Part Of The Problem 4

Mark Stephens first told me the bug story. My various bands have been fortunate to share the stage with his various bands over the years and one night at Lemmon's, we stood there unwrapping microphone cables. He stood, wearing a blue jump suit with a Monsanto patch on one breast and the name "Russ" embroidered over the other. Our mutual friend, Ross Lessor, gave Mark the outfit and kept one for himself. They were heirlooms from Ross' uncle who had worked with pesticides all his life and died alone out in the country in a house infested with bugs. Mark told me the story and I said it sounded like he should write a song about it. He told me it was more a song I would write. So I did. Then Ross gave me the primary account. Turns out I had filled in details close enough to the truth. Fiction is less strange than fact in this case and that's probably why this was easy.
The images stuck in my head for weeks. Uncle Russ in his house with a septic tank out back. Then the carpentry scenes to get away from the old place which was infested with bugs. A new house also infested. Then the horror movie end with neighbors and flashlights discovering the body. Afterwards, Ross went there too and couldn't stay the night for all the bugs, which he described as looking like aliens from outer space.
Bad Folk recorded the song. Jason Rook took his tape recorder and got some scab frogs to sing the part. We rejected it. He went back and got union crickets. Turns out Belgrade, Missouri has a fine cricket choir scene. More recently, a benign cricket infestation appeared in my basement where Bad Folk had rehearsed.


Bugs

old man worked for the chemical company
when he retired moved out to the country
that old house on the river was infested
called on the phone and siad he had to move
all those years in a blue jump suit, working for the chemical company
mixing, fixing to kill, mixing pheromones with the poison
that's how you kill them, attract them to the posion
one last phone call from that old man
the bugs are killing me

old man worked for the chemical company
mixing, fixing to kill
all those years making DDT until he himself radiates it
built a new house every step by hand
new wood, new ground, up on a hill
but these things are futile if you've been mixing to kill
that's how you kill them, attract them to the posion
one last phone call from that new house
the bugs are killing me, he said

and the heart attack was from the shock of how well it worked
and how they'd come for him in the end
at the end of that dirt road
the bugs are killing me he said
and the neighbors found him dead
shine a light on this infestation
exterminator down