This is one of two songs on 2 O’s, 2 E’s that have hardly been heard anywhere, and I’m glad it’s finally getting the attention it deserves. I think it’s a decent little personal manifesto.
The whole “wisdom at the crossroads” business was on my mind because I was taking an ethnomusicology class in college at the time, and we had talked a fair bit about Robert Johnson, the blues musician who was famously rumored to have met the devil at the crossroads and learned to play such a sultry and e-vil guitar. I took out the evil and moved the whole thing to a more modern crossroads: the airport.
Through the course of the song, the narrator hears perspectives on the meaning of life from three travelers, ranging from “God will hold you accountable for your behavior” to “No one holds you accountable and the one with the most toys wins.” These may sound familiar to you. They sure do to me, because they battle each other inside my skull constantly. But the final verse, despite having been written by a much younger man, still works for me as a personal compass. Not bad.
lyrics
I visited the airport on a busy day
To seek wisdom at the crossroads
It seemed the only way
For though I wasn’t panicked
I was feeling unaligned
I had no idea which path that lay ahead was mine
An old man at the terminal raised a wrinkled hand
Said, “Follow not your whims, my boy
Make sure your time is planned
For on the day of judgment when the trumpets fill the sky
Your every waking moment you will have to justify
Justify, Justify
Justify your means and ways
For at the end you’ll have to pay
For all the days you cannot justify.”
The woman next to him agreed
“He’s right about the plans
But all you must make sure about is money in your hands
For though there’s many causes and the world outside is tough
Keep your family comfy and you’re justified enough.”
Her husband spoke in monotone
“The money’s all you need
I hear that when you’re rich enough you overcome your greed
That’s why I work long hours in an office building high
Making so much money I won’t have to justify
Justify, justify
Justify with dollar bills
Money covers all your ills
Until you will not have to justify
You may nod your head or swear they’re all insane
There are many, many pathways (as was becoming plain)
But by seeing the directions I could not bear to go
Another path was made clear and now my way I know
I don’t believe in judgment, I don’t believe in plans
And any fool will tell you that it’s hard to believe in man
I don’t expect a day when God will never more forgive
But I know there’s only one way I have found to live
I will not be a monster for money or for land
I will not sit here quietly and say that life is grand
But as the time keeps rolling on until the day I die
It’s to myself and to my God that I must justify
Justify, justify
Justify each step I take
Make each gift that I can make
Care when many will not care
Speak when many will not dare
Live a life that’s got some worth
Keep in mind both God and Earth
And that’s a path that I can justify
Justify
Justify
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