A Sheltered Life
I’ve been told the hungry days are over
I’ve been told the hungry days are here
I’ve been told it really doesn’t matter much
Just so long as you keep your loving in the clear
So I don’t worry
I guess I’ve got my loving in the clear
I never worry – no, no
I lead A Sheltered Life
Forty days’ll take you back to nowhere
Forty days’ll teach you what to say
Forty days’ll take you all around the world
Just so long as nothing gets into your way
So don’t you worry
Maybe nothing’ll get into your way
I never worry
I lead A Sheltered Life
I never worry about my telephone
I lead A Sheltered Life
I never worry about my telephone
I worry about the neighbors smoking on the bed
I hear it’s time I started worrying about the Russians too
I’ve been told the forty days are over
I’ve been told the forty days are here
I’ve been told it really doesn’t matter much
Just so long as you keep your loving in the clear
So I don’t worry
I guess I’ve got my loving in the clear
I never worry
I lead A Sheltered Life
I never worry about my telephone
I lead A Sheltered Life
I never worry about my telephone
I worry about the Russians smoking on the bed
I hear it’s time I started worrying about the neighbors too
A Sheltered Life
In December of 1979 I was living in California. The Russians invaded Afghanistan around Christmas time and it was a big deal in the news. Of course, the event served as a useful political lever and helped Ronald Reagan and his enablers unseat Jimmy Carter as President of the United States.
The Evil Empire is coming.
“I worry about the neighbors smoking on the bed
I hear it’s time I started worrying about the Russians too”
Though I have made efforts to educate myself, I am still entirely too ignorant of history. That being said, I knew enough even then to be aware that I was living a sheltered life - sheltered by a nuclear umbrella, oceans on either side of the North American continent, antibiotics, the U.S. Constitution – as well as by my parents’ relative prosperity as compared to many in the world.
“A Sheltered Life” is the song of a young man acknowledging how sheltered he was.
Most of the songs I wrote in those years didn’t cohere for various reasons ranging from personal naivete to lack of craftsmanship.
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On the other hand, some of them were so spot on that they stuck with me.
I’ve been living this song for forty years now. I hope it can be of some use to others too.