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WISCONSIN SET LIST/LYRICS
from the Barrymore Theater Show for Forward Wisconsin


Wisconsin Set Lyrics

 

All songs Mike Felten - BMI

 

HAMMERS IN THE DARK

In a storage locker behind a padlocked door

There’s four generations of a hardware store

In cardboard boxes covered in tape

Every one of them says “made in the USA”

 

And on Thursday nights the old guys come around

They drink too much and they talk too loud

They take no guff but they got your back

They can look you in the eye without a background check

 

(cho)They’re selling hammers in the dark

Trying to keep alive the spark

Of who we were way back when

We’re selling hammers in the dark

Selling hammers in the dark

Selling hammers, selling hammers in the dark

 

Just outside of town Satan opened up a store

Everything there was cheaper than you could buy it for

Shiny and new, anything that you could want

And lots and lots and lots of room to park

 

But everything there was made by some third world slave

Pretty soon all of our jobs all went away

We get up in the morning at night we get our rest

Everything else is sold on the internet

 

(chorus)

 

In a storage locker behind a padlocked door

There’s four generations of a hardware store.

  

 IN THE HOUSE (from the album Tossin' It Away)

 

In a James Dean jacket with a cigarette

Leaning up against youth and ignorance

She gave him her hand, he was too cool to take it

She gave him her heart and he had to break it

 

(cho)And there’s a ghost in the house

And he’s running away

There’s a ghost in the house

And he’s leaving today

There’s a ghost in the house

And he’s running away

He’s had enough of these lies

 

It’s Sunday morning driving her to church

She’s got bourbon on her breath and her panties in her purse

She got a kid in the army and another in school

She’s two months late wondering what she’s going to do (cho)

 

I pray dear Lord for Jesus sake

Give us this day a t-bone steak

With sliced tomatoes on the side

I pray dear Lord for the largest size (cho)

 

Mom and Dad knew just what to do

Shut up, work hard forget World War II

But lies became mantra chanted religiously

And truth because contemptuous liability (cho)

 

We were the people that put the man on the moon

Now our kids got guns in your living room

Pick a fight, start a war, twenty ways to explain

Why wrong’s not wrong just a shade of gray (cho)

 

In a James Dean jacket with a cigarette



SAVE HER OLD MAN (from the album Landfill)

 

(Cho)She sits in the kitchen just wringing her hands

Praying, dear Lord, to save her old man

Because he came home from work about two weeks ago

And tossed his lunch bucket way out in the snow

 

He worked twenty years down at the big mill

When they shut the door they said “thank you, Bill.

But we got to follow the trends of the industry

And go where the workers work almost for free.”(cho)

 

They rolled back their wages they crawled on their knees

They sold those Toyotas and Sony TV’s

The union rep said the boss sure had it tough

But the company said it wasn’t enough (cho)

 

Now she’s selling Avon and he’s drinking in bars

Their boats on the rocks and they don’t have an oar

And the kids are in school learning democracy

And how it’s the savior for you and me (cho)

WE AIN'T GOING AWAY (from the album Tossin' It Away)

 

(cho)We ain’t going away

We ain’t going away

No matter what you do

No matter what you say

We’re going to be right here

We ain’t going away

 

You can foreclose on my mortgage

Take away my plough

Bulldoze all I own

Make me live in town, but (cho)

 

You can hang us from your tree limb

Kill our kids in wars

Hold our dreams up

Laugh when we fall, but (cho)

 

When the good Lord beckons

You know I’ll heed the call

Because he was there with me

With my back against the wall, but (cho)

 

Although it won’t be me

Standing in this place

There will be another just like me

With a different face, but (cho)

 

Because we’re the people

We’re the people

We just keep coming

Because we’re the people (cho)

FLATLAND DIRT

(cho)I was born here in this flatland dirt

Blowing in from six corners for all that it’s worth

With a paperback novel stuck deep in my pocket

Writing all of these stories in this flatland dirt

 

She was a little red haired girl

That lived by the bakery

She smelled like apple turnovers

On Saturday night

She didn’t think much

Of me as a boyfriend

Looking back now

I guess she was right (cho)

 

She was a divorcee

I guess she was lonely

She tried to keep all her dreams

Before they ran away

She watched black and white movies

With old Gary Cooper

As happy as Lou Gehrig

Before he got his bad break (cho)



WORKINGMAN'S PARADISE 

Blunders and Tuck and all the boys

Would like to thank the missus

For keeping us afloat so long

After the old man’s passing.

We know it was a struggle

But we gave the best we got

We chipped in and bought this watch

It ain’t much, it’s just the thought

 

The old lady took the watch

And the nameplate from the door

She said, “you know, we never had a chance

When the big boys want you gone.

Although they got the best of us

We leave here heads held high”

And they walked through that iron gate

She tossed a match behind

 

(cho) And when we get to heaven

We’ll just bide our time

And listen to the rich folks laugh

And carry on inside

We’ll gather up our souls and go

To where poor folks reside

And Jesus Christ will be buying rounds

At the workingman’s paradise

 

Look at that young punk in the corner

He used to be you and me

Thinking he has all the answers

Well, we’ll just wait and see

He going to kiss fresh lips and take it

Like a wide eyed innocent

Who just blew in from Palookaville

Thinking this is it

 

But one day he’ll look at the lunchbox

That used to hold the dreams

And find it scarred and battered

And the thermos bottle leaks

He’s going to want to know the answers

To where all the promises were spent

And he’ll wake up in nowhere

Knowing he never left (cho)

We live down in those houses

That don’t have yards in front

Down by the empty factories

With their backyards full of junk

We got a giant Santa Claus

Crucified right on the roof

And plastic on the windows

To keep the world from blowing through

 

And we can’t see over those train tracks

But we know what’s on the other side

All the wonders of the world

That they’d cut our throats to buy

And we know they’re coming for us

Like the armies of the night

But this time….

This time…

This time Indiana

This time Ohio

This time Florida

This time Minnesota

This time Michigan

This time Wisconsin

We’re going to stand and fight

 

And when we get to heaven

We’ll just walk on buy

And leave it to the rich folks

To carry on inside

We’ll gather up our souls and go

To where poor folks reside

And we’ll find true salvation there

At the workingman’s paradise