Moonshine

(inspired by the wonderful book Sam, Bangs, and Moonshine by Evaline Ness)

Sammy’s been talking that moonshine
Making stories up for me and you
You know it never fails, she’s always telling tales
About the lion and the kangaroo
Telling lies to anybody who will listen
She’s always acting like it’s no big deal
You know she doesn’t even know the difference
Between her stories and what is real

Sammy don’t you talk that moonshine
Do you have to carry on that way
I know you think you’re wise, impressing all of the guys
But your lies will bite you back someday
I heard your daddy say before he went away
And he left you there on the shore
He said, girl I’m telling you to talk the talk that’s true
Oh, Sammy don’t you talk that moonshine talk no more

Don’t you ever stop to think of who you’re hurting
When you lie to a friend so true
You always send him away but you know someday
Your friends will stop believing you
But in the meantime Tommy’s in trouble
And Bangs is floating out to sea
You’ve got to realize that when you tell those lies
It’s not right, Sam listen to me

Sammy don’t you talk that moonshine
Do you have to carry on that way
I know you think you’re wise, impressing all of the guys
But your lies will bite you back someday
You know that lying’s a sin and when the tide comes in
It doesn’t matter if you’re rich or poor
So girl I’m telling you to talk the talk that’s true
Oh, Sammy don’t you talk that moonshine talk no more

The point of the song is that Moonshine’s wrong
So leave that talk on the old blue rock
Oh Sammy don’t you talk that moonshine talk no more.

Notes

Back in the days when we read actual books in Los Angeles public schools (I’m dating myself here), one of the books on the core literature list was Sam, Bangs, and Moonshine by Evaline Ness. One project on my long, long list of things to do next year is to write enough songs about my favorite kids’ books to do a whole album of them.

I’ve also written things about OCR, but they really shouldn’t be posted on a kid-friendly site.