Can You Spare a Song?

Every era has its own music, just as every decade has one particular tune that succinctly puts the zeitgeist of that time into perspective. For the Great depression, it was simply known as "The Song" "Brother Can you Spare a Dime," by Yip Harburg says it all.
For our current malaise, I offer one of Bob Dylan's lesser known gems: "Everything Is Broken"

Broken lines, broken strings,
Broken threads, broken springs,
Broken idols, broken heads,
People sleeping in broken beds.
Ain't no use jiving
Ain't no use joking
Everything is broken.

Item: A tent city has recently appeared in Sacramento, California. So many newly unemployed are finding their way to this free campground. It resembles the scene 70 years ago when the Great Depression forced so many into shanty towns and hobo jungles. Let's see, if it was called Hooverville back then, what would an appropriate name for this city of the dispossessed be?

Broken bottles, broken plates,
Broken switches, broken gates,
Broken dishes, broken parts,
Streets are filled with broken hearts.
Broken words never meant to be spoken,
Everything is broken.

Item: Bernie Madoff will plead guilty and probably get life in prison. Where did these billions actually go? Show us the money? Follow the money. It's got to be somewhere, doesn't it?


Seem like every time you stop and turn around
Something else just hit the ground

Item: Yesterday a man in Alabama shot and killed 11 people at 4 different locations; last Sunday, in Maryville, Illinois, a man shot and killed his pastor in the middle of a sermon. Onlookers reported one bullet shattered his Bible like confetti. The American death toll in Iraq approaches 5000. For Iraqis it is measured in hundreds of thousands.
Broken cutters, broken saws,
Broken buckles, broken laws,
Broken bodies, broken bones,
Broken voices on broken phones.
Take a deep breath, feel like you're chokin',
Everything is broken.

Item: Arctic ice is rapidly disappearing, and the region may have its first completely ice-free summer by 2040 or earlier. Polar bears and indigenous cultures are already suffering from the sea-ice loss.

• Glaciers and mountain snows are rapidly melting—for example, Montana's Glacier National Park now has only 27 glaciers, versus 150 in 1910. In the Northern Hemisphere, thaws also come a week earlier in spring and freezes begin a week later.


Every time you leave and go off someplace
Things fall to pieces in my face