Popcorn Songs

I think this is the first song I ever finished. Prior to this, I'd only writting jingles and sections of songs. Carnivals and tragedy are recurring themes in my songwriting...


Minnie's a mime and she smiles for the words she knows
Back to the alley she goes
She loves her family
She knows they're all she's got

She walked against the wind again today
But sometimes those crowds don't ever pay

There's the juggler and the one man band
The bearded lady and the three-handed man
The arcade owners and the friendly whores
The slippery children who can picklock doors

And everyone's an owner of everything
Cover your pockets while they sing,
"We are the children of God"

She meets her Mickey by the bumper cars
They're in the back, he wants to go real far
She says, "Mickey, aren't you moving fast?"
He doesn't want it, but he knows she'll ask

And he says, "But, what have we got to lose?
Only some names that we didn't choose.
Still we are the children of God."

Nine months later, Minnie didn't live
She died in labor but the twins made it
He drops them off at the orphanage
Rings the bell and hides behind the garbage

"I'll see them next time I come around,"
He says to himself as the trucks leave town

Now they are the children of God


I was very influenced by folk singer-songwriters during the time I wrote this. As John Gorka put it, "You write sad songs because when you're happy, who wants to sit around and write songs?"

Labels: songs