
A Song For The Border
Slide doesn’t get better than this
Ten years before we needed it most. Ry Cooder’s “How Can A Poor Man Stand Such Times And Live.” Slide doesn’t get better than this. Cooder always seems to find a spiritual side to his songs. This is no exception: it’s his best.
All we need to do is turn the TV sound off and listen to this while the reporters angle for the heart of a story on the border, lost in sound bites and broken news.
A younger Ry Cooder and The Moula Banda Rhythm Aces

He’s a trickster, a conman, out to fool you and win at all costs, sparing no deception.

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Lyrics
Well, the doctor comes around with a face all bright
And he says in a little while you’ll be all right
All he gives is a humbug pill
A dose of dope and a great big bill
Tell me how can a poor man stand such times and live?
There once was a time when everything was cheap
But now prices nearly puts a man to sleep
When we pay our grocery bill
We just feel like making our will
Tell me how can a poor man stand such times and live?
I remember when dry goods were cheap as dirt
We could take two bits and buy a dandy shirt
Now we pay ten bucks or more
Maybe get a shirt that another man wore
Tell me how can a poor man stand such times and live?
Oh, it’s time for every man to be awake
We pay fifty cents a pound when we ask for steak
When we get our package home
A little wad of paper with gristle and bone
Tell me how can a poor man stand such times and live?
Most all preachers preach for gold and not for souls
That’s what keeps a poor man always in a hole
We can hardly get our breath
Taxed and schooled and preached to death
Tell me how can a poor man stand such times and live?