miércoles, 23 de marzo de 2011

John Mellencamp. Hotdogs and Hamburguers

Me pregunta un amigo qué me parece el último disco de John Mellencamp, No Better Than This y le contesto que todavía no puedo opinar porque a pesar de que me lo regalaron en Navidades no le he dado la suficiente cancha. Casi siempre ligo la música a un estado de ánimo y últimamente triunfa mi vena festiva por encima de todo. Cuando pincho a Mellencamp siempre recurro a la exuberancia de The Lonesome Jubile, la contundencia de Whenever we wanted o las dinámicas versiones de Trouble no more. Ahora que llega la primavera, el paisaje empieza a cambiar y el verano esta a la vuelta de la esquina me cuesta mucho mas encontrar tiempo para material oscuro y por alguna razón No Better Than This esta en esa categoría. Al final es un tema totalmente subjetivo y pasajero. Pero mientras espero encontrar el hueco para No Better Than This cualquier día me parece estupendo para volver a escuchar Hotdogs and Hamburguers, un tema que me pone eufórico.


Drivin' down on a dry summer's day
Old Route 66 and I was just a kid
Met a pretty little Indian girl
ALong the way
Got her into my car
And tried to give her a kiss
I'll give you beads and wampum
Whatever it takes, girl, to make you trade
She jumped into the back seat
And she kinda flipped her lid
She said you're tryin' to get something for nothing

Like the Pilgrims in the olden days
We rode for a while till the sun went away
And I realized it was sort of an honor
Bein' around this girl
I felt embarrassed
Of what I tried to do earlier that day
She was the saddest girl I ever knew
She told me stories about the Indian nations
ANd how the White man stole their lives away
And although she kinda liked me
She could never trust me
And when the sun comes up
We'd go our different ways

Now everybody has got the choice
Between hotdogs and hamburgers

Every one of us has got to choose
Between right and wrong
And givin' up or holdin' on
So I dropped her off at some railroad crossing in Texas
An old Indian man was waiting there
He smiled and thanked me
But he saw right through me
I could tell he didn't like me
For my kind he did not care
Because to him I was the White man
The one who sold him something that he already owned

And it was like he'd been riding in the car right there with us
And I felt ashamed of my acations
And the way the West was really won
So I drove down the highway
Till I came to Los Angeles
The town of the angels
The best this country can do
I got down on my knees
And I asked for forgiveness
I said, Lord, forgive us for we know not what we do

Now everybody has got the choice
Between hotdogs and hamburgers