Anti-Army Song

Back in the early 1980's, I was trying desperately to make music my career. I was always learning new Top-40 songs, so I could find work in one of the hundreds (maybe thousands)of traveling bands that crisscrossed the USA and Canada, playing 5 sets of music a night in hotel lounges and nightclubs.

But, every band I joined only survived a few months. I felt like a bad luck charm. In between these nomadic journeys, I worked at J.C. Penney's, in the "men's accessories" department (I used to be able to guess men's neck sizes. HA! Great party trick). I also answered a lot of phones and sorted a bunch of mail in temporary jobs.

My mother hated my dreams and tried to get me to be sensible and apply for her ideal job: a State of Pennsylvania office worker. I wanted nothing of the sort. In her motherly badgering, she frequently suggested I join the military, so I would finally get some "discipline". As a response to this request, I wrote these lyrics:

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Anti-Army Song by Anne Silberman copyright 1983

It's not that I am all confused
And it's not that I don't care
I just don't want to be abused
And shave off all my hair

Get up before the break of dawn
Then choke down awful food
Do calisthenics in the lawn
This stuff don't fit my mood.

Tell Uncle Sam it's not for me
I've better things to do
I'd waste away in your Army
Wouldn't be much help to you.

Don't want to be a kid no more
It's time now to grow up
But I don't want to fight no war
There's life to fill my cup.
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Found these today, after going through another box of old papers that my mom sent me.

Next, I'll post a short story I wrote in 8th grade, where I pretended to be electricity. Similar to Barry Manilow's "I Write The Songs", where he plays the part of "Music".

Stay tuned!