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Get Charlie off the MTA


Utah Bob #35998

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So we’re In the car coming back from town and the classic Kingston Trio tune comes on the radio. 

My wife listens for awhile.

“So Charlie can’t get off the train because he needs another nickel for the conductor right?”

”Yup”

”And his wife goes down to the station every day and hands him a sandwich through the window as the train speeds by?”

”Yes”,  sez I

”So why doesn’t she hand him a nickel?”

:blink::lol:

 

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Maybe she just likes it quiet at home?     GW

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54 minutes ago, Tell Sackett SASS 18436 said:

Was the song on Sirius? I think we heard it a while back. Love that 60s music!

Yeah. 

:)

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The point was the "fare increase" was really a tax, and Charlie wasn't gonna pay it.

 

And I figger three or four days of going to the bathroom in the corner of the car, and they'd be glad to let him off, even without the extra nickel.

 

Remember - vote for George O'Brien.

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And for those who don't recall the song (you know - young whipper snappers):

 

 

 

The M.T.A.
 
These are the times that try men's souls
In the course of our nation's history the people of Boston have rallied bravely whenever the rights of men have been threatened
Today a new crisis has arisen
The Metropolitan Transit Authority, better known as the M.T.A.
Is attempting to levy a burdensome tax on the population in the form of a subway fare increase
Citizens, hear me out, this could happen to you!
 
 
Well, let me tell you of the story of a man named Charlie
On a tragic and fateful day
He put ten cents in his pocket, kissed his wife and family
Went to ride on the MTA
Well, did he ever return?
No he never returned and his fate is still unlearned (what a pity)
He may ride forever 'neath the streets of Boston
He's the man who never returned
Charlie handed in his dime at the Kendall Square station
And he changed for Jamaica Plain
When he got there the conductor told him, "one more nickel"
Charlie couldn't get off of that train!
But did he ever return?
No he never returned and his fate is still unlearned (poor old Charlie)
He may ride forever 'neath the streets of Boston
He's the man who never returned
Now, all night long Charlie rides through the station
Crying, "what will become of me?
How can I afford to see my sister in Chelsea
Or my cousin in Roxbury?"
But did he ever return?
No he never returned and his fate is still unlearned (shame and scandal)
He may ride forever 'neath the streets of Boston
He's the man who never returned
Charlie's wife goes down to the Scollay Square station
Every day at quarter past two
And through the open window she hands Charlie a sandwich
As the train comes rumbling through!
But did he ever return?
No he never returned and his fate is still unlearned (he may ride forever)
He may ride forever 'neath the streets of Boston
He's the man who never returned
Pick it Davey
Kinda hurts my figers
Now, you citizens of Boston, don't you think it's a scandal
How the people have to pay and pay?
Fight the fare increase, vote for George O'Brian
Get poor Charlie off the MTA!
Or else he'll never return
No he'll never return and his fate is still unlearned (just like Paul Revere)
He may ride forever 'neath the streets of Boston
He's the man who never returned
He's the man who never returned
He's the man who never returned
Et tu, Charlie?
 
 
 
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Sigh...where is the Kingston Trio when you need them????

 

The MTA is now the MBTA (Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority);

The subway fare has increased from 10 cents to $2.90 (if you pay cash);

The highest paid MBTA employee in 2017 was an electrical foreman, who made over $270,000;

MBTA employees have the potential, on average,  under existing rules, to receive a $1.9 million retirement payout;

 

As for that puddle in the corner of the Orange Line car that Charlie was riding on?  It's still there....

 

LL

 

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My last, and only, remembrance of the MTA was riding the car to Brookline in the middle of the summer many years ago.
The car was jam packed and my nose was stuck in the arm pit of a 300 pound woman in a sleeveless top.

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The song they sung that is still apt today is the one that starts, "They're rioting in Africa... (whistling tune)..."They're starving in Spain (whistling tune)..."There's hurricanes in Florida...And Texas needs rain.  The whole world is festering with unhappy sores, The French hate the Germans, the Germans hate the Poles."  It ends up, "...Man's been endowed with a mushroom-shaped cloud! And we can be certain that some lovely day, someone will set the spark off and we will all be blown away!"  You can substitute any of the current world situation, but it's still pretty apt!! :(

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17 hours ago, Utah Bob #35998 said:

So we’re In the car coming back from town and the classic Kingston Trio tune comes on the radio. 

My wife listens for awhile.

“So Charlie can’t get off the train because he needs another nickel for the conductor right?”

”Yup”

”And his wife goes down to the station every day and hands him a sandwich through the window as the train speeds by?”

”Yes”,  sez I

”So why doesn’t she hand him a nickel?”

:blink::lol:

 

A lot of folks have asked that question, I suppose. But somewhere, a while ago,  I heard it was  part of a political campaign

about a rate increase on the MTA. As we all know, or suspect,  politicians have unlimited power over reality. 

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This is one of the songs we did as a family, when we where traveling and preforming as a Family .....

The last Gospel Music Jamboree we did was in 2017, along-side the Liberty Quartet , Daae Family and other groups ...

The kids are now all Grown and Married, the Youngest will be 25 in two months he was 7 when we started ....

 

Jabez Cowboy

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Sometime in the late fifties or early sixties my family got it's first stereo record player from Sears. It was a package deal that included several LPs, and "The Kingston Trio's Greatest Hits" was one of them.  I asked my mom the same question about why she didn't just give him a nickel, and she said, "It's just a silly song."   

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