“But You Don’t See No Hearses With Luggage Racks”
A Year in the Death 1/28/21
Here, in the home of the brave
And the land of the free
The first word that baby learns is “more”…It’s a nation of noses pressed up against the glass
They’ve seen it on the TV
And they want it pretty fastYou spend your whole life
Just pilin’ it up there
You got stack and stacks and stacks
Then, Gabriel comes and taps you on the shoulder
But you don’t see no hearses with luggage racks
I’ve loved Don Henley’s “Gimme What You Got” ever since it was released on his “The End of the Innocence” album back in 1989. (I recommend the entire album. Many of the songs could have been written during the past four years.) In particular, the final line “But you don’t see no hearses with luggage racks” has always stuck with me.
It comes to mind on those rare occasions when I watch television and am subjected to insipid commercial after insipid commercial, trying to sell me shit I don’t want or need. It also comes to mind every “Black Friday” — that yearly orgy of consumerism and greed (at least until 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic basically killed the concept) when grown adults push, shove, hit, and outright stampede over each other trying to fill the void in their souls with shiny new purchases. (SPOILER ALERT: They won’t fill it.)
