Writing Inspiration: Erik Peterson

My favorite lyricist, Erik Peterson, is the front man for folk punk band Mischief Brew from Philly. I have always loved his lyrics because they're not asinine "we hate the government but can't really put into words why so we're going to get drunk and break shit" type of punk. This is my favorite song from Peterson's solo work.

Listen to the song here

"Olde Tyme Mem'ry" by Erik Peterson

When father bought the farm we sold the farm
Stick his blood for rustic charms
Sold his ghost as an antique
To the city

Kids today can’t hold a spade
Rest in peace your weary trades
In this world there is no place
Such a pity

Well the barman shakes his head and fills my glass
Says we’re livin’ in the past
Why preserve a dying craft
And its misery?

We sigh and say another modern man
One of property not land
So I hold out this battered hand
Will you listen?

CHORUS
Come sit down we’re lamenting
About yesterday, sad ending
‘Bout the water in me whiskey
The brass passed off as gold
Another round we’re descending
Into olde tyme mem’ry
Of a day when wood was wooden,
Silver - silver, gold was gold
Sweet home was home

So you say you got a wood stove
And your second home runs on gas
But looks like oak
Hell, it even gives off smoke and glowing embers

There’s a quilt hung on the wall,
Reads “home sweet home”
The lonesome wise words of Thoreau
And they call me throwback
When I cry “Remember!”

CHORUS

Son, these tools are artifacts
Endangered species left its tracks
So lock me up behind plastic glass
In the city

There’s no going back for me
This antique’s rustic eulogy
Shall be sold as folk art histr’y
Such a pity

But I’ll never understand
Why they all only use those hands
To build a stead that will always stand
In old time country

But settle for white rooms and hollow doors
Paper ceilings, padded floors
Luxury boxes where your stored
In what was country

CHORUS