Recession Confession (1958)
When I was young I stuck my tongue out sometimes at my Dad
Because he'd say, "Back in my day we really had it bad.
I'd work full-time to earn a dime, and put it in the bank.
Kids now just spend and so they'll end up one day in the tank."
And then I'd wake at dawn's first break to hear the rattling cash
He tried to shake from my own stake, my private little stash,
The bank that he had given me, a sailor-man of brass.
His voice was strange: "I just need change for coffee and some gas."
So when I'd go to check my dough I'd take my hollow man
And shake him ‘round to hear a sound like dry leaves in a can.
I had to see and used the key I'd hidden with my shoes,
And out would fall the scraps of all my Daddy's I. O. U.'s.
I'm not dismayed; he always paid me back, eventually,
Redeem his notes and watch stock-quotes. I never asked a fee
For what he took, but now I look to feather my own nest.
I should have said, "Just take it, Dad, but I CHARGE INTEREST!"
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