884 ?We dropped another ledge down
I was sullen, silent from my guide’s rebukes
And the poet kept his council his face drawn in a frown
But as we approached a strange scene he said “there are no flukes
here, my son, but understanding
is hard, but even so these miserable pukes
May improve your confidence in the divine commanding
of hell’s bleak punishments”
Ranged out around the circle where we were standing
A multitude in sour and soiled vestments
were stuffed up to their shoulders in television sets
That sparked and crackled as if they received some signal sent
Down into this pit And my guide said “I bet
that especially jerky clown over yonder
Will give you a lesson you won’t forget
And some fine points to ponder
and a much needed chance to vent your spleen
And curb your tendency to maunder
over the cursed and unclean
Well these are some who may indeed deserve their fate
These are the very same you’ve seen
in every age they pass the plate
more often than they praise God’s name
their eyes ablaze with greed and hate
they take it all and play a game
of guilt and lies and threats of damnation
Here their ironic fates are all the same
So I bent down and fiddled the knobs as if to change the station
And a voice called “Jimmy is that you you hound
Finally come the final mockery of my ironic situation”
and I replied “well stuck in your tube you mistake the sound
of my voice for your fellow confidence man”
And he replied “so why have you come around”
And I said “Mocker I came to tell you what a huge fan
I am of the charlatans like you
who prosper in your sordid little clan
By the lies that you tell and the evil you do
perverting the truth to line your pocket
How many have been deceived and led astray by you few
Mockers yeah you talked a lot but could not walk it
And I must confess watching you squirm gives me a thrill
It’s good to see you firmly screwed into the socket”
And my man gave me a fine big hug but said “we have no time to kill
We gotta get on down to the next hill”
This song is part of a series loosely based on Dante's Inferno. You can read an essay about this series here. You can read a more general explanation of the origin of these lyrics here
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