Dead Presidents on Parade Bob Halligan, Jr.	(Based on 2 votes)

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Lyrics

I'm lookin' for ways to stay alive.
Got so many bills to pay tonight.
I got car insurance, life insurance,
health insurance, home insurance.
I can't breathe, 'cause I can't sleep,
'cause I can't pay, and there's no way,
but I still pray 'cause there's gotta be,
there's gotta be, there's gotta be,
there's gotta, gotta be a way.

Dead presidents on parade.
Step over here into the shade of my wallet.
I need money. I got love.
Comes in handy down here, Bub.
Dead presidents on parade.
Got bills that have gotta be paid from my pocket.
Can't pay what I don't have.
Dead presidents,
won't you have a seat right here.
Don't need to keep ya, just love to meet ya.
Don't have to stay.
Just say hello, and I'll send you on your way.

I'm lookin' to do what You have asked,
but it's been a long and grinding path.
Now I teach piano, teach guitar.
I teach what little I've learned so far,
but it's still rough, and it's so tough,
and it's not enough.
No, it's never been enough,
but I still pray ?cause I still pay.
So, I still pray, but there's no way,
but there's gotta be a way.
There's gotta be a way.
There's gotta be, gotta be, gotta be a way.

Love of money is the root of all evil.
Lack of money is a gun that shoots people.
That gun, it shot me in the ego.
Made me feel a little less equal.
If it's bad for me, think of the others,
starvin' children, fathers and mothers.
Gotta come up with a better system.
Our instincts are good, but we resist 'em.
There's gotta be a way. Gotta be a way.
Gotta be a way. Gotta be a way.

Artist Reflection

"Dead Presidents on Parade" grew directly out of my frustration with poor cash flow. God has been faithful to me in that way, but sometimes it has seemed "just barely" or "in the nick of time!" Much like most Ceili songs, it grew out of this central lyric idea. I thought of how it might sing and arranged the instruments around that. The version you hear on the CD is not as edgy as I meant it to be — my frustrations were very big! — but the point certainly comes across.

The ultimate point is this: However "put out" I may feel in my fiscal circumstances, imagine what it feels like to have no shoes, no clean water supply, or no ventilation in your home so that the fumes from your stove don't give your whole family chronic bronchitis. This song, like the CD's title track "Change in Your Pocket," addresses the sort of plight of the downtrodden that Mercy Corps seeks to relieve through its international efforts in 38 countries. Mercycorps.org is the place to go to find out how to help. Ceili Rain has worked with them for nearly three years now, and we're so very proud of the work they do for "the least of these."

- Bob Halligan, Jr.