WEBVTT

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Something in a
lighter mode, perhaps.

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Every once in a while a
song will get a hold of me,

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and almost drive me crazy.

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I think the first
time this happened

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was when I was
about six years old,

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and "Onward Christian Soldiers"
kept going through my head.

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There's a song
and, all day long,

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driving to and back from
Marana, where I spoke today,

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I've been trying to recall the
title or maybe recall the tune.

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But at any rate, the first
line or two of this poem

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is the same as this popular--

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it's a western song.

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I've changed, of course,
the song quite a bit

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while keeping the general
movement of the song.

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And the poem is titled
"Variation," because it's

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a variation of the song.

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I have some stage
directions to it in Spanish,

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and they are cántelo con
tristeza, which means,

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sing it with sadness.

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Across the alley
from the Alamo, live

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an old paint pony and
a Navajo, whose head

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is like a lump of
black chewing gum.

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The horse has never
brushed his teeth.

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They stand there giving
an Indian howdy to all

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that pass by, a grunt,
looking at the sky.

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The horse chews on
the Indian's shoulder.

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They used to wash their
frijoles in the creek,

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and pick their teeth
around the fire.

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Get a little drunk once a week.

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Until, one day, looking at
the sky, they went away.

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Down the railroad track,
wishing, not looking.

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Toot toot, they never came back.

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