"Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely." Lord Acton

Busted

The lyrics to “Busted,” written by Harlan Howard, and made famous as performed by Johnny Cash:

My bills are all due and the babies need shoes,
But I’m Busted
Cotton’s gone down to a quarter a pound
And I’m Busted

I got a cow that’s gone dry
And a hen that won’t lay
A big stack of bills
Getting bigger each day
The county’s gonna haul my belongings away,
But I’m Busted

So I called on my brother to ask for a loan
‘Cause I was Busted
I hate to beg like a dog for a bone,
But I’m Busted

My brother said, “there’s not a thing I can do,
My wife and my kids
Are all down with the flu
And I was just thinkin’ about callin’ on you,
‘Cause I’m Busted.”

Lord, I ain’t no thief, but a man can go wrong,
When he’s Busted
The food that we canned last summer is gone,
But I’m Busted

Now the fields are all bare
And the cotton won’t grow
Me and my family’s gotta pack up and go
But I’ll make a living, just where, I don’t know
‘Cause I’m Busted

There’s a lot to think about in this 2 minute song: family, poverty, foreclosure, charity, and economic displacement.

Update: A recommendation has come my way (HT) to check out Ray Charles’ version. Here is below:

Still ‘Busted,’ Forty Years Later

Yesterday was the fortieth anniversary of Johnny Cash’s live recording of the album At Folsom Prison. On the 1999 re-release, the brief song “Busted” (originally recorded by Cash in 1962) was included.

And while the price of cotton is more like 50 cents per pound now (which is much lower than the cost of inflation over the same period), the song still speaks to the situation of many folks today:

“My bills are all due and the babies need shoes but I’m busted
Cotton is down to a quarter a pound and I’m busted
I’ve got a cow that went dry and a hen that won’t lay
A big stack of bills that get bigger each day
The County will haul my belongings away I’m busted!

I went to my brother to ask for a loan I was busted
I hate to beg like a dog for a bone but I’m busted
My brother said there ain’t a thing I can do
My wife and my kids are all down with the flu
And I was just thinking of calling on you I’m busted!”

Something of note in that tune penned by Detroit native Harlan Howard: when in need, the man turns to his family first (not the government).

The Man in Black