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Hello Sailor

from White Collar Punk by Timon Marmex

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about

This is the song which finally solidified the concept of the "White Collar Punk" album, and was the third song to be recorded after "Baby Doll" and "Patriot/Expatriate".
Jobs in computer and technology-related fields often place incredible demands on individuals to the exclusion and destruction of all other things in their life, including their future employability. Upon being layed-off from my last job I found myself with no current skills with which to seek new employment.
I felt as if I had become as obsolete as the technology I had been working on, just another company asset which was depleted and depreciated and was now being written off.

This song is my attempt to capture those feelings: the frustration, disillusionment, desperation, lonelyness, anger and uncertainty that happens when your company uses you up and throws you away.

The title "Hello Sailor" and referenced to a "bell", "book", "candle" and "pointed stick" were obviously purloined from the classic computer game series Zork, but were used for the deeper meaning behind them.

From The Jargon Dictionary - www.netmeg.net/jargon/
Version 4.0.0, 24 July 1996
hello, sailor!
hello, sailor! /interj./ Occasional West Coast equivalent of hello, world; seems to have originated at SAIL, later associated with the game Zork (which also included "hello, aviator" and "hello, implementor"). Originally from the traditional hooker's greeting to a swabbie fresh off the boat, of course.

So "Hello Sailor" is being used in my song as both an allusion to the hacker world and Zork, and as an reference to the seductive prostitution of the hacker into the career world. Who is saying "Hello Sailor?" It starts as an external voice... the career, the technology, the seductivity of creativity with instant gratification. But at the end of the song, the protagonist is saying "Hello Sailor", having become the prostitute, selling their time, energy, creativity... the years of their life, to their career, but never achieving the dream which they originally set out for.

The "bell", "book", and "candle" are symbols which are commonly associated with witchcraft which I am using to refer to the arcana of the hacking guru and liken the career world to a deal with the devil.

The "pointed stick" is the final Zork reference... those of you who know the games and the text which normally accompanies the "pointed stick" can "do the arithmetic" to understand the kind of self-mutilation it refers to.

I revisit similar themes in the song "Running Down". These two songs are the cornerstones of the "White Collar Punk" concept.

lyrics

I'm working here to further crime,
just standing here stoking the fires.
I'm working here 'cause I believed in truth.
I'm lonely running out of time;
I've lost my skills and I can't be hired.
I'll never get to be the same as you.
How long have you been way too tired to try?
(Hello Sailor)
How long since you had lost that living high?
(Hello Sailor)
How many years have you been feeling used?
(Hello Sailor)
How many years since you left the roost?
(Hello Sailor)
I cower looking down the line;
all sacrificed yet I haven't sired
A single son from inspiration's use.
Now older and the vein is mined;
It's all tapped out and I'm not yet retired
No riches come from this equation's proof.
Lost time and I've lost hair in pleasing you.
(Hello Sailor)
No difference made and nothing left to do.
(Hello Sailor)
No savings gonna build a friend for me.
(Hello Sailor)
Disillusioned and devoid of all belief.
(Hello Sailor)
God/Devil and the Heaven/Hell;
they're all sweet dreams and I'm not even tired,
Just comatose from all the work I do.
Book, candle and a ringing bell;
been struck, been stuck, but I've never been read.
Flame's burning out, I don't know what to do.
Hello sailor - a ringing bell.
Hello sailor - a lit candle.
Hello sailor - an open book.
Hello sailor - a long last look.
Hello sailor - a pointed stick.
Hello sailor - do the arithmetic.

credits

from White Collar Punk, released June 1, 1999

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Timon Marmex image

Timon Marmex Los Angeles, California

Timon Marmex never fully recovered from the fall of Atari back in the 80's.

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