Studio8 - Uniting the Arts

remember me
i was the duke of earl
the earl of sandwich
a wunderkind - a zeitgeist!
i was les brown's band of renown
a kublai khan of sorts, but better
thinner, and more dapper
dapper dino the bon vivant
that's what they used to call me
back in the old neighborhood
with the tree that grew from brooklyn
and the goofy kid with the bulgy eyes
i remember mama, papa too
wholesome, decent, post-european peasantry
that came to this country in hordes
god-fearing, hard-working hordes
that obeyed the sabbath, the tariff, the tithe
insurance payments, and the like
they cobbled an existence
much to their own wonder and consternation
with nary a thought of the consequences
we wouldn't have it any other way!
they said, stupidly, while being evicted
and who can blame them?
it is the price of modernity
out of such things characters are forged

toss me over the side of the ship
sure i'll swim that ocean
that's the way my ancestors did it
and if it was good enough for them
(some of them)
(okay, one made it)
but that was good enough!