Wars, rumors of wars, and ...
MAR 01, 2026
The Gulf War started, on my 50th birthday, in March of 2003.
I also purchased, maybe that very same day, a gently used Godin SD, solid body, electric guitar.
And, since I was feeling a bit musical, and in honor of the war effort, I wrote this tune that month.
This piece is one of my very own favorites.
______________________________________
The Garden of Eden is Closed
(a country western, three chord, two step)* *It’s really in Waltz Time.
Main Chorus: sprinkle at will.
The Garden of Eden is Closed
We’re tighty, we’re mighty, we’re whiter than whitey
and now almost everyone knows,
we’ll arm or disarm you at the drop of a hat,
but the Garden of Eden is closed
Verses:
Down at the mouth of the Tigris Euphrates,
stands an old eucalyptus palm tree,
this is the place, they say with bald face,
where God kicked out Adam and Eve
Now Saddam Hussein had put up a fence
and charged the people to see
but when the bombs dropped
all that sort of stopped
Uncle Sam was coming to pee
We bombed them back to Old Purgatory,
we kicked their ass in the sand,
now our stadium’s full with the red, white and bull,
seems like God’s got a flag in his hand
But God and the devil are playing strip poker
they both have five aces and very long sleeves
and you’re sitting there, in your underwear
wondering when you get to deal.
(chorus?)
Some people say that times like these
you shouldn’t be rocking the boat
the best you can do is go home and pray
and if you’re good they’ll let you vote
But it’s people that love and people that die
when governments go to war.
It’s the plain truth and still we tell lies.
Now tell me - what ever for?
How to get back to the garden of Eden?
How to open your heart?
when it’s an eye for an eye and
a tooth for a tooth it’s just so many body parts.
Last chorus with an honest twist:
We’re tighty, we’re mighty, we’re whiter than whitey
and now almost everyone knows,
we’d like to do more for the poor and all that
but not while there’s oil in the hose.
....
March 2003
Notes: the verse about strip poker in the book reads like this:
But God and the devil are playing strip poker
while evil is being undone
And you’re sitting there, in your underwear
man, you got nowhere to run.
Notes 2:
I now would trade the top two lines for the bottom two lines.
As written …
How to get back to the garden of Eden?
How to open your heart?
when it’s an eye for an eye and
a tooth for a tooth it’s just so many body parts.
Edit as of 3/1/2026
When it’s an eye for an eye and
a tooth for a tooth it’s just so many body parts.
How to get back to the garden of Eden?
How to open your heart?
…
Note:
In my book Cloud Fishing, I wrote that it was a country western, three chord, two step. It turns out that I wrote it in waltz time. So much for the higher math.
Available in Kindle or print.
Cloud Fishing (and more)
https://www.amazon.com/Cloud-Fishing-David-L-White/dp/1979915504
https://www.amazon.com/stores/David-L.-White/author/B00J6EY804?ref=ap_rdr&shoppingPortalEnabled=true
