Humans have stereotyped our own personality traits onto common barnyard animals: chickens have their pecking order, the rooster rules the roost, goats are mean, lambs are meek and rabbits are skittish. These barnyard animals become the allegorical setting about our current economic climate where corporate VPs and CEOs, agents, middlemen and all manner of Hollywood douchebags fight it out for the almighty dollar. Maybe I’ve been living in LA a bit too long, but sometimes I just wish we could rise above it all for a second or two. Check out the great guitar work from one of LA’s finest, Val McCallum. He really nails it.
lyrics
Down in the barnyard, chickens livin’ they dreams
Scratchin’ around on they hands and they knees
It’s animal nature, a natural fact
That down in the barnyard you need to watch your back
If they see you comin’ and they catches your eye
Make no mistake, they want you to buy
This one’s got peaches, pretty as pie
That ones got bullets, what’s falls from the sky
The barnyard is crawlin’ with political men
Crowin’ like roosters, but actin’ like hens
And that weasel who took your hard-earned pay
Is out behind the barn suckin’ most every day
Get in touch with your soul
Gotta rock gotta roll
Why don’t you give it a go
Barnyard chickens preachin’ war and dirty lies
Chicken peckers plannin’ to peck your pretty eyes
Pricks pounding pulpits ‘till the cows come home
The bats are in the belfry, the sheep afraid to roam oh yeah
Down in the barnyard
Doin’ some scratchin’ around
Down in the barnyard
Rise, fly away
Why, can’t we fly?
Rainbows shimmering
Why don’t we try?
Float on, Up to the calm
As time races on, We’ll rise above the storm
Now the donkey’s so stubborn, the rooster’s so mean
And the rabbits are runnin’ just tryin’ to stay clean
The butcher, the baker, and the candlestick maker
They’re all fightin’ ‘bout the percent they can take ya
The order they peck as they crawl through the dirt
Is the order they prey on other people’s hurt
What’s lost in the dust Is seldom ever found
Cause down in the barnyard it’s all spinnin’ round
credits
from Mornings in the Goodie Garden,
released June 17, 2014
lead guitar, Val McCullum
all other instruments & vocals, Rob Bender
words & music by Rob Bender
Published by Bender Creative Group, BMI copyright 2008
Rob Bender has played with and formed groups in the Pacific Northwest, Madison, WI, New York, New Jersey, and Philadelphia. He now resides in Los Angeles, CA where he writes & records original music.
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