"007 (Shanty Town)" by Desmond Dekker
"0-0-7
0-0-7
At ocean eleven
And now rudeboys have a go wail
'Cause dem out of jail
Rudeboys cannot fail
'Cause dem must get bail
'Dem a loot, dem a shoot, dem a wail
A Shanty Town
Dem a loot, dem a shoot, dem a wail
A Shanty Town
Dem rudeboys get a probation
A Shanty Town
And rudeboy bomb up the town
A Shanty Town
'0-0-7
0-0-7
At ocean eleven
And the rudeboys a go wail
'Cause dem out of jail
Rudeboys cannot fail
'Cause dem must get bail
'Dem a loot, dem a shoot, dem a wail
A Shanty Town
Dem a loot, dem a shoot, dem a wail
A Shanty Town
Dem rudeboys get a probation
A Shanty Town
And rudeboy bomb up the town
A Shanty Town
'Police get taller
A Shanty Town
Soldier get longer
A Shanty Town
Rudeboy a weep and a wail
A Shanty Town"
---
Definitely Desmond Dekker's best, and definitely the best tune with which to have some Guinness punch and snuggle up to one's kitty on a chilly Yuletide evening. Makes me feel like I'm in some older British indie flic. Actually, it most likely is on the soundtrack of any number of movies and I'm just unaware. Anyway, I should write my own script, and insist they work in this song somewhere.
There's a winter storm going on outside here in southwestern Ohio - sleet, freezing rain, and even 1-3 inches of snow accumulation by morning - woohoo!
I'm never happier than when it is snowing, unless it is when I am walking in the falling snow, as I was doing the other day. We got some good snowfall on Thursday, but the ground was too warm for any of it to stick. I was just walking across town with my face in the air staring at the sun behind the clouds. It looked like a different star had come to replace our own sun - a white one that flowed and wobbled in the sky. The flakes were relatively big, like ash. The whole scene felt so post-apocalyptic.
When I was a kid, snow storms were the best when there was a snow day and I could go door-to-door offering to shovel drives for a buck or two. I would make $5 to $10 for mowing a lawn in the summertime, but I absolutely dreaded doing that ... trudging around in the thick heat pushing some monstrous machine. Every once in a while some small animal would get caught in the blades. I remember one little garter snake very vividly; just the top of its skull was severed and it writhed in the grass for quite some time before it died. I cried and cried, and I doubt I've ever mowed a lawn since without thinking of that. None of that with shoveling drives ... just cold and peace and scrape and hush. When I got tired, I could just put my shovel down and lie flat on my back and feel the cold soak up into me and the diffuse light fall down on me.
I may be getting a decent settlement check from the insurance company because my car was broken into and someone stole my book-bag. I only have liability on the car, so the busted window won't be covered, but the book-bag and its contents will be covered under my apartment insurance (odd), and that adds up to about $400 after the deductible. My car is pretty much toast now because the brakes have gone out as well, it's simply not worth getting fixed, which is good because I can't afford the car anyway. That means I can't get to the city to drive, which means maybe I won't die in a taxicab with a toothpick hanging out my mouth and my brains splattered all over the dashboard. The only bad thing was the loss of all my Discreet Math homework, but that has worked out too because the professor has agreed to give me an Incomplete in the course. What with all the cuts in my budget I had to make because I was working (wait a minute - isn't working supposed to mean I end up with more money? HAHAHA!!! Yeah, right!) and the insurance settlement, I should have enough money after New Year to go up to Windsor and get some outcall, or maybe fuck the outcall (no pun intended) and head up to Newfoundland and check out the icebergs. Either way, I'm assured some real snow.
"0-0-7
0-0-7
At ocean eleven
And now rudeboys have a go wail
'Cause dem out of jail
Rudeboys cannot fail
'Cause dem must get bail
'Dem a loot, dem a shoot, dem a wail
A Shanty Town
Dem a loot, dem a shoot, dem a wail
A Shanty Town
Dem rudeboys get a probation
A Shanty Town
And rudeboy bomb up the town
A Shanty Town
'0-0-7
0-0-7
At ocean eleven
And the rudeboys a go wail
'Cause dem out of jail
Rudeboys cannot fail
'Cause dem must get bail
'Dem a loot, dem a shoot, dem a wail
A Shanty Town
Dem a loot, dem a shoot, dem a wail
A Shanty Town
Dem rudeboys get a probation
A Shanty Town
And rudeboy bomb up the town
A Shanty Town
'Police get taller
A Shanty Town
Soldier get longer
A Shanty Town
Rudeboy a weep and a wail
A Shanty Town"
---
Definitely Desmond Dekker's best, and definitely the best tune with which to have some Guinness punch and snuggle up to one's kitty on a chilly Yuletide evening. Makes me feel like I'm in some older British indie flic. Actually, it most likely is on the soundtrack of any number of movies and I'm just unaware. Anyway, I should write my own script, and insist they work in this song somewhere.
There's a winter storm going on outside here in southwestern Ohio - sleet, freezing rain, and even 1-3 inches of snow accumulation by morning - woohoo!

When I was a kid, snow storms were the best when there was a snow day and I could go door-to-door offering to shovel drives for a buck or two. I would make $5 to $10 for mowing a lawn in the summertime, but I absolutely dreaded doing that ... trudging around in the thick heat pushing some monstrous machine. Every once in a while some small animal would get caught in the blades. I remember one little garter snake very vividly; just the top of its skull was severed and it writhed in the grass for quite some time before it died. I cried and cried, and I doubt I've ever mowed a lawn since without thinking of that. None of that with shoveling drives ... just cold and peace and scrape and hush. When I got tired, I could just put my shovel down and lie flat on my back and feel the cold soak up into me and the diffuse light fall down on me.
I may be getting a decent settlement check from the insurance company because my car was broken into and someone stole my book-bag. I only have liability on the car, so the busted window won't be covered, but the book-bag and its contents will be covered under my apartment insurance (odd), and that adds up to about $400 after the deductible. My car is pretty much toast now because the brakes have gone out as well, it's simply not worth getting fixed, which is good because I can't afford the car anyway. That means I can't get to the city to drive, which means maybe I won't die in a taxicab with a toothpick hanging out my mouth and my brains splattered all over the dashboard. The only bad thing was the loss of all my Discreet Math homework, but that has worked out too because the professor has agreed to give me an Incomplete in the course. What with all the cuts in my budget I had to make because I was working (wait a minute - isn't working supposed to mean I end up with more money? HAHAHA!!! Yeah, right!) and the insurance settlement, I should have enough money after New Year to go up to Windsor and get some outcall, or maybe fuck the outcall (no pun intended) and head up to Newfoundland and check out the icebergs. Either way, I'm assured some real snow.
VIEW 3 of 3 COMMENTS
In my neck of the woods its all dirt, so when it gets cold its just grey dirt.