Idiot Box (1981)

Words and music ©1981, 2013 by Dallas Denny

Source: Denny, Dallas. (1981). Idiot box. Unpublished song.

 

 

 

 

 

 I wrote this song on the 25-mile drive to my parents house. I had spent the evening at the Bluebird Cafe in Nashville, where I heard four kick-ass songwriters perform in a circle. I don’t remember one, but the other three I remember, were Danny Flowers, Marshall Chapman, and the late Rick Schulman, whose song Wide, Wide Open was the best I’ve ever heard. Sadly, I’ve not heard it since.

I stopped on the way home and jotted down these words, which  had jumped into my head.

The song is dated now. Two generations should be added to reflect social media and 1080p images and surround sound and Angry Birds.

 

Me, 9 December, 2013 (160 MBPS MP3)

 

Idiot Box

By Dallas Denny

 

My daddy was born in nineteen twenty-four

Twenty years old for the Second World War

When the fighting was over

He bought him some stocks

And he got him a wife

And an idiot box

 

And it brought to him the American Dream

In his living room on a seven-inch screen

Friends came over and they all would watch

I Love Lucy on the idiot box

I Love Lucy on the idiot box

 

I came along in nineteen fifty-three

And my first companion was a Zenith tv

Saturday morning my favorite spot

Directly in front of the idiot box

 

And it brought to me the American Dream

In Living Color on a twenty-inch screen

Friends came over and we all would watch

My Three Sons on the idiot box

My Three Sons on the idiot box

 

Now my daughter has turned thirteen

And she loves the videos on MTV

Saturday morning more likely than not

Directly in front of the idiot box

 

And it brings to her the American Dream

In stereo sound on a forty-inch screen

Friends come over and the kids all watch

Eddie Van Halen on the idiot box

Eddie Van Halen on the idiot box

 

And when she has a child of her own

I know he’ll never have to be alone

‘Cause in the future there will be a lot

Of things to see on the idiot box

 

And it will bring to him the American Dream

In a holographic image or a ninety-inch screen

Friends come over and they all will watch

Whatever they want on the idiot box

Whatever they want on the idiot box

 

And it will bring to you the American Dream

In your living room on your very own screen

Friends come over and you all can watch

Whatever you want on the idiot box