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RED BEETS & HORSERADISH by The Little Wretches
RED BEETS AND HORSERADISH is inspired by a relish or side-dish usually served around the holidays of Easter or Passover by various ethnicities of Eastern Europe. For the Serbs, for example, the red of the beets is symbolic of the blood of their people, and the horseradish the bitterness of their suffering. For others, the symbolism involves the blood of their savior and the bitterness of His suffering. People in the Jewish tradition also enjoy the dish, but there is no blood involved—the beets are merely for flavor—but the horseradish does represent the memory of bitter suffering in bondage.
The songs on the album involve vignettes and portraits of people who’ve suffered—old people, sick people, crazy people, people who are alone—but the heart of the songs lies not in the suffering of the characters but in the indomitable faith and humor that sustains them.
Drums--Mike Madden
Bass--John Carson
Piano--H.K. Hilner, Hollis Greathouse
Guitars--Robert Andrew Wagner
Lead Vocals—Robert Andrew Wagner and Rosa Colucci
Background Vocals—Emma Golebie, Jack Erdie, Rosa Colucci, Robert Wagner
Produced by The Little Wretches
Recorded by Hollis Greathouse
Mastered by Tom Dimuzio
All songs by Robert Andrew Wagner except RISE by Jack Erdie (with additional traditional lyrics), WINTER’S GRACE by Annette Dietz and Robert Andrew Wagner, and OLD HUNDREDTH by Traditional, arranged by Robert Andrew Wagner
Artwork by Melinda Pietrusza
1. Rise
2. Lovingkindness
3. Palms and Crosses
4. Nothing Was Given to Me
5. Winter’s Grace
6. Tiger Pajamas
7. Heaven Was Open
8. It’s Raining
9. Old Hundredth
10. Old Lillian’s Story
11. Walked Along
12. Duquesne
13. It’s All between Me & God
RISE
(refrain by Jack Erdie; verses from Christian Science Hymnal)
Rise from your slumber
Days without number
Wait for you
Shake off your losses
So many causes
to put your shoulder to
It’s time to mend
Time to turn the next bend
We depend on you to harmonize
so Rise
Rise
Daughter of Zion, awake from thy sadness
Awake, for thy foe shall oppress thee no more
For bright o’er the hill dawns the day-star of gladness
Arise for the night of thy sorrow is over
Arise for the night of thy sorrow is over
Arise
Though many thy foes, but the arm that subdued them
and scattered their legions is mightier far
They fled from the wrath
of the scourge that pursued them
for vain were their steeds and their chariots of war
Vain were their steeds and their chariots of war
Arise
Daughter of Zion, the power that saved thee
Extolled with the harp and the timbrel should be
Rejoice for the foe is destroyed that enslaved thee
The oppressor is vanquished
and Zion is free
The oppressor is vanquished
and Zion is free
Arise!
LOVINGKINDNESS
Lovingkindness,
Lovingkindness all my days
Lovingkindness,
Lovingkindness all my days
Lord, I sing Your praise
I live by the precepts of a poem that survives
Spoken by the murdered King of history’s hated tribe
I believe in the impossible
In things I cannot prove
That oceans can be parted
and the hearts of haters moved
Lovingkindness,
Lovingkindness all my days
Lord, I sing Your praise
I don’t speak for anyone else, I barely speak for me
I believe in the impossible, In things that cannot be
I’m smart enough and strong enough and wise enough to know
I don’t deserve the harvest of a field I didn’t sow
Walk with me, don’t say a word
How don’t you feel amazed?
How don’t you want to thank someone?
How can you not give praise?
I wander through the darkness graced with life I don’t deserve
Show me who to thank and teach me how to serve
Lovingkindness,
Lovingkindness all my days
Lord, I sing Your praise
PALMS & CROSSES
One week palms, joy and praise,
Hearts are lifted, voices raised
Next week nails and crowns of thorns
The mother of God herself will mourn
A handful of stragglers waits at the scene
Asking themselves what it is that they’ve seen
Best go home, assess our losses
One week palms, next week crosses
One week palms, Next week crosses,
Mostly life goes on unseen
All I can say is tomorrow will decide what yesterday means
A single mom with three small kids,
Picnic lunch under the bridge
Cast a line, catch a few fish ,
Eat spaghetti off a styrofoam dish
Throw your ball, Ride your bike ,
There you go, Just play nice
Look, mom, look! You got a bite.
He stole your bait. Story of my life.
One week palms, next week crosses
Mostly life goes on unseen
All I can say is tomorrow will decide what yesterday means
A mother with her children on the fourth of july
Waving sparklers on a cordoned off street
I told you keep your shoes on, don’t blame me
if you wind up with glass in your feet
Birthday parties, wedding gifts
Gotta run to the store, can you give me a lift?
Ooh, this looks cool. What’s it do?
It catches dreams. Ah, that isn’t true
How do you know? You gotta believe
All right, ask, ye shall receive
Give me back the friends I lost
Yeah, that’s right, just like I thought
One week palms, one week crosses,
Mostly life goes on unseen
All I can say is tomorrow will decide what yesterday means
All I can say is tomorrow will decide what yesterday means
All I can say is tomorrow will decide what yesterday means
Nothing Was Given to Me
Nothing was given to me,
I didn’t get nothing for free
Worked more than my share,
Please don’t call it fair
There’s plenty that got worse than me.
No, nothing was given to me.
I'm a mailman,
in the union,
I fought in Korea
I'm a Republican because those Democrats
want to give the world away
I give three dollars to the church every Sunday
and I put a quarter in the poor box
I grew up in Soho near Oakland in Pittsburgh
I quit school in the sixth grade
because my mother kept five kids
on seventeen dollars and fifty cents a week
and I worked for a dude who worked my butt off
and paid me grit and robbed me blind
and let me work enough hours a week
that I could not get relief
and I hate him to this very day
Nothing was given to me,
Nothing was given to me,
My brother spent half his life learning a trade
and still has to work two jobs to keep his family
My sister got herself an education,
Now she lives with my mother.
She drinks coke all day, takes pills, watches t.v.,
and looks like hell
My mother goes to 8 o'clock mass every morning
and prays all day
For the good Lord to take her away.
My father died when I was nine
‘cause he couldn't take it
Now, I'm the only one who visits his grave
I go there three times a year and trim the weeds
Nothing was given to me,
I didn’t get nothing for free
Worked more than my share,
Please don’t call it fair
There’s plenty that got worse than me.
No, nothing was given to me.
My bones ache I might die tomorrow
The bank owns my house, car and furniture
My house is falling down and sinking into the mines
My furniture is coming apart
My car is rusting away like it has cancer
I don't drink anymore
‘cause the doctors said it would kill me
I don't smoke anymore
‘cause the doctors said it would kill me
I don't do anything anymore
except come home from work,
Clean the house,
Eat cold food out of a can,
Then sit on the back porch
with nothing to bother me till it gets dark
The doctors say nothing about that
I have two sons and a daughter
I tell them to take everything they can get
Only don't get what I got
Don’t get what I got.
WINTER’S GRACE
(Original Poem by Annette Dietz. Lyrics by Annete Dietz and Robert Andrew Wagner. Music by Robert Andrew Wagner)
Some days the best I can do Is clear a path for light
Some days the best I can do Is clear a path for light
The best I can do while pinned below
This jagged ice and blackened snow
Is call upon what good I know
To clear a path for light
Some days the best I can do Is clear a path for light
Some days the best I can do Is clear a path for light
You call for help but help won’t hear
They wouldn’t, would they? Leave me here?
Ignore the doubt. Deny the fear.
And Clear A Path For Light.
My friend lives in a deserted mine,
He wears brokenness like a cloak.
My friend lives in a deserted mine,
He wears brokenness like a cloak.
My friend lives in a deserted mine.
Tonight, we walk to the quiet shrine
The moon settles onto my upturned palm
With a brilliant dusting of snow.(A brilliant dusting of snow.)
Some days the best I can do Is clear a path for light.
Some days the best I can do Is clear a path for light.
Clear a path for light.
TIGER PAJAMAS
He was just a child in tiger pajamas,
complete with a tiger’s tail
Hiding in the closet when his dad came home from work
Grrrrr! Grrrrr!
Uh oh, I think I hear a tiger,
Uh oh, There’s a tiger in there
Oh no, someone save me from that tiger
Don’t worry dad, it’s just me, your little boy
Never was a child so in need of being loved
but how much love is enough?
Oh God, why’d you do that to my brother
God, why’d you do that to him
Oh God, why’d you do that to my brother
I thought You said You loved him
I thought You loved him
I thought You said you did
When he was nine years old and his birthday came
Even mother and father forgot
We ran out to the store to buy a baseball glove
As though the fairy boy would start to like sports
Some cake and some ice cream,
The kid never knew
Then again, he had to have known
They said he was the spoiled kid
But the forgotten kid
The kid who grew up on his own
He was the kid with chipped teeth
And a couple of scars
Always crashing into something
Always going too hard
The queer one, the bitchy one,
The girlie boy child
But how you gonna hate a kid so reckless and wild?
He liked to smoke and he liked to get high
He liked to drink, my could that kid drink
He could drink even the biker dudes under the table
In those soggy druggy smelly redneck bars
People used to say he showed them his poetry
People used to say he played them his songs
Well, I know he could sing
But he never showed nothing to me
Too precious too private too strong
That’s the problem with fairies
Always hiding themselves
Afraid you might find out the truth
He was my brother
His enemies were my enemies
But we pretended that nobody knew
Never was a child so in need of being loved
but how much love is enough
Oh God, why’d You do that to my brother?
Oh God, why’d You do that to him?
Oh God why’d You do that to my brother?
I thought You said You loved him.
I thought You loved him.
I thought You said You did.
Oh God, why’d you do that to my brother?
His enemies are my enemies?
So how am I supposed to avenge
what you did to my brother?
HEAVEN WAS OPEN
Out in eternity, goodness unharnessed
Surely had nurtured a bountiful harvest,
Justice and mercy, more than I could earn
Was showered upon me upon my return.
Angels were smiling. The wine was a-flowing
Beggars and bandits, like new, were a-glowing.
Hearts were rejoicing, resounding and crowing.
Business as usual—
Heaven was open
Back on the planet the people were grieving
looking for answers to why you were leaving,
Asking for answers, the faithful were groping,
Praying, forgetting, regretting and hoping.
At home they’re ironing and baking and wailing
Conscience-struck grandchildren curse their own failings
Next of kin scour phone-books for attorneys
& shuffle through shoe boxes, bank books & holdings.
Each of us has his own method of coping,
Business as usual—
Heaven was open.
You wished you could say something,
Hey, it’s all right
Don’t worry,
it’s just like they said, In the light.
Our doubts and our fears
will be answered in time
Trust what they taught you,
believe me I’m fine
I was better than no one and worse than a few
Can’t say I was any more ready than you
There was no special trick, there was no magic word
Heaven was open today,
Praise the lord!
Praise the lord!
Praise the lord!
IT’S RAINING
Is it raining? I can’t tell. It sounds like it’s raining.
Yep, it’s raining. It’s really coming down out there.
God forbid you’d have to change your precious plans.
God forbid you’d have to change your precious plans.
I woke up, It was raining.
I guess there’s always work to do around the house.
I think I heard it start, I woke up to thunder
God forbid you’d have to change your precious plans.
God forbid you’d have to change your precious plans.
I hope the lids are on the garbage cans
And all the upstairs windows have been closed.
It’s really coming down out there.
And the bald spot on the lawn
where the dog’s chain used to be
it’s a pool of mud.
Lord, I miss that dog.
Is it a chill-in-your-bones rain?
Will it soak right through your shoes
till your socks get wet?
I think I heard it start, I woke up to thunder.
God forbid you’d have to change your precious plans.
God forbid you’d have to change your precious plans.
Somewhere in the closet,
There’s a box of paint-by-numbers sets
Your mother planned to do when she got time.
There wasn’t time enough for her
to stick around and tell you
But there’s time enough
for you to change your mind.
Close up the shop. It’s raining.
Call off the dogs. It’s raining.
Cancel the war.
Close up the shop.
Call off the dogs.
It’s raining. It’s raining. It’s raining. It’s raining.
God forbid you’d have to change your precious plans.
God forbid you’d have to change your precious plans.
God forbid you’d have to change your precious plans.
Old Hundredth
(based on Isaac Watts, John S. B. Monsell, Violet Hayes, Thomas Scott, Samuel Longfellow & anonymous)
For all that dwell below the skies
Let our Creator’s praise arise
For blessings flow where e’er He reigns
The captive leaps to loose his chains
Loose his chains, Loose his chains
Loose his chains
The poor and all oppressed by wrong,
Standing steadfast, true and strong
The lifted eye and bended knee
His promise sets the captive free
Captive free, Captive free
Captive free
Eternal are Thy mercies, Lord
Eternal truth attends Thy word
Though mist and shadow all around
I’ll set my feet on solid ground
Solid ground, Solid ground
Solid ground
With all my strength and all my might
I’ll run the race and fight the fight
The freer step, the fuller breath,
The joy of Life that fears no death
Fears no death
Fears no death
Fears no death
OLD LILLIAN’S STORY
That man, he gets me so aggravated.
He tells the landlord that I leave the door open and I have cats. Do you believe that?
I never leave the door open, and he's the one with the cat.
Oh, it's a nice one. But, you know, they tell me cats are hard luck.
But not this cat, he's a nice cat.
But he's not my cat.
I don't have a cat.
That man, he won't leave me alone.
He calls me names, the worst names,
The worst names he can think of.
He bothers me so much.
I don't bother him.
But he won't leave me alone.
And he’s gonna get it.
They tell me call the police on him.
And I ought to call the police on him,
but I'd probably get in into worse trouble than he would
'cause he tells lies,
He lies about me all the time.
I can't take his bothering me all the time like that.
I oughta pick up a hammer or something
And get him with it.
That's what the family next door tells me.
But I'd go straight to jail.
Some people get away with murder, but not me.
I'd kill him with that hammer,
and Coroner Wecht would come and get me right away.
I can't live in that place anymore.
There's junk everywhere:
On the floors, on the steps,
Boards, tools, doorknobs,
All kinds of junk.
Twice, I've fallen down.
I had to have someone take me to the hospital for x-rays.
Twice, it happened.
I fell down and hit my head,
And it hurt.
There were these boys living on the third floor,
and I don't know what they were doing,
but they caught their apartment on fire.
They moved out.
I don't think they got into trouble.
But that was last summer,
and the landlord never did finish having it cleaned up.
There's live wires hanging from the ceiling.
That could kill you, you know.
And there's this man comes stumbling in every night
about three in the morning,
and he makes a terrible racket in all that junk.
He's a mean old man.
He's a dry cleaner, I think.
Oh, he's nasty, but he'll never call you a name,
Not like that other one.
That other one calls you all kinds of names.
And he’s gonna get it.
He takes sleeping pills,
and I know he's gonna kill himself with them.
He sleeps all day, sometimes.
One day, they'll find him dead,
and they'll probably blame it on me.
That man, that no good man, that no good lying man
That man, that no good man, that no good lying man
That man, that no good man, that no good lying man
He’s gonna get it
I don't have any heat.
It's like an icebox sometimes,
And I can't get anybody to light my oven.
I tried myself, but it flew up in my face, the flame did,
Burned my eyes.
So now I can't even heat water for instant coffee.
That's what I have,
instant coffee and two pieces of bread a day.
I don't even feel like eating.
Just when I'm getting out of it,
That man gets me upset all over again.
The girls down at the market say I have to eat more.
They say I'll get malnutrition.
That can kill you, you know.
Sometimes, I think I'd be better off dead.
The landlord's coming tomorrow.
He's gonna want his hundred dollars.
A hundred dollars a month-- do you believe it?
He'll get it over my dead body.
He doesn't leave his phone number or address.
He just shows up once a month and wants his money.
If he finds me dead, it'll be his fault.
I don’t know what I’m going to do.
I don’t know what I’m going to do.
This life is hell, I’m telling you.
I’m telling you the truth.
That man, he’s gonna get it, He’s gonna get it.
Someday that man will get what’s rightfully due.
That man, he’s gonna get it, He’s gonna get it.
But the sorry thing is I’ll probably get it, too.
The sorry thing is I’ll probably get it, too.
The sorry thing is I’ll probably get it, too.
The sorry thing is I’ll probably get it, too.
WALKED ALONG
Her blouse was dirty
So her coat stayed on
She wore a ball cap to cover her head
Because she had no comb
She wore no make up
So she stared at the ground
She couldn’t stop thinking
So she tried to sing
She didn’t want to be seen singing in public
So she sang inside her head
But still she couldn’t stop thinking
And it ruined the song
She finally looked up
How did I get here?
Ran her hands through her pockets
as if bus fare Would magically appear
Then the song went silent
And her mind went clear
So she took a breath and she looked around
It’s a mighty long way to walk all across town
Waiting at the corner for the light to turn,
She caught a glimpse of her reflection
On the side of a car
For a minute, “Who’s that?
Well, I guess that’s me.”
Then the car pulled away,
And she stepped into the street.
It was seventeen steps
till she made the next curb
Then she put on the face that says
“Do Not Disturb”
Her blouse was dirty
and she had no comb
and she wore no make up
so she walked along
she walked along
she walked along
DUQUESNE
She’s out the door before the dawn,
She walks six blocks for breakfast.
She don’t like to eat alone.
God bless the waitress.
Leave a fifty cent tip.
But the small talk ends with Hello.
She grabs her purse, her scarf and her coat.
Joins the crowd at the bus for the morning commute.
It’s a forty-minute ride to the place downtown.
That’s where she worked for twenty years,
It’s a Wendy’s now.
It used to sell men’s suits,
A tailor shop downstairs.
The best friends she ever had
worked with her down there.
Marella, Maria, Hungarian Mary
Speaking Portuguese, Greek, Slovak and Italian
I wonder where they are now?
They weren’t young like me
And I’m seventy-eight.
They might not even be alive anymore.
Up one block and over two,
there’s a church where I like to sit.
I never learned to read English but I open a Bible.
It’s like holding the hand of a friend.
I could stay at home, sure,
but I’d go out of my mind
In all these long years,
I’ve never wasted my time
The candles, the statues,
the echo of prayers
There’s a service at noon…
And then where?
Say hello to Father Frank
and catch the bus home
Turn on the radio
and wait by the phone
Pictures of grandchildren taped to the wall.
Is it Tuesday or Wednesday?
Maybe my Patsy will call.
In Duquesne, you can’t afford to retire
In Duquesne, you work till your time is expired
We came halfway around the world to be here.
For this? For what? Somebody’s bright idea.
We never really believed it would be paved with gold.
I guess there’s no place on earth that it’s good to be old
Like me.
Just wait. You’ll see.
Just wait. You’ll see.
Up one block and over two,
there’s what’s left of the five-and-ten store
In its heyday, it used to have a little lunch counter
That only served breakfast, of course.
It’s a pharmacy now, And a nice nice man
makes sure that you take the right pills.
And that’s important, you know,
Sometimes these old people like me forget.
These Americans, let me tell you,
And I’m one of them, you understand,
They live in homes they didn’t build,
Eating food they didn’t grow,
Traveling roads they didn’t clear,
Work for bosses they don’t know.
Somebody picks up your garbage,
Get your water through pipes
And your power through cables
Like a God-given right
These Americans, let me tell you
And I’m one of them you understand
They want to kill you if you try to tell them
That this isn’t really God’s plan.
In Duquesne, you can’t afford to retire
In Duquesne, you work till your time is expired
We came halfway around the world to be here.
For this For what Somebody’s bright idea.
We never really believed it would be paved with gold.
I guess there’s no place on earth that it’s good to be old
Like me.
Just wait. You’ll see. Just wait. You’ll see.
IT’S ALL BETWEEN ME & GOD
Every one who knew me,
They’re all gone now
My friends are gone now, every one
Those lifelong, heart-to-heart friends that you’d die for
They’ve gone to where you cannot come back from
It’s all between me and God now
How do you like that deal?
Just like I thought
Standing in the rain
Talking to myself
Love me, Kill me,
Let me know you’re real
I didn’t make this chalked up world
And whatever damage I might have done
It sure ain’t worth pressing charges
That is, if justice is what you want
But if you’re looking for mercy
Or forgiveness,
Ain’t that the big cog in your machine?
If there was one thing I could change about myself
I wish I had a lower threshold of pain
‘cause you know I could always stand up to a beating
They could back me down sometimes, but I won’t quit
But they don’t give out no medals of valor
for being stupid enough to put up with this grit
Remember when I played the number she saw on the boat pulling out of the dock
The bookmaker hid for a week ‘fore he finally paid up.
Took her to Sears-Roebuck,
Bought a brand new Magnavox
It was just what she always wanted.
But where we gonna get the money?
I pulled the cash out of my pocket,
You should have seen her.
It’s all between me and God now
No one said it was fair
He can wait me out
He can starve me out
He can shut me up
Love me, Kill me, Let me know you’re there
Love me, Kill me, Let me know you’re there
Love me, Kill me, Let me know you’re there