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You can also listen to Standing On One Leg on Soundcloud HERE.
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Standing On One Leg by ‘Les Paul’s’ (The Paul’s) is from our new album Scared of America Volume One – listen to the album HERE.
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Standing On One Leg Lyrics
Standing on one leg
Tryna tell you how it is
Standing on one leg
Tryna tell you how it is
The water’s gonna rise
Who’d ever thought it would go down like this?
It’s hard to stay clean
When you’re crawling through the mud
It’s hard to stay clean
When you’re crawling through the mud
The sky’s falling down
Saviours all outta love
I could grow to love you
But maybe it’s too late for that
Could grow to love you
But maybe it’s too late for that
You’d better aim straight
When you’re shooting rats
House is on fire
Streets are full of dust
House is on fire
Streets are full of dust
The sheriff’s pointed badge
Is broken and full of rust
Go to Dawson City
Gonna dig and pan for gold
Go to Dawson City
Gonna dig and pan for gold
Might end up on Boot Hill
With more dust than I can hold
Jails are overcrowded
Can’t stem the tide
Jails are overcrowded
Can’t stem the tide
You’re just a number
Better forget about pride
“Take it like a man”
Is what they said to me
“Take it like a man”
Is what they said to me
I’d rather stay in jail
It’s cheaper than being free
Walking down the road
With my fist deep in my mouth
Walking down the road
With my fist deep in my mouth
Was looking to find love
All the birds are flying south
Standing on one leg
Tryna tell you how it is
Standing on one leg
Tryna tell you how it is
The water’s gonna rise
Who’d ever thought it would go down like this?
Paul Robert Thomas
PRS 3090902M
ISRC QM4DW1821718
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Notes on Standing On One Leg
Standing on one leg, tryna tell you how it is
It would be impossible to tell you all that’s wrong with and is happening in this world without eventually toppling over.
The great Rabbi Hillel was asked to teach a convert the entire meaning of the Torah (Bible) while the Rabbi stood on one leg to which the Rabbi duly obliged and revealed the whole message of The Torah as being, ‘What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbor’ (later adopted by Christianity as ‘Love thy neighbour as thyself’).
Refers to President Bush’s ‘State of the Nation’ speech as he balances on one leg as he only tells the nation half-truths.
The water’s goanna rise, who’d ever thought it’d go down like this?
Referring to the great Biblical flood that cleansed the earth of all evil and also refers to the floods in New Orleans when no-body thought ‘it would go down like this, that President Bush would ignore the suffering of the mainly poor black people hit by Hurricane Katrina while he stayed on his holiday ranch and aid would not immediately flow after the disaster struck, and the President himself would only fly over the devastated area in ‘Air Force One’ observing the devastation below on route back to Washington DC from his holiday retreat, but not walking amongst his people.
It’s hard to stay clean when you’re crawling through the mud
Well, just who in the government came out of the New Orleans tragedy clean, certainly not Bush? His lack of action, some may even say his ‘lack of compassion’ for the poor black inhabitants, was to prove to be the nail in his political coffin coupled with his war mongering and plunging of the western world into the US led war in Iraq.
The sky’s falling down, saviour’s all out of love
The hurricane hit and God and Jesus didn’t help and all who could and should have helped turned their back on the poor black inhabitants. The federal government even ordered that electricity workers trying to restore power to two hospitals instead divert the electricity to power the nearby pipeline supplying oil to the north, even school buses that were lined up to help the city’s inhabitants escape were unused as the city mayor claimed they had no insurance or enough drivers.
I could grow to love you, but maybe it’s too late for that
No, I don’t think that I could ever love any conniving, lying politician, perhaps the young and innocent can or those who have lots to benefit from them but these easrs and these eyes have seen and heard too much and without doubt it is far too late for that.
‘You’d better shoot straight when you’re shooting rats’
‘You’d better shoot straight when you’re shooting rats’ is an expression used by former President Nixon to McCarthy’s communist witch hunt: “I’ve heard people say, ‘They’re a bunch of rats. What we ought to do is go out and shoot ’em.’ Well, I’ll agree they’re a bunch of rats, but just remember this: when you go out to shoot rats, you have to shoot straight,” making the point that if one is out to get rid of Communists, it is important to get rid of them in proper, legal fashion’, ‘because when you shoot wildly it means that the rats mav get away more easily and you might hit someone else who is trving to shoot rats too’ a policy some may say, not followed by Bush as the western armies seemed content to both shoot the rats and innocent civilians as well. It is estimated that over 500,000 have been killed since the start of the US led invasion of Iraq in 2003.
The House is on fire, streets are full of dust
The White House is certainly not aflame with ‘burning love’ (sic Elvis). In the UK in Victorian times, the government encouraged the sale of cheap gin to keep the poor down and in a constant drunken stupor, now it seems, the US streets are covered by a thick never ending layer of cocaine dust or its derivatives supplied, some say, by the CIA.
The Sheriffs pointed badge is broken and full of rust
The public’s respect for ‘The Badge’, the impartial rule of law has waned and respect for the law now seems to be a thing of the past as our TV screens are full, almost on a daily basis, with the ‘upholders of the law’ engaging in apparent unwarranted violence and in some cases, murder.
Go to Dawson City, gonna dig and pan for gold
You can go to seek your fame and fortune but like many who went to Dawson City during ‘the great gold rush’ most ended up both broke, penniless and dead, even those who did ‘strike it rich’
Jails are overcrowded, can’t stem the tide
While drugs are freely available on the streets, the tide cannot be turned as most of the estimated US prison population of 2 million are in jail for drug related offences.
You are just a faceless number, whether in jail of supposedly ‘free’ outside to those in control, we are just a number to them.
‘Take it like a man’, is what they said to me, I’d rather stay in jail it’s cheaper than being free
Yeah, take your punishment like a man they say, and take all man’s evil that life will throw your way like a man and maybe staying in jail is cheaper and safer than being free, with the cost that ‘freedom’ entails.
Walking down the road with my fist deep in my mouth
‘To say or do something that offends someone – ‘to put your foot in your mouth’, well if I’m standing on one leg I’ll put my fist in my mouth instead as I’m sure people have been offended by me, maybe even Bush himself.
Looking to find love, all the birds are flying south.
I came to this world longing to find love but looks as though all the love birds are going in the opposite direction to the way I’m going.
Music composed and performed by Paul Odiase BMI No. 1252265 (Switzerland)
Song lyrics by Paul Robert Thomas PRS No. 497904008 (London)
PRS Tunecode 309090LM
ISRC QM4DW1821718
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