25. The Early Riser

©Robbie O'Connell 1987, Slievenamon Music (BMI)

The English poet William Wordsworth was a great favorite of mine during my school days. I particularly loved his sonnet, The World Is Too Much With Us, especially the line, “Getting and spending we lay waste our powers.” It was written during the Industrial Revolution but it is even more relevant in today’s world of greedy plutocrats and the widespread destruction of the natural world.

The world is too much with us; late and soon,
Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers;—
Little we see in Nature that is ours;
We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!
This Sea that bares her bosom to the moon;
The winds that will be howling at all hours,
And are up-gathered now like sleeping flowers;
For this, for everything, we are out of tune;
It moves us not. Great God! I’d rather be
A Pagan suckled in a creed outworn;
So might I, standing on this pleasant lea,
Have glimpses that would make me less forlorn;
Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea;
Or hear old Triton blow his wreathèd horn.

I was never a fan of the Protestant work ethic or anything that smacks of Puritanism or Calvinism. I can’t see the point of “death insurance,” spending your life being miserable so you can enjoy the alleged next life. It seems a twisted kind of logic. Heaven has no appeal for me and sounds like a dull place. I love Mark Twain’s take on that: “Heaven for climate, Hell for society.”

Growing up in Ireland, I noticed that the bishop’s residence was always known as the palace. At first it seemed a misnomer since these elevated clerics preached about the nobility of poverty. Then I realized that it was an accurate description since these princes of the church lived in luxury, attended by servants and lording it over their flock. The Vatican is one of the wealthiest organizations in the world having a treasury built up, over the centuries, with the pennies of the poor. Meanwhile, while they preach about caring for the less fortunate, the monetary assistance comes out of the pockets of the faithful, never from their own coffers.

In the secular world, the rich keep getting richer as the real value of wages steadily decreases. Many people work hard their whole lives postponing their aspirations of enjoying life until their retirement only to discover that they can’t afford to retire or that they left it too late to enjoy it. For all the so-called advances in civilization we are drifting back to the political model of the middle ages. Wealth increasingly trickles up to the top while fewer and fewer crumbs fall from the oligarch’s table. The promise of a better standard of living for everyone has turned out to be just another con job. As George Orwell says in Animal Farm, “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.” Capitalism is simply Feudalism in a business suit. There has to be a better way.

There is a pronounced difference in the work ethic of Europeans and Americans. Countries like France and Spain have a mandatory minimum of twenty one days paid vacation per year for employees and unlimited sick days. In some cases, a six weeks holiday is not unknown. That’s in stark contrast to the USA where there is no federally mandated holiday time or sick day allowance and most salaried employees work far in excess of forty hours per week and rarely get more than two weeks holiday and that only comes after several years of employment.

The way I see it, life is meant to be lived, not exploited. If societal norms are rigged against you, it’s up to you to find a work-around. The man who is known as an early riser and spends the day in bed has learned how to game the system. Fair dues to him.

It was from my friend since childhood, Gay Brazel, the great guitar and Dobro player from Carrick-on-Suir, that I heard the adage, “If you’re known as an early riser, you can stop in the bed all day.” It immediately got filed in the possible song ideas section of my brain. There was something mischievous and almost subversive about it that appealed to my rebellious side. At some point it surfaced as this light-hearted song. But just as with the platitudes of plutocrats and clerics, appearances can sometimes be deceptive.

THE EARLY RISER

©Robbie O’Connell 1987, Slievenamon Music (BMI)¹

Well you've heard of Aristotle and his great philosophy
And you may not guess, but I must confess that it's all just Greek to me
As I lie in bed in the morning, there's one thing I always say
If you're known as an early riser, you can stop in the bed all day.

CHORUS:
For the man who rises early is the man whose life is lost
For he'll never know what he has missed, 'til he's added up the cost
It's too late to put eggs in the nest, when the bird's already flown
If you're known as an early riser, you can sleep 'til the cows come home.

When I see the flowers in the field that can neither reap nor spin
Then I recall how the good book tells the rich man never wins
So if there is an afterlife, I'll be sure to find a place
And if there's not, there's nothing lost, I'll be glad I left the race.

Now the world may go to rack and ruin, but I don't give a damn
For I believe that a bird in the bush is worth two in the hand
And a penny saved is a penny lost for a miser knows no joy
I'd rather sit with a glass in my hand and watch the world go by.

1. Production Information:
Robbie O’Connell—Vocal and guitar
Mick Moloney—Harmony vocal and tres
Jimmy Keane—Accordion
Eileen Ivers—Fiddle
Recorded at Wellspring Sound Studio, 960 Beacon Street, Newton, Massachusetts
Engineer, Eric Kilburn • Additional engineering, Cyril Lance
Produced by Robbie O’Connell