Homeland Refugee - The Flatlanders

With a backpack full of yesterdays

On a freeway full of smoke and haze

Where the power lines and fault lines double cross

I left our yellow porch light on

No one will notice no one’s home

And no one else will notice what was lost

I lost my home when the deal went bust

To the so-called security and trust

I planned my life the way they said I should

I sent my wife and kids ahead

I’m right behind you, so I said

I’ll be there when I get there if that’s good

Now I’m leaving California for the dust bowl

They took it all, there’s nowhere else to go

The pastures of plenty are burning by the sea

And I’m just a homeland refugee

There’s a plastic sack by a barbwire fence

A burned out beer truck full of dents

A dried up stock pond by an old canal

Between the towns the desert sands

Filling up with empty cans

Container trains, casinos and canals

My Grandpa used to tell about

The way the bankers drove them out

In the wind and the dust in the crash of '29

They crossed the desert headed west

They swore that it was for the best

They reassured the ones they left behind

There’s some refugees from Mexico

Behind an abandoned Texaco

We nod and smile, it’s clear we’re all the same

For everything this world is worth

We’re all just migrants on this earth

Returning to the dust from where we came