Words by Charlie King, Tune by Steve Eulberg
One of my Local 1000 colleagues (and songwriting heroes) and I agreed to collaborate on a creative project while in the networking sessions of our annual retreat at the Ashokan Center in May 2016.
I offered that I love to set poetry and lyrics to music and Charlie said he was looking for collaboration on a new song. He sent me his lyrics and I took them with me on tour, mulling over melodic ideas.
This particular set of lyrics posed a challenge: The chorus suggested a very upbeat sing-a-long style, but the lyrics change each time through. This can make singing along for an audience difficult.
The verses felt like they were in a different, more reflective tone.
While I was driving in Ohio and West Virginia and Kentucky, the chorus was quite quickly settled, but the verses required some tweaking.... During one off-day, motel stay, in a non-smoking room that had clearly been recently flooded--(so much so that I didn't take my shoes off while walking on parts of the carpet!), AND which reeked of cats!!, I was strumming the chords that became the ultimate framework for the song.
I got home, recorded a demo for Charlie and sent it off to him. Working with the amazing production skills of our colleague
Reggie Harris, the tune acquired a klezmer-like clarinet and feel as the 2nd tune on Charlie's 2017 recording,
Life & Love, Tears & Laughter.
Here are the lyrics and chords for the demo
(click on the title above or here)
What Do They Make On Wall St
Lyrics©2016 Charlie King/Pied Asp Music
Tune©2016 Steve Eulberg/Owl Mountain Music, Inc.
(lick) c-b-a-g#-a-f-e-d-c-b-a Am
Am E7
I was reading the Wall St. Journal
Am
Studying the secret of wealth
Dm Am
How a corporation issues capital stock
B7 E
And then sells it back to itself
F C
How they buy up other companies
Dm Am
And then run them into the ground
F D7/F#
So what's the hitch? How do they get rich
G G7
On this financial merry-go-round
(c b) C F C
Tell me what do they make on Wall St.
F G C
To make the world a little bit better?
F G C
Vermont makes sweet maple syrup
Am D7 G
Wisconsin the very best cheddar
F G
They grow those big potatoes
C Am
In the fields of Idaho
F G Am
But what do they make on Wall St.
F G Am (lick up: c- d-e-g-c)
What is it that they grow?
Am E7
Brockton, Mass, where I was born
Am
A shoe town, tough and gritty
Dm Am
Gary and Pittsburgh were steel towns then,
B7 E
Detroit was the Motor City
F C
The beer that made Milwaukee famous
Dm Am
Ain't made there any more
F D7/F#
Wall St. bought 'em for the bottom line
G G7
And moved them all off shore.
(c b) C F C
Tell me what do they make on Wall St.
F G C
To make the world a little bit better?
F G C
While Rosie is riveting airplanes
Am D7 G
Mailcarriers deliver de letter
F G
The people who knead dough
C Am
Use Kansas wheat beneath the snow
F G Am
But what do they make on Wall St.
F G Am (lick up: c- d-e-g-c)
What is it that they grow?
Am E7
Henry Ford invented the Model T
Am
And put Uncle Sam at the wheel
Dm Am
Carnegie built the rolling mills
B7 E
Because Henry needed the steel
F C
Mr. Peabody hauled the mountain away
Dm Am
Sold Carnegie all the coal
F D7/F#
Now Wall St. Strip-mines it away
G G7
And leaves us this big hole
(c b) C F C
Tell me what do they make on Wall St.
F G C
To make the world a little bit better?
F G C
Teachers can make the kids smarter
Am D7 G
Grandma can knit you a sweater
F G
They grow those big tomatoes
C Am
In the fields of Ohio
F G Am
But what do they make on Wall St.
F G Am
What is it that they grow?
F G C (lick down: c-b-a-g-e-d-c) C
Feel the solar heat
