Jill Susan Squirrel Busks

“Jill Susan Squirrel Busks”

Or “Cardboard Guitar, a Squirrelly Torch Song of Hopeless Longing (Which is Normal for a Squirrel Her Age)”

With shaky paws I would fly
If I could play
This borrowed guitar for you right now.
I’d make the other squirrels cry

And they’d feel
Almost as real
As I do right now
Pawing my cardboard guitar in the park.
Watching all the people with lives
Come and go.

Oh look, a Human!
She looks angry,
And right at me,
That pageboy be-hatted chick.
Oh, I get it.
I bet this is her guitar pick…
And capo…
And strings…
This is the last time she’ll sings
In this park.
I sit back and wonder
How HER gig will go?

Sorry. This is no way to get nuts in my cup.
Rave on, Sister Squirrel, rave on…

With shaky paws I would fly
If I could play
This borrowed guitar for you right now.
I’d make the other squirrels cry
And they’d feel
Almost as real
As I do right now
Pawing my cardboard guitar in the park.
Watching all the people with lives
Come and go.

Origin:

If this project is becoming a musical than this is the "I Want Song" of the musical: the song at the start of any musical that lays of the emotional objective of the main character -- where Judy leans against a hay stack and dreams of going over the rainbow (to meet gay lions and flying monkeys) or the Little Mermaid wants to be "Part of Your World."

This book/exhibit is suddenly not just about mental misfits (like Kerry and I) but about anyone feeling lost. Funny note, I just realized that all of Kerry's Plush Posse are girls who have kissed a girl… and might do it again. This is a very Unitarian Posse!

One last thought about that bridge (the middle of the song): Jill Sobule wrote a song called Ritalin Kid. Here it is in its entirety: "Ritalin Kid, Ritalin Kid… look, a squirrel."

It was Kerry's favorite Jill song along with "Jetpack". Kerry took Ritalin which made her hands shake.  She'd also scream out "Look a squirrel!" at the funniest moments. I asked Jill if she took Ritalin, since her hands shake like Kerry's. Jill laughed, "Can you imagine ME on stimulants!"

I made the squirrel have shaky paws since it made her sweet and vulnerable (and reminded me so much of Kerry.)

I also thought it was funny that a squirrel would scream, "Look a human!" whenever Jill comes into the park." Worse yet, the squirrel (who wears a striped shirt) swiped Jill's guitar pick, capo (a guitar clip used for open tuning the guitar) and all her strings. I just imagine Jill going to her next gig telling the owner, "A God damn squirrel in a red and white striped shirt stole my pick, capo and strings when I was drinking my coffee in the park. I’m not kidding!" Jill tends to lose her capo a lot anyway. She should start blaming random wildlife for it… one day a unicorn, the next a two-toed sloth in high heels.

Do they drug test at clubs? No, of course not. That would be the end of all live music in America, wouldn’t it?

© Gruesome2some 2013