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Smuggler's Blues Lyrics
There's trouble on the streets tonight,
I can feel it in my bones.
I had a premonition,
That he should not go alone.
I knew the gun was loaded,
But I didn't think he'd kill.
Everything exploded,
And the blood began to spill.
So baby, here's your ticket,
Put the suitcase in your hand.
Here's a little money now,
Do it just the way we planned.
You be cool for twenty hours
And I'll pay you twenty grand.
I'm sorry it went down like this,
And someone had to lose,
It's the nature of the business,
It's the smuggler's blues.
Smuggler's Blues
The sailors and pilots,
The soldiers and the law,
The pay offs and the rip offs,
And the things nobody saw.
No matter if it's heroin, cocaine, or hash,
You've got to carry weapons
'Cause you always carry cash.
There's lots of shady characters,
Lots of dirty deals.
Ev'ry name's an alias
In case somebody squeals.
It's the lure of easy money,
It's gotta very strong appeal.
Perhaps you'd understand it better
Standin' in my shoes,
It's the ultimate enticement,
It's the smuggler's blues,
Smuggler's blues.
See it in the headlines,
You hear it ev'ry day.
They say they're gonna stop it,
But it doesn't go away.
They move it through Miami, sell it in L.A.,
They hide it up in Telluride,
I mean it's here to stay.
It's propping up the governments in Columbia and Peru,
You ask any D.E.A. man,
He'll say "There's nothin' we can do",
From the office of the President,
Right down to me and you, me and you.
It's a losing proposition,
But one you can't refuse.
It's the politics of contraband,
It's the smuggler's blues,
Smuggler's blues.
I can feel it in my bones.
I had a premonition,
That he should not go alone.
I knew the gun was loaded,
But I didn't think he'd kill.
Everything exploded,
And the blood began to spill.
So baby, here's your ticket,
Put the suitcase in your hand.
Here's a little money now,
Do it just the way we planned.
You be cool for twenty hours
And I'll pay you twenty grand.
And someone had to lose,
It's the nature of the business,
It's the smuggler's blues.
Smuggler's Blues
The soldiers and the law,
The pay offs and the rip offs,
And the things nobody saw.
No matter if it's heroin, cocaine, or hash,
You've got to carry weapons
'Cause you always carry cash.
There's lots of shady characters,
Lots of dirty deals.
Ev'ry name's an alias
In case somebody squeals.
It's the lure of easy money,
It's gotta very strong appeal.
Standin' in my shoes,
It's the ultimate enticement,
It's the smuggler's blues,
Smuggler's blues.
You hear it ev'ry day.
They say they're gonna stop it,
But it doesn't go away.
They move it through Miami, sell it in L.A.,
They hide it up in Telluride,
I mean it's here to stay.
It's propping up the governments in Columbia and Peru,
You ask any D.E.A. man,
He'll say "There's nothin' we can do",
From the office of the President,
Right down to me and you, me and you.
But one you can't refuse.
It's the politics of contraband,
It's the smuggler's blues,
Smuggler's blues.
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The imagery in this song is fantastic. I don't know if you need to spell "realities" in all-caps though. What are you trying to imply, that people are singing lies about drug use in America? The song isn't even -about- drug use; it's about -smuggling-, and even then celebrities aren't always the best source for reliable information. It's more accurate to say that it is a great, gritty and edgy song about smuggling and the underworld, befitting of the 80s Miami Vice crime-drama show whose soundtrack it was released upon. As far as reality, it may or may not be an accurate reflection of what's going on today or twenty years ago, but one usually leaves "reality" far behind when one turns on the television.
this is a great song about the REALITIES of drug use in America
Really, it's less about the realities of drug use, than it is about the realities of the War on Drugs. There's so much money to be made in the smuggling trade that trying to suppress it is like trying to bail out the ocean, and yet it's a kind of futility that is politically impossible to abandon.
Reminds me of the 80's, Miami Vice, and me and my twin brother watching Miami Vice in Bath (the town in England).
The war again drugs is a bizarre war-- the DEA etc never seem to be winning it-- the dope keeps coming-- and US policy has been ambiguous, with at times the CIA supporting the illegal drug growing/marketing business as a prop against communism (in France, Italy, Turkey after WW2, in SE Asia) or in Afghanistan now as a prop against religious extremists. Yet billionaire dope dealers are not really winning either as they live at risk of being shot down or imprisoned for life. I think the video stresses this--the flow of dope has a life of it's own that contin-ues despite the fall of the human players. The modern white dope "octopus" is much the creation of exiled mobster Lucky Luciano and the CIA, who gave it a life beyond them, and structured it so that when one player falls,another imme-diately takes his place. Luciano convinced mobsters that the money from white dope would tower over all the other rackets combined; true, but no-one, including Luciano ever seems to win at the game long term. "Its a losing proposition, but one you can't refuse, it's the nature of the business". Luciano and the CIA created and put into motion a monster that has turned on our own country and Italy even more so. And no one seems to know how to stop it.