All the ex-girlfriends are getting married today
Disappearing one by one, getting carried away
All the friends are touring cross-country New York to LA
And we’re stuck here in the dump and it looks like we’re gonna stay
Our life is in the garbage
Deep deep in the garbage
Our life is in the garbage
Above our heads in garbage
All the old gang is making ninety grand a year
They’re making it big ‘cause they’re far far away from here
The guys we went to school with are kicking their plans into gear
And we’re still smoking cheap cigarettes and drinking watered-down beer
Our life is in the garbage ...
Look at them and look at us
They’re driving their Mercedes while we still ride the bus
Rising like stars, making tracks
While we pay eighty percent income tax
Where are they and where are we
They’re going for their MA and their PhD
Getting the most out of university
While we go to the army out of necessity
Hey, my friend just bought a house by down payment
And I barely got a TV in 25 installments!
They’re dealing stocks and bonds, and Krugerrands
While we’re eating loof! Kosher spam in a can!
They mount their individual treasure hunts
While we take up positions on the northern fronts
Hell, the gang is doing well, insh’Allah
And we’re doing just fine, in the mizballah!
Our life is in the garbage ...
©2024 The Hesh Inc.
The song's title and chorus are a translation of an expression that was popular when I was doing my Israeli army service in the mid-1980s: "החיים שלנו בזבל." It was a lament about the boring, dirty, hurry-up-and-wait life that characterizes the army in peacetime. I was lamenting, not only the humdrum military life, but also the fact that I was stuck in it while all my friends overseas were living the life I could only dream of.
Musically, I imagined it as a big, fat, Cream-type guitar riff, to be processed in latter-day Yes style à la "Owner of a Lonely Heart." I performed it exactly once, my vocal backed by a fellow soldier on acoustic guitar, at a party my unit held on base to celebrate a successful summer field-maneuver exercise.
Translations: Loof=processed meat used in combat rations. Insh'Allah=G-d willing, in Arabic. Mizballah=garbage dump, in Hebrew pronounced with Arabic inflection.
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