Talkin' Trash

Hi class,

Speaking of Disasters, Toxic Hazards and Pollution, I just finished writing this song about pollution called "Talkin' Trash" for the upcoming documentary film "Recycle Circus", part of the trilogy of documentaries about our Circus Guy Musical Goodwill Ambassador Program. Check out http://greenheadmedia.org/pages/documentary.html if you want to see the first documentary, Solar Circus, and parts of the second documentary, Water Circus.

In a week or so I will hopefully finish a demo recording (a scratch version) for you to hear. Meanwhile, here are the chords and lyrics (any musicians among you?).

Talkin’ Trash c 2007 T.H. Culhane Cairo, Egypt

(Bb6/F arpeggio to F#7/E arpeggio twice)

(Bb6/F) Look beyond the garbage in the (Gm) streets to find the (Gm7/F) garbage in your (F#7/E) mind…

Then (Bb6/F) rise above your prejudice of (Em7b5) class to see there’s treasures there to (Ebmaj7) find… (Ebmaj7/C) in (Gm9 pull off )garbage… (Ebmaj7b5 pull off) in garbage… (Gm9 pull off to Ebmaj7b5 pull off)

(Bb) Everyone is told (Everyone is told) (Bb/A) that one man’s garbage is another’s gold

But (Gm) why’re we never told (why’re we never told) (Gm/F) that one man’s gold creates another’s (Cm) garbage? (Ebmaj7) (F#7/E)

(Bb) Lies are often told (Lies are always told) (Bb/A) If they obscure the facts they think our hand will fold (Gm) We’ve got to lay it on the table’n BOLD (Gm/F) that “Pollution is always someone else’s (Cm) profit”… (Ebmaj7b5 pull off) (They’re makin’ lots of money off it…)

Dm / Cm / Dm / Cm / (with cello)

(Dm) (spoken): “It’s a fundamental idea in economics that surplus value creates profit. If that (C#m) surplus can no (Cm) longer be extracted from labor then it must come from the externalization of production residuals – what we call (C#m) “garbage”.

(Dm) This means to both the firm and the family that ‘negative externalities’ must never be paid for, (Cm) must never be accounted for, must (Cm) always be thrown into, dumped into, someone else’s back yard…” (Gm pull off)

(sung): (Dm) When we gonna learn (when we gonna learn)
That one man’s gold creates a-(C#m) nother’s (Cm) garbage?
It’s an adage we recycle, we reverse the lesson that we all earn our
(Dm) Livings from a dustbin from a trash heap of worn ideas (C#m) gleaned from (Cm) garbage

(Cm!)that one’s man’s trash can be another’s gold obscures the (Cm!) darker story that’s never told

(Ebm!) For all that glitters, new or old, is (Ebm!) in the mind, spun into gold by
(B!) those who learned “sell high, buy low”,
the dogma (B/A) behind the status quo is (Bb) garbage… (F#7/E) just garbage… (Bb) (F#7/E)

And it’s (Gm) more than mere frustration

without (F) point-source (Cm) separation

we (Gm) enforce immiseration

having (F) no appreciation

(Cm) that there’s a (Gm) downstream side relation to it (F) all… (Cm)

There (Gm) persists a sad delusion

that the (F) problem of (Cm) pollution can be (Gm) solved by mere dilution –

but that’s (F) not the right (Cm) solution

and there’s (Gm) still too much confusion about it (F) all…

(Cm) We’re now (Gm) plagued by concentrations,

(F) caused by bio-accumulation (Cm)

for many (Gm) toxins simply don’t disperse at (F) all (Cm)

(Ebm) There’s two spheres in which we should operate
One well established, one inchoate
(B) An ecosphere and a technosphere
put organics there, inorganics here (B/A)
this industrial ecology’s the (Bb) way… (F#7/E) to…

(Bb6/F) Look beyond the garbage in the (Gm) streets to find the garbage in your (F#7/E) mind

Then (Bb6/F) rise above the blindness of your (Em7b5) past to see the profits men have (Ebmaj7) mined…

(Ebmaj7/C) from (Gm pull off) garbage…

from (Ebmaj7b5 pull off) garbage…

It’s all (Gm pull off) garbage…

(Ebmaj7b5 pull off) garbage…

We’re talkin’ TRASH…

Bb5 A5 Gm6/9 !!! Bb5 A5 Gm6/9 !!!