Paul
Stockyard stench, mud and rust
where even giants turn to dust

[refrain]
Stack in the sky where the eagles soar
Stack come down with a mighty roar
No more sulfur 'n mercury
Now I'm livin' my life naturally
Livin' my life so naturally

We were powerless to change the thoughts
of those who sent us kilowatts
Were there really poisons in that cloud?
Did filters scrub that warm gray shroud?

Thirty-seven years on the graveyard shift
My Dad retired, then he got stiffed
Cancer riddled his lungs and spine
He left my world, he slipped the line

[refrain]

There's a new generation on the waterfront
where the old coal plant would billow and grunt
Can we breathe with ease? No, we're losing sleep!
That natural gas ain't "penny cheap"

I can feel the breeze on the Buffalo Ridge
Clean energies to power my fridge
Water, wind, garbage, sun,
biofuel, hydrogen

[refrain]

My seven kids were raised in the cloak
of that big tube belching blackfire smoke
Now the coal is gone, bigger bills instead
As the saying goes, "Better green than dead!"

[refrain]

© 2008 Richard Schletty (v24)
rschletty@schletty.com, www.schletty.com/song
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Stack Come Down &mdash 10/01/08 - 03:43:34 PM
welcome back Richy ... I dont have top say how the song
is wonderful ..cos you are the best ..but I would
change my way and will tell you how feter if he want to
cover this song will do ...I love to sing this sing with
strumming so soft with beats almost like bass and drums .
the very much feel of the late 60s ..reminds me of the
beatles soft ballads ...then a great oppotunity of
harmony can be applied ...the lyric just one of your
best ..this song need softness ...sugar feel of John denver or Paul McCartney ...thnx alot for sharin !!!!

[ Reply to This ]
What you hear &mdash 10/02/08 - 12:01:17 PM
Thanks, Feter. Good idea. How can we test your vision of the song?

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well !! &mdash 10/02/08 - 01:20:59 PM
Moma told me I can strum chords and sing ...I believed her !!!



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What Mama did for me &mdash 10/03/08 - 10:56:53 PM
My Mama never told me I could play guitar or write songs. But she sang "Ave Maria" and "Pistol Packin' Mama" while doing the laundry. And that was a cue that I should sing.

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a part of history &mdash 10/01/08 - 05:01:32 PM
I can hear Gordon Lightfoot doing this one. Nice mellow version. Let us know how the workshop goes! :-)

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it keeps on going ... &mdash 10/01/08 - 08:28:39 PM
The song is not so much about a specific incident (the tower's destruction) as it is about larger thoughts triggered by the demolition.

I really like the inclusion of the father figure (whether he actually worked at the energy plant is not factually important; that he was a plant/factory worker is what's significant, and therefore the plant and its demise becomes a metaphor for his life. This injects a personal level into the looming faceless corporate background. There is a great symmetry between his struggle with cancer and the world coming to grips with global pollution - between the cigarettes he smokes and the smoke exhaling from the cigarette-shaped smokestack: both may be harmful to health.

This song keeps evolving in unusual ways. Some of that is due to its complexity; you may never get it streamlined to commercial simplicity.

[ Reply to This ]
Tracking with Schletty &mdash 10/01/08 - 09:36:14 PM
Warren: I deeply appreciate how you are tracking with me on this song.

I included it here on our Postludes Trio page because it truly is a collaborative project. How can you make a narrative like this into a cogent statement that mobilizes thought and action? How can you "sell" this song? Some say you can't.

I am webmaster for a site that deals with public notification re the construction of four new high voltage power lines across Minnesota. Similar issues are at play -- balancing property rights with human health risks with environmental concerns with aesthetics -- all against the ever-growing need for electrical power for the masses.

[ Reply to This ]
Excellent Song! &mdash 10/02/08 - 01:18:12 AM
Richard....Glad to see you back at MacJams....Its a Pete Seeger kind of song that has allot of green consciousness in it and yet remains simple to the ear....Your voice suits the song very well too....Great job Richard and thanks for the download....Peace, Norman

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Indeed &mdash 10/03/08 - 11:00:58 PM
Thanks, Norman. It is a green song. My Dad was a giant to me who was felled before his time.

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Thanks for sharing &mdash 10/04/08 - 01:03:41 PM
like has been said, nice to see you posting again. The words are quite articulated and displayed quite nicely with that great voice of yours. And the guitar does nice to give a nice backdrop for your wonderful singing!

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Tiler... &mdash 10/17/08 - 09:09:41 PM
Thanks, Bill. I am singing the song now with revised lyrics and a different tempo. I sang it live at Gingko Coffeehouse last week. They clapped.

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( : &mdash 10/05/08 - 06:50:07 AM
Welcome back ! (!!) Happy to see this & wonderful hearing this beautiful song...Your singing is very beautiful fits so well on this kind of song/music My privilage to hear it !! I really like the 'simple' of the playing & singing(& yet so heavy lyrics) ( :
Some piece of History !! TX for sharing this !!

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