In Forty Days

"'Joan:"' Yessee, Yessee. Uh, huh. I will do that What time does the meeting start? He may be a little late, because he's writing, writing, writing But anyway, he'll come down I'll have him do that. You're welcome. Bye Bye "'David:"' In forty days I'm going to be busted for three years For refusing to cooperate with the draft I mean, the initial presumption Of something like military conscription Is that the lives of the people subject to it Don't belong to those people I mean, that those lives exist As tools and property of the state I mean, when you're given a draft card It's a very simple statement I mean, it's like a deed of ownership It says the life of the bearer Belongs to the United States of America And its government and the society it represents To be used as those things see fit "'Joan:"' Hot soul baby! "'David:"' Yeah, well how come you're not sure about that? That's right on and classic "'Joan:"' It's not being sure about that It's that I feel like, I feel as thought I'm mimicking Like I could never sing the blues because I mean, what's an eighteen year-old Middle-class, well-fed, well dressed American chick Got doing singing the blues? You know, so I never? what I sing "'David:"' I mean, if you think about fears It really makes people blind You know, it allows grown men To drop jellied gasoline on children Which is what does happen every day It's exactly that kind of blindness that allows A few men to live off In luxury off the starvation of thousands upon thousands I mean, maybe the best way to explain Why that process happens in the world is to say We live in a blind society I mean, a society that is blind to itself Is blind to the rest of the world "'Joan:"' When I listen to music there's spiritual And very spiritual music, sort of mental spiritual music Which is all, you know, classical And then there's these funny levels Somewhere at the bottom of it There's gut music Not that it's bad, because there are times When gut music is the only thing that can move you The only thing you feel Why is that less than any other one? "'David:"' Three years ago noncooperation with the draft Was not a reality There were a few people who did it But you know, by and large, nobody knew about it And nobody had any idea that it was possible For them to do that And I remember, you know, when I first sent My first draft card back, and I was Student body president at Stanford And going out on White's Claw at Stanford And you know, hey, I just sent my draft card back And people, you know people's reaction was You know, Jesus, the cat's crazy, you know And then they watched, and suddenly that became a reality Because everyone, a lot of those people who thought I was crazy Sent their draft cards back You know, it doesn't matter whether Richard Nixon Wants to have an army If are there are no soldiers Richard Nixon can't have an army I mean, if the people of this country Decide that they aren't going to be part of that army Then there's not going to be an army "'Joan:"' They're going to have to relate to my life They're going to have to relate to the fact That I'm always telling people to go a step beyond entertaining And go a a step beyond just filling people's heads with something You know, like I refuse to call myself an entertainer I refuse to be an entertainer I refuse to let an evening go by With just having had people be entertained