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The Last Cruze


dhanners623

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Been awhile. Wrote this one for a Facebook group songwriting challenge. We're given a prompt word each week and this week's word was "spike," which is kind of a dumb word for songwriting. But I'd been wanting to write a song about GM closing down its Lordstown Assembly plant and I started thinking "Chevy/Heartbeat of America/stake (spike?) through the heart/yadda yadda yadda" and next thing you know, I come up with "The Last Cruze."

 

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=1Omt_E1J2h4

 

The lyrics:

 

The Last Cruze

© 2019 by David Hanners

 

Flurries flew like static as I pulled in the parking lot

Winter here is dreary and summer can get hot

The scarlet oaks should be in bloom by the first of May

Wish I could just sit here and not clock in today

 

We built the Chevy Cruze here at Lordstown

We were on Thanksgiving break when GM said we’re shuttin’ down

Cars rolled off this line for 50 years or so

Now every Cruze that rolls will be built in Mexico

 

The last Cruze came out the paint shop bathed in Summit White

Some workers shed a tear as it moved down the line

By 2:30 that afternoon every fastener was snug and tight

Some buyer will climb behind the wheel, probably not think twice

About the fact I’ve got a ninth-grader and a kid at Youngstown State

A mortgage and child support and bills I cannot pay

My mistake was that I had come to trust

If we invested in GM, they would invest in us

 

They draped the stars and stripes on the last Cruze as it rolled out

But I don’t feel patriotic, I feel only doubt

There’s a hole where they drove a great big metal spike

Through the heart of Lordstown and everything that’s right

 

The scarlet oaks should be in bloom by the first of May….

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Fantastic song, David. Absolutely loved it, a song that the likes of Guy Clark or Rodney Crowell would have been proud to write.

 

Whoa. High praise, indeed, but I'll not argue. Thank you, everyone.

 

And I will say -- the inclusion of the word "snug" was a tip of the hat to Crowell, a personal favorite who uses the word in his song, "Highway 17." It isn't a word you see in songs very often.

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Yeah, really good song, David. Lots of real life in this.........I love the last line, "The scarlet oaks should be in bloom by the first of May."---------the workers lose their jobs, but life goes on for the rest of us. That's just how things happen..... Well done, my friend. [thumbup] [thumbup]

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