Flashback Barbeque (Live in Olympia on May 10th, 1998)
This song about talking burgers and PTSD would eventually wind up on A Curmudgeon For All Seasons.
The night this was recorded was a pretty amazing show. I opened. Then it was Chris Chandler, accompanied by Laura Freeman and Josh Zawaduck, followed by Dan Bern and his band, featuring Martha Wainwright.
I’m pretty sure the guy losing his shit after almost every line is Brian Prosser, an artist who can probably still be found scribbling at west coast Dan Bern shows.
Lyrics
FLASHBACK BARBEQUE
I’m flippin burgers for the family, yeah
in my backyard circa ’93 yeah
when one of the burgers
starts to talk to me
It says,
“Let my people go”
Whoa!
My mind’s ripped back to the days of violence
that I spent upon those foreign islands
A plaintive voice
one night it cracked the silence
It said,
“Let my people go.
Let my people go”
It’s just a flashback barbeque
What do you know?
It’s just a flashback barbeque
The flashback barbeque
Whaddya know?
Well,
by now the burgers have developed faces
I remember from those far off places
and every one of those faces
they says,
“Let my people go”
Hey but
whay could I do?
I had my orders
I was responsible to headquarters
They said the enemy was at the border
I could not
let her people go
So we
lined ’em up and we shot ’em down
in the middle of that little town
I hope they know I’m sorry
I better get back to the party
It’s just a flashback barbeque
What do you know?
Flashback barbeque
The flashback barbeque
Where can you go?
So
I’m just standin’ there doing my deep breathing
while all my relatives were frenzy feedin’
on the meat which keeps repeating
“Let my people go
Let my people go”.
So
now that the visions have all subsided
its easier to think about what I did
Just smoke joint, sit back and and shut my eyelids
No more
No more
No more
No more
No more
let my people go?
It’s just a flashback barbeque
What do you know?
Flashback barbeque
The flashback barbeque
Where can you go?
Credits
Written by Andras Jones
Recorded live at The Accidental Music Festival
at Traditions Fair Trade in Olympia, WA
on May 10th, 1998
Purchase
$1.50