Elk Grove - Sun Kil Moon, Mark Kozelek

I awoke and I arose

And said to you, «Let's go see Rose»

Rose gives the best haircut in all of Elk Grove

And she’s as funny as any person I know

She says, «Who in the fuck in this world only knows how to do one job?

If you only know how to do one job in this world, you’re fucked

Learn how to change a tire, learn how to draw blood.»

I said, «Rose, I got to tell you, that comment, it stings

For I only have one job, I play guitar and sing.»

She said, «Well that’s two jobs you can dingaling.»

I said, «Well, I’m also a songwriter.»

She said

«There you go, that’s three.»

I said, «Yeah, but all of the theaters and churches and nightclubs are closed.»

She said, «What are you talking about?

Everything’s closed

The dentist offices are closed, and the places that sell clothes

Even the dry cleaners are closed, J. Coors is closed.»

I said, «So how are you staying in business, Rose?»

She said, «I'm creative, I know the in’s and out’s

And I’m in with the cops, you know.»

I said, «How do you suggest that I reopen, Rose?»

She said, «Keep playing and singing, and before you know it, you’ll be back on

your toes

While the rest of the world is battling it out and shaming each other county to

county

Stay in your lane, exercise your mind and grow.»

And in that moment, I awoke and I arose

I told her, «Thank you for the haircut, Rose.»

And then we drove on past the whispering oaks

Past the galloping horses and Black Kite Road

Elk Grove, the home of Tritones

Elk Grove, the home of Zecky’s Fish Tacos

Elk Grove, South Sacramento

Elk Grove, the home of my old friend Rowan

Sitting on my porch next to a blue and white Chinese vase

Full of red and white salvia and lavender and wild yellow aster picked from a

storybook landscape

And a copy of John Fante’s Ask the Dust

Where the Mayan princess, Arturo Bandini, is in love

Where the Mayan princess, Arturo Bandini, is in love

He’s in love but he doesn’t know how to show it

Every time he tries, he insults her, and he ends up blowing it

And when she tells him just how much she hates him

He tells her that he’s proud to be raided by her hatred

Today we walked into town, the rose petals were falling, the lilies were

turning brown

While the spireas were turning fluorescent pink

All the way up to the foothills, where the houses overlook the Sierra Mountain

peaks

And from my porch, I saw two paramedics outside just down the block

I told you they were there and I went outside to watch

Later on you asked me, what did I see?

I said, «I had to stop looking, I don’t have an ounce of voyeurism in me

What’s happening over there I am not meant to see.»

And tonight’s another beautiful night and I’ll be up until dusk

Reading John Fante’s Ask the Dust

Beside you, sporting a fresh haircut

Grateful for my city water, that I’m not on septic

Everybody I’ve ever known that’s been on septic complains relentlessly that

septic is hectic

And I’m laying awake wondering about who was being carried away by paramedics

I went vocational in high school and not academic

I didn’t choose to be a songwriter, it’s just what I am, and I know I’ve not

perfected it

Is this song compelling, do you find it copacetic?

Whatever it is, it’s what I do, and you can expect more of it