A House Is Not A Home (date approximate)

A house is not a home

When you're living all alone

'Cept for a dog and a cat

 

A dog is not a dog

Without his bitch

A cat is not a cat

Without her claws in something

                                   something

 

So ya wanna be a bum?

And have some fun?
Or try and do the same old trick

And be bloodsucked by a tick

                                   that'll never

                                                ever go AWAY

 

___________________________________

 

GEE, DO YA

THINK I'M MENTAL OR WHUT?

SO ANYWAY -- TAKE IT -- I GOT NOTHING

                                              NOTHING 

 

 

 

Waiting For A Basket (date approximate)

I'm waiting for a basket

And I can't get down

My portable housing

Won't get me around

 

Now I know what you're thinkin'

That I'm some kind of bum

Cuzz I sleep in elevators

That just don't run

 

I used to see places and

Faces and people and things

Sutures and scriptures and bitches in 

Ditches and fishes with itches

Now I'm waiting for a basket

 

A basket, a basket

I only dare to ask it

I placed my hopes and dreams

Inside and thought it would protect it

I carried my eggs to town in it

And some dumb fucker smashed it

 

Now I'm lookin' for a new basket

 

 

 

 

 

 

*This song was written during the time I was working at H&H TV and VCR Repair in Chico. I was a receptionist, but I also did minor repairs and cleanings of VCRs. 

 

The basket is the transport mechanism behind the little door in the front of the VCR into which one inserts the video cassette. These mechanisms would rarely fail on their own, but if a tape got stuck and person was desperate to get it out, they might resort to prying it out with a butter knife. 

 

This would happen in cases of porno tapes getting jammed because people would pause them on certain spots for so long that the tape would wear away and gum up the rollers, or get wrapped around the video head drum due to overheating. In these cases, the repair would usually get approved even though the cost of a new basket alone might exceed the value of the unit. But secrets had to be kept, so we provided the service with discretion. 

 

When a new part was ordered, I would place a bit of masking tape on the VCR, and it would sit on a shelf awaiting its arrival. The title of the song comes from a piece of tape on a VCR labeled "Waiting for a basket."

 

Everything has a back story, and now you know the one behind this little obscure piece of historical trivia.