Print

Way back in 1980 I was living in New YorkAnd I had a friend come stay with me and visit for a weekHe'd spent the year in India and many things had changed for himAmong them, how he dressed and how he'd speakHe talked of meditation and of inner peace and joyAnd of a new and healthy vegetarian dietHe was looking good and sounding clear and wasn't eating meatSo for the week that he was here I thought I'd try itThat was 13 autumns gone and that's how long it's been sinceI've partaken of the pleasures of the masticated mooAnd then about a month ago I found myself in one of thoseIndelicate positions where I knew not what to doSome brand new friends invited me to dinner at their houseAnd they'd also asked some 20 more to come for cake and hear me strumI tuned up and came to the table, all the food was served and ladledEvery dish had three neat piles, I felt my knees go numbOne pile was potatoes, and another was asparagusAnd a third pile had a neon sign proclaiming "Hah, I've got you now"For there upon my very plate, the stuff that I'd so long not ateA tender slice of meatloaf from a dear departed cowWhat do I do, what do I do, I panicked, I'll admit to youSongtexteFor this was one time in a hundred that I'd not forewarned my hostsThat eating meat was something I no longer had a fancy forOnce haunted by bad dreams of bovine ghostsShould I step up on my soapbox and recite my all-too well-worn speechHow it takes some 16 pounds of grain to make one pound of rumpNot to mention 2500 gallons of government-subsidized waterAnd of grazing land transformed to fallow dumpHow all those cows are treated, what with cattle prods and crowded cagesPumped out full of hormones, fattened up and trapped like ratsNot to mention how the human heart is stressed out by consumptionOf their difficult-to-break-down cells and saturated fatsOn the other hand I hearkened back to nineteen hundred seventy nine My buddy Jim and I, backpacking through the South PacificWe landed in Samoa on the island of Savaii And the local people thought we were terrificSo they convened a regal feast, no effort spared, no praise withheldI'll ne'er forget the feeling I got in my diaphragm As we entered in the sacred hut, where all the food was served and cutAnd there upon each taro leaf, a supple slice of Spam To them this was an honor, gourmet food from foreign countryWhile to us it was disgusting - have you ever read the can?It's like all the stuff they sweep up off the floor in hot dog factoriesHog pate´and swiney piglet marzipanBut we ate that slice of Spam and we survivedWe accepted what they gave us and revivedWe didn't have the heart to say that Spam was gross and déclasséI ate a slice of Spam and I survivedSo here I am in Mystic with these natives of ConnecticutI'm seeing them in long grass skirts and fanning me with leavesI pinch myself to try and waken from this flashback island dreamWhere meatloaf is the Spam that's up their sleevesEverything is in slow motion, down we sit and Grace is spokenThank you for the bounteous gifts, and all that is forgivedWhat happened next is something that I won't repeat and won't forgetI ate a piece of meatloaf and I livedI ate a piece of meatloaf and I livedI jumped across the fence for one brief moment, sensitiveTo all the do's and don'ts and rights and wrongs andPotent narratives and then I ate a piece of meatloaf and I lived So now I know to call ahead when someone wants to break some breadAnd if by chance they're having meat I'll take my chance and spoutOf numerous and many options, dietary re-adoptionsAll you gotta do is check 'em outBut if someone offers you a gift, just weigh the factors, catch the driftAnd do what your heart dictates at the moment, in the TaoAnd if it's not what you prefer you have the privilege to deferI learned my lesson then and now, I didWhen I ate a piece of meatloaf (He ate a piece of meatloaf)I ate a piece of meatloaf and I lived Aus Songtexte Mania