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The King of Paperclips (a petty tyrant sings the blues)

from I Saw the Future (But the Damn Train Hit Me Just the Same) by Snipe Hunt

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--written about a terrible experience Snipe Hunt had with the guy running the music stage when we played a big outdoor festival in Austin somewhere around 1999. It's not often that you see a small moment of power go to someone's head so fully and disastrously. We heard he was later excommunicated from the annual event for pushing a female volunteer roughly to the ground. Ugggh.

See the video here:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=BhpUJVkr1Lc

lyrics

The King of Paperclips
(© 2000: lyrics--Walter Ehresman; music--Ehresman/Ramirez)


Since I steppin’ onto the ground, I and I know
myself wasn’t cuttin’ it;
Gotta walk about 10 feet tall--only way I know
that everybody seein’ it.
Don’t be lookin’ at my dominion--quiver in your boots all
ye who will enter here;
I’m the master of my domain (except, if you must know, in the
night where no one can hear).

[chorus--repeat twice]
All hail the king of paperclips,
the ruler of one small thing;
All good people must pass through here
and endure the pain he brings.

I can’t go behind your closed doors--I’ll never see the
things that go on in there;
Never let me into your circles--just because I suck don’t
mean that this deal is fair.
Every time I see my reflection, there’s a moment where
I know just what I see.
Then the feeling fades into anger, and I spit on
everything that comes near to me.

[chorus--twice]

[break--reggae toast]
I hear him comin’ in a rub-a-dub style,
with the heart of a chicken and the tone of a child;
And he walks upon the Earth like a gerbil gone wild,
and he climbs up on his high-chair as the people passin’ by;
And he makes a big ripple in the puddle in the spoon,
while the players on the gameboard sing a more important tune,
and he’s only got a moment for to piss on your shoe,
and the highlight of his kingdom ain’t a thing to me and you.
Oh, no.

I’m a badger when you step in my foxhole--you will not step
away unscathed;
The stuff I got may not mean much to you, but if you want it, oh
man, well you’re gonna pay.
They say power will corrupt completely--and I know that the
saying is true;
I may never touch things of substance....but I can take a little
piece of you.

credits

from I Saw the Future (But the Damn Train Hit Me Just the Same), released September 1, 2002
Walter Ehresman: dirty electric guitar, 6-string banjo, keyboards & synth bass, electronic percussion pads, toasting, background vocals, sequencing, drum machine programming.

Vic Ramirez: lead vocals, clean electric guitar.

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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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