putting people on the moon - / lyrics by Patterson Hood - Music by Drive-by Truckers

Mary Alice had a baby and he looked just like I did
We got married on a Monday and I been working ever since
Every week down at the Ford Plant but now they're shutting down
Goddamned Reagan in the White House and nobody gives a damn

Double Digit unemployment, TVA be shutting soon
While over there in Huntsville, They puttin' people on the moon

So I took to runnin' numbers for this man I used to know
And I sell a few narcotics and I sell a little blow
I ain't getting rich now but I'm gettin' more than by
It's tough to make a living but a man;s just got to try

If I died in Colbert County, Would it make the evening news?
They too busy blowin' rockets, Puttin' people on the moon

Mary Alice, she quit askin' why I do the things I do
I ain't sayin' that she likes it, but what else I'm gonna do?
If I could solve the world's problems I'd probably start with hers and mine
But they can put a man on the moon
And I'm stuck down here just scraping by

Mary Alice died of cancer just like everybody here
Seems everyone I know is gettin' cancer every year
And we can't afford no insurance, I been 10 years unemployed
So she didn't get no chemo and our lives was destroyed
And nothin' ever changes, the cemetery gets more full
And over there in Huntsville, even NASA's shut down too

Another Joker in the White House, said a change was comin' round
But I'm workin' at the Walmart, Mary Alice in the ground
And all them politicians, they all lyin' sacks of shit
They say better days upon us but it's sucking left hind tit
And the preacher on the TV says it ain't too late for me
But I bet he drives a Cadillac and I'm broke with hungry mouths to feed

and I wish I was still an outlaw, was a better way of life
I could clothe and feed my family still have time to love my pretty wife
if you say I'm being punished, then you got better things to do
Turnin' mountains into oceans Puttin' people on the moon
Turnin' mountains into oceans Puttin' people on the moon