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Her Dorian Gray Don't Work

from We'll Be Right Back! by Snipe Hunt

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about

Another song inspired by ugly business in the workplace, stemming from when Ehresman worked in a State of Texas governmental agency. He recalls "I don't know if it's like this everywhere, but in Texas government it is very true to say that political 'must-hires' are everywhere and, as Anne Richards said about George Bush, these people were born on third base and think they hit a triple......a ready-made formula for the creation of petty tyrants who, on the way, sell out the people's business......This song is about a particularly egregious instance of the Peter Principle, along with a fantasy I had of plugging her into the Dorian Grey story by Oscar Wilde......Also, this was my first real attempt to put together a funk song"

lyrics

Her Dorian Gray Don’t Work
(© 1997 Walter Ehresman)

She thought she’d found a better way of livin’,
where she could do exactly as she pleased;
A bargain with a buyer from the Southland
gets a century of people on their knees.

But the portrait in the attic isn’t changing,
and her looks are getting funkier by day;
If she keeps on actin’ shitty to the people in this town,
Well, I do believe she’s gonna blow her self away.

[chorus]
Her Dorian Gray don’t work

She’s hoping that this constitutes a brief SNAFU,
and the mirror will be kinder than today;
‘Cause you can’t increase your powerbase when chunks are falling off your face and even politicians look away.

And the staff ain’t subjugated when they’re snickering,
and terror’s getting harder to create;
Required genuflection has become a little lax, and
her wide-load is beginning to gyrate.....

I think this mess is causin’ her confusion;
I think she thought it wouldn’t be this way;
She planned 500 years of lookin’ good and bein’ bad,
‘stead of drowning in her poison and decay.

Saw her ooze around the corner just the other day;
In her mumu--didn’t really look that hot.....
Haulin’ ‘round that tonnage got to be a load to bear,
but at least she gets the primo parking spot.

credits

from We'll Be Right Back!, released May 1, 1999
Scott Brannock: funky-ass bass, background vocals, conga; Walter Ehresman: lead vocals, lead & rhythm guitars, shaker; Vic Ramirez: rhythm guitar, background vocals, cabasa; Pat Devaney: kit drums.

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Walter Ehresman San Miguel De Allende, Mexico

Called "the quintessential Austin DIY artist" by famed local disc jockey Charlie Martin , Walter Ehresman was an eccentric presence in the Austin music scene from the '80s until his 2015 move to Mexico. A prolific songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and recording artist...and a restless musical spirit, always looking for something new, expressed with fearlessly honest, socially-conscious lyrics. ... more

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