I asked for moral food. Something that caused
No being pain, asked slave labor of no child
That didn’t heat the planet
Something that didn’t know it was grown only
To add to my flame.
“We got no moral food here,”
He said, wrapping up the red package
Under my arm, the bloody meat.
Tonight I’d better eat like I pray.
Better I not even know the difference.
Archive for September, 2019
Eat Like You Pray
Posted in Poetry, tagged Eat Like You Pray, poem, Poetry on September 30, 2019| Leave a Comment »
‘Under the Wing’
Posted in Music, Salon De La Guerre, tagged Air Is a Public Good, alternative country, country, Eric Randolph Rasmussen, Music, Salon De La Guerre, Under the Wing on September 29, 2019| Leave a Comment »
Another song from my album Air Is a Public Good.
Music and lyrics by Eric Randolph Rasmussen.
“Under the Wing”
The devil now I know walks among us
The devil has a condo on Lake Tahoe
I would never know the path
That bell I can’t unring
And the devil had me under his wing
I was selling real estate
To a couple from Sulphur Springs
And the devil had me under his wing
They wanted more than a town house
They wanted to share their lonely love
With me
And now I know the darkness
And now I know the need
And the devil had me under his wing
They wanted to use my body
And prey on my clean living
And the devil had me under his wing
God you can’t sell real estate in this
Sinful town
Heaven don’t have a toilet for fallen angels like me
They wanted to use my body
And prey on my clean living
And the devil had me under his wing
I had to sell her a book
I had to sell it to her or I wouldn’t eat
The books were forty-six dollars and I got a 15 percent commission
That was my only food
I wrote out my successes in a blue sales ledger
And the ledger boxes were so empty they yawned
I knocked on the door and showed her my profile
So she could size me up,
That’s the sales posture
And then I turned to her and asked her questions
She couldn’t say yes or no to:
Questions begat questions
What is your favorite this? Who is your favorite that?
What do you care about?
And of course she cared about things
You can’t say you don’t care
You sound like a child
And when she had given bits of herself away
She fed me. Salespeople get fed a lot
We established trust for the wrong reasons.
And I ate a chicken sandwich.
‘Nothing Like A Dame’
Posted in Music, Salon De La Guerre, tagged Air Is a Public Good, lyric, Nothing Like a Dame, Salon De La Guerre on September 28, 2019| Leave a Comment »
A song from my album Air Is a Public Good.
Music and lyrics by Eric Randolph Rasmussen.
Bet her life on No. 4:
“Nothing Like A Dame”
And ever since she won
The woman’s life is not the same
Throw the past behind you
Never let lies reach you
Throw the past behind you
Never let lies reach you
Suddenly she’s found herself
A kind, forgiving hand
Enough to change her address
And her name and her homeland
Throw the past behind you
Never let lies reach you
Everyone forgets you
Do what you must do
She’ll go to where she’s free
To break some hearts and raise some Cain
She’ll never have to take men’s shit
Or ever take their names
Throw the past behind you
Never let lies reach you
Suddenly she’s found herself
A kind, forgiving hand
I’m not the marrying kind
I want to see a painted desert
I’m not the marrying kind
I want to see a painted desert
And unwind
You can’t define me
I’m not the marrying kind
I want to see a desert
And unwind
You can’t define me
Or live inside my mind
Now I have the capital
And have a map to find the pines
I want to see a painted desert
And unwind
Her sister tracked her down and found her
Deep inside the pines
And said you are plumb crazy
Leaving everyone behind
Nobody to reach you
Without the social values
Nobody to teach you
Nobody to get through
But she said that I’m happier
To leave behind it all
A bitter race of humans
Bury me just where I fall
No one ever said you
Didn’t stick to values
No one ever said that you
Didn’t have a thought too
Her Nose, My Nose
Posted in Poetry on September 28, 2019| Leave a Comment »
She lit her cig off the electric range
Showed me her laparoscopy scar.
While her husband read a law book in the other room
Rebekah waited for the ring to grace her nose in the Bible
I hadn’t sold a book all day. But I got some talk and confidence
Made some guy’s wife laugh
It put a lot of gold in my nose.
Broke
Posted in Poetry, tagged poem on September 27, 2019| Leave a Comment »
The collar on the vacuum broke
So the tube slides out when I’m cleaning
A psychologist once told me we project our feelings of failure
Onto objects that don’t work
So I’m vacuuming and some stuff gets sucked up
Have to hold it together, though—the collar and tube
Tight with both hands
There’s a lot riding on this
‘A Kid’s Inside’
Posted in Music, Poetry, Salon De La Guerre, tagged From Sour To Cinnamon, lyrics, pop, Salon De La Guerre on September 26, 2019| Leave a Comment »
Pointing to the surprise eggs hatching toys and puzzles
Helicopter to the rescue; found out about my Hot Wheels
Daddy, how will it ever rise the plane outside my window?
Cause the airfoil will lift it up, son, and that thought makes him humble
Daddy’s dancing, parts the dance floor like the Red Sea
Because I could not stop for death, he kindly did the cabbage patch for me
Plastic saucer spinning down
Snow cakes up the mountain
A toddler picks his daddy up
Someone had to be in charge then
Remember to keep pedaling, faster when you’re falling
Zipper ride, airboat, ice skates, checkers, Cyclone, teacup ride
Race with trains, jump from airplanes to keep the kid inside
I get slow and you get fast, but I work so hard to keep up
A threatening hill and a crashing bike, it’s OK just a little blood
And he hates sleep there’s a brittle moon and he cries cause he won’t see it
That’s OK—you’re sad right now but a new day will come and you can rise and greet it
It’s OK, we don’t have to play you can stare outside the window
There’s a whole world inside your head, much more than you’ll ever know
But I teach you and then you teach me things that I forgot from pride
I help you and you help me; don’t forget to keep a kid inside
Don’t forget Dad that you have to keep the kid inside
–Eric Rasmussen
(These are lyrics from my 2019 song “A Kid’s Inside,” from Salon de la Guerre’s upcoming pop-rock album, From Sour to Cinnamon.)
My New Pop Album Is Coming
Posted in Music, Salon De La Guerre, tagged From Sour To Cinnamon, pop, Salon De La Guerre on September 26, 2019| Leave a Comment »
This might be a little surprising, since I just released an alt-country album two months ago, but my “band” Salon de la Guerre is now refreshed and relaxed after its (um, OK, my) vacation to Florida and is ready to rock again.
Perhaps it was five days of splashy pastels and silly amusement park rides, but I started writing pop songs on the plane ride home and soon had 11 of them to package into a new album. I pulled out the guitar a couple of weeks ago for the song I’ve attached here, a paean to youth and optimism and joy and nostalgia. Not the usual Salon de la Guerre stomping grounds, I’m sure you longtime (sometime, anytime?) fans will agree. It kind of sounds like something out of the ’90s, right?
“A Kid’s Inside” is slated to appear on my next album, From Sour To Cinnamon, a work of dark pop songs that I’m finishing up now. This is not only my 21st album, but the one that helped me mark a new milestone: my 300th songwriting credit.
Please enjoy this taste of my next phase. Because let’s face it, by the time you’ve digested it, I’ll probably be in another phase.
(FYI: My gifted 8-year-old son Xander helped me with the artwork on the new batch of songs.)
Haircut
Posted in Poetry on September 21, 2019| Leave a Comment »
She cut her hair when they broke up
They heard this cut in the book of judges
They say she looks brand new when she walks down the street
And when she picks up a bottle of milk in the store
And reads the label
You can tell everything in the milk is different.
Beauty is Imperfection 