song for them #24: Struggling With a Basic Need: Sustenance

“The Long Night of Our Discontent” by Stephen P. Cook

to be sung to the tune of “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down” by Robbie Robertson / The Band

Joe Have Not is my name

And my life’s no gravy train

But when bad times came

I didn’t look for someone to blame

We all really hunkered down

And worked hard to lose the frown

But it’s tough not finding a job

And at night hearing my wife sob

The long night of our discontent 

Fighting back our tears

The long night of our discontent 

Overcoming our fears

Like no job…ob ob

Out scrounging food today

Trying to keep hunger at bay

Watching my children play

Thinking they’re wasting away

Dumpster diving’s cruel

They need to be going to school

Keeping faith, expecting no iron bowl¹

To escape this dark night of the soul

The long night of our discontent 

Fighting back our tears

The long night of our discontent 

Overcoming our fears

Like hunger naws…aws aws

Hauling water’s part of our scene

I just wish it was clean     We boil it to kill bad stuff

For baths there’s never enough

The sanitation stink is thick

Yeah and many are sick

To the toilet down the street

Every night we drag our bare feet

The long night of our discontent 

Fighting back our tears

The long night of our discontent 

Overcoming our fears

Like cholera…rah rah

In this tar paper shack

The cold wind finds the cracks

A nice fire to warm my back

It’s a dream not a fact

It takes money to buy fuel

Here poverty rules

I keep going when all hope seems gone

But ya know it’s darkest before dawn

The long night of our discontent 

Fighting back our tears

The long night of our discontent 

Overcoming our fears

Like being cold cold cold

The long night of our discontent 

Fighting back our tears

The long night of our discontent 

Overcoming our fears

Like feeling old old old

SONG—NOTES / COMMENTS

1—This Chinese idiom refers to (the now abolished) guaranteed lifetime job with the state

Comment: this theme can promote carrying emotional baggage, but winning the struggle è self reliance. Proactively accumulating resources during good times to use during bad times is a related coping strategy.