Dangerous Song even in 2024. Thanks brother.

America's best unknown singer-songwriter.

There is a Country music artist that purports to know small town America. This song is way more truthful than that other one.

“James McMurtry may be the truest, fiercest songwriter of his generation” - Stephen King

This guy is so on target with his lyrics. The modern Dylan, but hey, he's been around a long time. This is the kind of music that SHOULD be played on the airwaves today.

This should be replacing all the Shitty songs you hear on the radio today. Makes me cry how truthful it is, and how little people understand. I struggle everyday, and this guy knows it, thanks James.

Wow. 2022 and nothing has changed. Powerful lyrics.

That is one hell of a live music performance. I feel bad for anyone who put this on but didn't watch him play the guitar and look at his face when he was singin' those words. So powerful and unfortunately still so damned current.

This is spot on. Needs to be played every day across every station

Masterpiece of storytelling - more relevant now than ever.

An arrow straight to the heart and soul of this country. Well done!!

Part of me has felt like simple old folk music is tired, and then a song like this comes along, pierces me to the core, and shines a brighter light into the darkness than most anything I've heard in a awfully long time. Thank you James, you stoke a fire that needs to become an inferno.

One of the best songs of all time. Have loved this guy for many many years.

I can only describe this song as “real.” A real person using his real voice, real language, singing about reality, with real anger and real feeling. Must be what hearing Dylan was first like.

should be the new national anthem for USA

I first heard him singing Choctaw Bingo. He’s outstanding.

This should be on the air, on social media, everywhere!!!!! James, you nailed it! Kudos.

A unacknowledged genius- Better than Bob Dylan in the 60's - as they say if your not outraged, your not paying attention. Thanks

What I absolutely love about this song is that you know he has sung it tens of thousands times since 1989 and he is still intense believes it love James see him every year he comes thru the bay area...one of the greatest songwriters making music...support him

Years on, this song still makes me weep.

Found this guy in 08 , been a huge fan since. Got a chance to see him at The Belly Up in San Diego. Got a chance to talk with him for a few minutes. I was amazed at his intelligence. He makes art from Americana and it flows like wine....

Shout out to 100.3 WKIT out of Bangor, Maine! "Stephen King's rock station." My childhood rock station... Played this at least weekly back in the day. James is a huge inspiration on my own songwriting now as a 30 year old metalhead just trying to live life. 🤘 This is such a killer performance

NOT MANY GUYS CAN ENTERTAIN LIKE THIS WITH JUST A VOICE AND GUITAR~~~~~~

This song writing talent is humbling, it blows me away and hits the spot. Thank you.

One of the best there is. James and his lyrical talent is top tier and so true. The musician part is at the top also. I’ll be going to his show in Whitefish Montana October 22nd 🙌

True as gospel and tragic as Hell! Awesome tune brother, you are a visionary!

This guy is so good! We went to hear him live awhile back and enjoyed the hell out of it. He's a real nice guy too.

A particularly powerful version of this song. We need this voice now more than ever.

21st Century Woody Guthrie!

I can't quit watching this...me and the wife both...every word rings too true...

James is frankly wonderful Every album an absolute treat Great great great

3 chords and the truth

Best Video of this song EVER!!

EVERYONE should listen to this powerful song❤️🙏✌️... thank you from NSW Aus... Does anyone else see the Billy Connolly resemblance?!😆

amazed by his ability to hold the audience - all with some good lyrics and 12 string mastery!

Now THAT'S folk music!

Brilliance. Thank God there’s still protesters 💜

This is truthful, meaningful; this is music. His voice, the lyrics, and the guitar are true American music. Music is not that good ANYMORE 😢

Love his music......musta got lost in the back yard when I went out to play...

We Can't Make It Here Song by James McMurtry Lyrics There's a Vietnam vet with a cardboard sign Sitting there by the left turn line The flag on his wheelchair flapping in the breeze One leg missing and both hands free No one's paying much mind to him The V.A. budget's just stretched so thin And now there' s more coming back from the Mideast war We can't make it here anymore And that big ol' building was the textile mill That fed our kids and it paid our bills But they turned us out and they closed the doors 'Cause we can' t make it here anymore You see those pallets piled up on the loading dock They're just gonna sit there 'til they rot 'Cause there's nothing to ship, nothing to pack Just busted concrete and rusted tracks Empty storefronts around the square There's a needle in the gutter and glass everywhere You don't come down here unless you're looking to score We can't make it here anymore The bar's still open but man it' s slow The tip jar's light and the register' s low The bartender don't have much to say The regular crowd gets thinner each day Some have maxed out all their credit cards Some are working two jobs and living in cars Minimum wage won't pay for a roof, won't pay for a drink If you gotta have proof just try it yourself, Mr. CEO See how far seven and a quarter will go Take a part time job at one your stores I bet you can't make it here anymore There's a high school girl with a bourgeois dream Just like the pictures in the magazine She found on the floor of the laundromat A woman with kids can forget all that If she comes up pregnant what'll she do Forget the career and forget about school Can she live on faith? Live on hope? High on Jesus or hooked on dope When it's way too late to just say no You can't make it here anymore Now I'm stocking shirts in the Wal-Mart store Just like the ones we made before 'Cept this one came from Singapore I guess we can't make it here anymore Should I hate a people for the shade of their skin Or the shape of their eyes or the shape I'm in Should I hate 'em for having our jobs today No, I hate the men sent the jobs away I can see them all now, they haunt my dreams All lily white and squeaky clean They've never known want, they'll never know need Their shit don't stink and their kids won't bleed Their kids won't bleed in their damn little war And we can't make it here anymore Will work for food, will die for oil Will kill for power, and to us the spoils The billionaires get to pay less tax The working poor get to fall through the cracks So let 'em eat jellybeans let 'em eat cake Let 'em eat shit, whatever it takes They can join the Air Force or join the Corps If they can't make it here anymore So that's how it is, that's what we got If the president wants to admit it or not You can read it in the paper, read it on the wall Hear it on the wind if you're listening at all Get out of that limo, look us in the eye Call us on the cell phone, tell us all why In Dayton, Ohio or Portland, Maine Or a cotton gin out on the great high plains That's done closed down, along with the school And the hospital, and the swimming pool Dust devils dance in the noonday heat There's rats in the alley and trash in the street Gang graffiti on a boxcar door We can't make it here anymore Songwriters: James Mcmurtry We Can't Make It Here lyrics © Short Trip Music

So good

Nod of approval, from deed in the Appalachia rust belt.

" Vietnam Vet with a cardboard sign Sitting there by the left turn line Flag on the wheelchair flapping in the breeze One leg missing, both hands free No one's paying much mind to him The V.A. budget's stretched so thin And there's more comin' home from the Mideast war We can't make it here anymore ...."

First I've heard of James and damn... just, damn... thank you.

February 29, 2024. Google maps just mistakenly led me to a hospital that closed. Needed to hear this song. Fantastic man, writer, singer and songwriter! BEST AND PEACE

A Realists Song.....No hiding words right to the point...Couldn't ask for anything more...Great Song.

We are fortunate to have him @ continental club...rockit James from ATX

Wow, what a Visionary poet still as relevant 35 years later. Great Music, great Man, made in America. Brilliant ! Thank you for sharing your Music James !

Basedest song ever.

Beautiful song and very true full lyrics.

A true American Artist.

"2023" we aren't making it, we're taking it. Got to change

This helps me when I'm down sometimes. Just listen to this masterpiece and forget all your worries!

Couldn't describe Altoona Pennsylvania and Tyrone Pennsylvania any better.

Love Love Love! Sad but truth wrote & sang by an extraordinary man. P.B.F.H.

If I wasn't already grown up & beaten down by life, I would aspire to testify like jmcmurtry...

Looking forward to seeing James live this Friday.Been a fan since I got turned on to his music back in the mid-nineties.

Ok first things first, beautifully photographed. Second, not for nothing, but he looks seriously pissed off. Which is appropriate. Well done, thanks for posting.

I propose that this be the new national anthem.

Awesome video and performance. I've seen other videos, and seen him play it live a couple of times, but this one is the best rendition I've seen.

James is a prophetic poet.

great song and a damn good soundin 12 string...

Excellent indeed!!! Right on!! Sad, but so true.

I swear we’re related I have your last name, my father served in ww2 with his brother, there father my grandpa, who I never met served in ww1. And it took me a long time to wake up but know I see. And I’m willing to die for my faith in Jesus, and my family and this country. If it be Gods will.

I "hate the men that sent our jobs away" too....great song.......

TRUTH to POWER... Great that there are singer-songwriters out there paying attention and recording (literally) what they are seeing... Glad to have met James some 25 years ago in a little know town of Waterford, Va, where he lived for a while... Wished I had more time to talk with him... No matter... Great to see folks writing about the real world... I'd recommend Mark Germino's "Rat and the Snake" (might be "Economics") for other songwriters who are standing up to the f'd up deal that most of us are suffering from... Bob

Right on!

This is so profound. The media today would shit themselves, if it got played on the airwaves in today’s time.

absolutely outstanding!

love this guy, delivering the gritty shitty truth, through gritted angry teeth, "i can see 'em now they haunt my dreams all lilly white and squeeky clean.......even i get it and im in the uk

Great tune bangin on the big fear...as I was studying geology it was stressed early on by a professor-"three things you can always count on--Death, Taxes, and Change..." Live in hopes lest ye die in despair...

Really great! This song is great! Thank you James

GREAT SONG!!!!

watching this again....

Alternate title to this brutally lucid song: “The Death of the American Empire”.

I know this is about the state of the great USA but here in the UK it's just as relevant, powerful thought provoking stuff, hats off.

And the people that need to see this never do.

One of the best!

James is pure class.Along with Chris Knight,Mary Gauthier,Chelle Rose.America is so lucky.

That’s a tune right there, boys.

2021(22 almost) and it's still Relevant!

Punched me in the gut with that one brother....Some fucking gut level truth. Brutally honest, NO BULLSHIT. I fucking love it. Wake us all up. The plight of the American class that most of us are!

masterpiece

What a great storyteller

WOW. Thank you Thank you

Very Nice. This is my own "personal" Occupy Anthem for me.

love this song! so true!!

brilliant!

You tell it brother. Sad but it gets truer each day. Bastards that are supposed to mind our 'store' have bought interest in the folks on other soil. What a shame, what a shame.

Powerful stuff

just found James mcmurt a few years ago ...he's all that and then some ! come play shooters bar in Kenora one. time...you'll be well received because I'll tout the heck out of you and your band !

Here we are ' 24..🔥💯😎🎵❤️

Great song

That right there is the shit.

I'm gonna write James McMurtry in for president this November.

Man you nailed it Brother!

A few Chords and The Truth,,,,,,,,,,,,,,! Thank YoU James!,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

outstanding!

straight to the heart....

This song should be played at noon on Labor Day the say they play Alice's restaurant on Thanksgiving day.