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Detroit Auto Safety Massacre Blues

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I bought a car the other day, and as I proudly drove away,
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A red light made me use the brake, which was my very first mistake.
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My head went through the steering wheel and put a hole in my windshield,
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And as they towed my car away, I heard the salesman say:

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"Come buy another car; it won't go very far.
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A Barracuda shark designed to fall apart.
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Just when you pay it off, the engine stars to cough.
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Come trade it in and then start paying bills again."

I felt my car had let me down; I started asking all around
If cars were built for safety's sake, which was my second bad mistake.
For General Motors took the pains to try to prove I wasn't sane.
They called me quite anonymously, and this they said to me:

"A sexy car design will have you feeling fine.
With sharp and sexy fins to stab pedestrians.
And when you ram a bus, don't blame the rest on us.
The brakes might leave you flat: we meant to tell you that."

Some people started getting mad and felt that they were being had.
The hue and cry was loud and clear - so loud some senators could hear.
The automakers had to come in spite of all to Washington,
And there for all the world to see, they made this fervently:

"Ta-ra-ra-boom-de-ay, come buy a car today!
The hour is growing late; we must depopulate!
There'll be some drivers who will be survivors too,
But they won't get too far - we'll sell them faster cars!"

(Words and music by Tom Paxton, 1966)

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