Pastoral Angst

Welcome to the gold rush, ladies and gentlemen Where California begins and maybe ends California is the last stop on the great hitchhike West and now it's getting a little full Too many thumbs, well, when you get Too many people in one place You get intolerance and contempt and rigidity And tension and sarcasm, distrust, anxiety, envy, hate, cynicism Discontent, self-pity, malice, suspicion, jealousy and snobbishness And this leads right into poetry, painting, sculpture Dance, music and literature, photography These are known as the arts and art will break your heart So what? So will a good meal Art is not the spiritual side of business-as-usual And art is not for everyone never has been and it never will be Now me, I don't know much about art, but I do like what I know You know in these days when everybody is mistaking Celebrity for talent, ambition for genius, self-pity for humility Style for content and loathing for love They spend a lot of time getting in touch with them self And then they find self-justification, self-righteousness Self-obsession, self-pity, self-loathing, self-concern Self-centredness, self-reliance, and self-serving gratification