Carsong
By Veena Gokhale
This country is made for cars
The roads, so smooth and straight
Inviting you to drive
And them cars so goodlookin'
Shiny and sexy
(you just want to bring `em home)
So convenient to drive
Automatic gears and all
And fuel so cheap, oh mama!
You tempted me with a car years ago
In India
Can I have one now, please?
Drive, don't walk
Say the ads on TV
Easy instalments
Buy car, will travel
Through Incredible Landscapes
Of Astonishing Beauty
Buy car, get laid
By slim women in fashionable clothes
Buy car, buy a dick
Buy car, buy freedom
Satisfaction guaranteed
No traffic jams please
We ain't commuters y'know
If you are a commuter
You burrow underground
To the subway
Grey and unglamorous
Which takes you places real quick
Me, I Ride the Rocket
But how long can I be Car-illiterate
In this car mad country?
Fuel is so cheap here, so cheap
Says my father who's visiting from India
But why are the trains so expensive?
Father dear
They go to war in the US of A
To keep the prices down
The Gulf War was a gas
It contaminated the sea, fouled the air
Killed people too
But this I-raq place or was it I-ran?
Is filled with Muslim Fanatics anyway
And that Saddam Hussein
he had to be stopped
Everyone knows that
It's easy to get places, y'know
With a car
All those four lane highways and freeways, oh mama
Spread out like a giant game
Of snakes and ladders
All lit up and all at night
Wow, says I, wowie
I would just like to zigzag on those roads
all my life
says my friend who's just immigrated
From India
I'll buy a car, maybe two
Don't want my feet to touch ground
I just want to wheel
Round and round
I keep reading in the paper about cancer
Cancer and pollution
Dosn't make sense really
How can cars cause cancer?
Baloney!
I think sometimes that if I counted the cars
And then the people
There would surely be more cars than people
Maybe not
But it sure feels that way
With cars everywhere
Parked along the street
And in parking lots
Outdoor, indoor, underground
Idling at storefronts
Standing by tents in campgrounds
Doubling as homes
Displayed in showrooms
Strapped to the backs of trucks
Chasing each others tails in Hollywood flicks
As for TV
I swear there are more cars than people on TV
Sometimes I think,
Cars are human too
They live in garages, guzzle gas
Have personalities - little kinks that make them individual
Their lives are regulated
By photo radars and whatnot
And I wonder: are they monsters or victims?
Everyone speeds on the 401, says my friend
Speeding himself
What can you do?
It's the nature of things
Look at all them cars
They are doin' 120
Me, I like to flow with the traffic
I hate driving in Toronto
says my other friend
It feels unsafe
And biking
It's a nightmare!
As for me
I see the animals
small and furry
Smeared along the sides
Of these dreamy highways
Killed by these dream machines
Dear God, were we really meant to tear along a road going fuck knows where at 120 kmph?
It's different when you kill humans
You get publicity
Sometimes
When the accident is really gruesome
Or a bunch of very young people die
On TV they tell you not to drink and drive
But do drive
Please do
Buy a car in easy instalments
Do it now
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