It’s so much easier
To sit and play games
Taking no responsibility
And shifting all the blame
Shirking all my duty
And desires all the same
The best of my efforts
Are halfhearted and lame
You can call it by any old name
But I haven’t done nothing.
It all looked so great
Just as the morning had begun
I laid out all my plans
In the morning sun
I’d take care of business
Then go out and have some fun
Well, I went home and lay down
And blew off every single one
Well, yesterday’s over and done
And I haven’t done nothing.
Maybe one day I’ll maximize my potential
Maybe one day I’ll acquire my credentials
Maybe one day I’ll complete my endeavors
Maybe one day I’ll get my shit together
Well, I could up and change the world
If I use my hands and head
If I put my heart into it
And follow up on every thread
The whole world may be waiting
For me to knock ‘em dead
Well, sometimes it’s just easier
To roll over and go back to bed
Well, it’s just like Stevie said
I haven’t done nothing.
©2023 The Hesh Inc.
This lyric was written in the mid-2000s, within the year after I came back to the East Coast from my first sojourn in Los Angeles. I had not yet found my niche in terms of employment (i.e., a day job making use of my skills and education) and was scratching together a living as a limousine driver. I had many irons in the fire in terms of prospective creative endeavors, live performance, job search, etc ad nauseam, but after waking up at 4:00 am to take the first passengers to the airport, I'd come home midmorning wanting nothing more than to go back to sleep. And this I would do, and all my best-laid plans would go out the window until I got up the next day and did it all over again, amen.
Musically, the song has a fast tempo (I wouldn't call it "upbeat" due to its subject matter) and I thought about including it on an album of Waitsian heartbreak songs centered around my life-going-nowhere, during which I missed my friends and loved ones on the West Coast terribly. Said album never materialized and the song never got recorded or performed.
And now, a decade and a half later, I have the good job and a more stable life, but I am in a similarly frustrated mood at my creative endeavors and relocation dreams caught in some inexplicable doldrums. I would love nothing more than to change the situation I am currently in but it feels sometimes like I fight a gravitational force. But hey ... maybe one day I’ll get my shit together.