Pay To Play (But Keep Love In Your Heart)

Welcome to Chicago, Illinois -- a place long celebrated for its great pizza, beautiful lakefront, and wonderful music scene. It's surely just a matter of time before folks around the country figure out that our city and state are also noteworthy for the dead-fish stench of political corruption that has, for decades, filled the air here in the Land of Lincoln.

The Blue State Cowboys hit the studio last night to record their musical take on this political cesspool:


PAY TO PLAY (But Keep Love In Your Heart)

Matt Farmer

All my life I’ve been a workin’ man
On Chicago’s northwest side
Livin’ check to check, never gettin’ ahead
No matter how hard I tried

I had an old friend from the neighborhood
He grew up to do just fine
He couldn’t read or write to save his life
But I guess his boss didn’t mind

Now, I never quite knew what my old friend did
To get that money rollin’ in
But life, I guess, can be pretty good
For a state committeeman

So, one night over beer at the local bar
I said, “How’d you make your dough?”
My friend just grinned a wicked grin
And said “Here’s all you need to know”

CHORUS
You’ve got to pay-to-play in this town
If you wanna make that deal go down
It’s who you know inside the Big Machine
Just find the man that’s behind the man
And put some money in his hand
That’s how we try to keep our city green

VERSE
Well, the liquor flowed and the stories flew
And my old friend bared his soul
About rigging bids and getting neighbor kids
Good jobs on a ghost payroll

He said he’d be happy to help me out
If there was anything he could do
Like try to arrange a zoning change
Or put me on a movie crew

Well, we talked and talked until last call
And then I told him I was beat
Then he climbed aboard his hired truck
To see a man about a Senate seat

And late that night as I lay in bed
You know I finally figured it out
My friend didn’t need to read or write
Cause he had himself some clout

CHORUS
You’ve got to pay-to-play in this town
If you wanna make that deal go down
It’s who you know inside the Big Machine
Just find the man that’s behind the man
And put some money in his hand
That’s how we try to keep our city green

CHORUS
You’ve got to pay-to-play in this town
If you wanna make that deal go down
It’s who you know inside the Big Machine
If you wanna standout
You gotta know who gets the handout
That’s how we try to keep our city green
It’s a daily job to keep our city green


Thanks to Mouse and Fig over at Reelsounds Chicago for making time to get us into their wonderful recording studio on short notice. Extra special thanks to my music-making buddies for braving last night's Chicago snowstorm to join me on this project. You guys are the best.


Brian Wilkie works his steel guitar magic.


Peter Strand (bass) and Peter Manis (drums) hold down the bottom.


Stevie Doyle spanks the plank.


Annalee Koehn's harmonies can make even political corruption sound angelic.


Thom "Fig" Fiegle works the big board.

Since this is the holiday season, the BSC gang asks all of you to heed the words of our governor (recently channeling Elvis) and try to "keep love in your heart."