Le greffe : One cat, one vote, and one beer...

Illustration : Vincent Valdez

Ry Cooder, vocal - Joachim Cooder, keyboard, percussion - John Hassell, trumpet

Hey bartender, what you say , I'm gonna get drunk on election day!
Want one glass of bourbon, one glass of rye
Come on, set me up, Joe, don't pass me by!
My money's alright, but my feet go sore
See, I been trying to vote, 'bout a hour or more
I tried, but I didn't get nowhere Joe,
I just don't think they're doing this voting fair and square!
Better make it one cat, one vote, and one beer
Bartender, one cat, one vote, and one beer...

See, I went downtown to the voting room
'Cause I wanted to get my voting done soon
The man said, "We're gonna have to do a little checking on you"
Come back a little later on and said, "Well, Buddy, you knox, your vote just can't go through
Says you been dead, ten years back. We're sure not gonna take a vote off a dead red cat"
"What you say ?"
"Step aside now, you're interering with the election process, that's a crime"
"The crime is you!"
"Well Buddy, voting is just something I don't think you're going to do"

Chorus

Now, I'm gonna drink a little gin and some mellow wine

Then I'm gonna try that voting machine out just one more time
'Cause democracy is in our hands, but it's slipping through our fingers just like sand
I'm worried for you, sure worried for me, watching the election coming round on the T.V.
Voting is closed, we already lost the race
Might as well meet me down to Little Joe's Place

Chorus

On aura reconnu, outre une allusion à une chanson bien connue de John Lee Hooker, un petit exposé condensé des difficultés que certains êtres humains ont éprouvées pour pouvoir voter aux Etats-Unis d'Amérique, jusqu'au 5 Juillet 1971 selon certains, et encore beaucoup plus tard selon d'autres.

My name is Buddy est le second album de la "trilogie californienne" de Ry Cooder, après

et avant

Buddy est un concept-album. Il raconte les aventures d'un chat rouge, Buddy, qui quitte la ferme familiale pour échapper à la misère et vagabonde en compagnie de Lefty, une souris syndicaliste wobbly, avec l'insigne des IWW sur la casquette, et du révérend Tom Toad, qui combat le nouveau Ku-Klux-Klan à coups de Gospel Songs. Cooder revient à ses racines, Woody Guthrie et les Dust Bowl Ballads, aux migrants des Raisins de la colère, et à son album de 1972, Into the Purple Valley. Pas sûr d'ailleurs que cette America of yesteryear ne soit pas aussi celle de demain, quand on voit à quelle allure les Tent Cities s'installent aux US comme au temps de Tom Joad. A noter que parmi les nombreux musiciens convoqués on entend Pete Seeger et son frère Mike.

Reprenez un peu des aventures de Buddy Red Cat, Lefty Mouse & Reverend Tom Toad : Strike ! La grève...

Ry Cooder, vocals, guitar - Joachim Cooder, drums - Mike Seeger, fiddle, harmonica, jaw harp

I got off the train one evening in a little mining town
I started walking up the main street when the sun was going down
When I heard some voices singing, so I went to see what for
Might just be a birthday party, and might be room for just one more
It was miners and their families, they had left the mine that day
Walked out for safe conditions, on strike for decent pay...