FAWM: "Cardboard Boxes"

Cardboard Boxes

6 days ago by @kc_

There is no demo for this song.

Liner Notes

#needscollab #needsmusic Saw the prompt and the first line came instantly... last line of chorus is pretty clunky...

Lyrics

V I
Just a castle of cardboard boxes
A keep that crumples in the rain
Corrugation between the sheets
Doesn’t stand up to that much pain

A little putty and a little paint
Turns a sponge into a stone
Tromp-l’oeil fakes, find out it ain’t
Left undefended and alone

C
Cardboard boxes
Paper foxes
Oxes from balloons
Again forclosed on
Left forlorn and
Our house’s bound for the bailer soon

V II
Cardboard boxes can break the breeze
As a second roof, shed the rain
Don’t keep us warm but stops the freeze
My castle is your bain

between the sheets, corrugation
even one flat can help find sheep
That small separation a celebration
What’s needed to fall asleep

C
Cardboard boxes
Paper foxes
Oxes from balloons
Again forclosed on
Left forlorn and
Our house’s bound for the bailer soon

Outro
But this detritus, irks the best of us
Community action can be so fun
With rakes and shovels, trucks and tailers
The clean-up has begun
Fold up the hovels, off to the bailers
The clean-up has begun

Comments

@nancycunning 3d

Oooh, I like this one. I am a sucker for a cardboard box - always have been. I still have not forgiven my mother for throwing away (when I was 15 and out of the country) the Barbie house I'd built from 6 cardboard moving boxes when I was 9. And my son once slept for a week in a house built from cardboard that he and his younger sister assembled. Guess it's in the blood.

@tjeff 5d

I really like the ambiguousness of your lyric. Love the various imagery. I couldn't decide if this was about homelessness, or simply a house made of cardboard, or something completely different.

@robinleaf 5d

The first stanza is so good I could eat it, especially "A keep that crumples in the rain." Ugh, I'm jealous. 😛 This is such an interesting take on the prompt and I was sad to see that the cardboard house was taken away. With all of your talk of decorating it was bringing back memories of making community theater sets... Specifically making castle walls for Shrek the musical haha (I was the dragon).

@ethnodrew 6d

Oof, yes! I FELT this--just tryimg to get some separation from the elements in order to get some sleep, trying some tricks to make it more sturdy, only for the city to "clean it up " and leave you at square one again. Important story to tell!!