Common People

She came from Greece. She had a thirst for knowledge.
She studied sculpture at St. Martin's College.
That's where I 
caught her eye.

She told me that her Dad was loaded.
I said, "In that case I'll have a rum and Coca-cola."
She said "fine,"
and in thirty seconds time she said, 
"I want to live like common people.
I want to do whatever common people do.
I want to sleep with common people;
I want to sleep with common people
like you." 
Well what else could I do?
I said "I'll see what I can do."

I took her to a supermarket;
I don't know why, but I had to start it somewhere
so it started there. 
I said, "Pretend you've got no money." 
She just laughed and said, "Oh you're so funny." 
I said, "Oh yeah? 
Well I can't see anyone else smiling in here!

Are you sure you want to live like common people?
You want to see whatever common people see?
You want to sleep with common people?
You want to sleep with common people 
like me?"
But she didn't understand.
She just smiled and held my hand. 

Chorus:
Rent a flat above a shop, 
Cut your hair and get a job,
Smoke some fags* and play some pool,       (*cigarettes)
Pretend you never went to school. 
But still you'll never get it right,
'Cause when you're layin' in bed at night
Watching roaches climb the wall 
If you called your Dad he could 
stop it all. 

You'll never live like common people.
You'll never do whatever common people do.
You'll never fail like common people.
You'll never watch your life slide out of view, 
And dance and drink and screw,
Because there's nothing else to do. 

Sing along with the common people;
Sing along and it might just get you through.
Laugh along with the common people;
Laugh along even though they're laughing 
at you.
And the stupid things you do
Because you think that poor is cool.

Like a dog lying in a corner,
They will bite you and never warn you.
Look out -- they'll tear your insides out!
'Cause everybody hates a tourist,
Especially one who thinks it's all 
such a laugh,
And the chip*  stains' grease                (*french fries)
Will come out in the bath.

No, you will never understand
How it feels to live your life with
No meaning or control
And with nowhere left to go.
You're amazed that they exist,
And they burn so bright
While you can only 
wonder why.

(Chorus)
Rent a flat above a shop,
Cut your hair and get a job,
Smoke some fags and play some pool,
Pretend you never went to school.
But still you'll never get it right,
'cause when you're layin' in bed at night
Watching roaches climb the wall,
If you called your dad he could 
stop it all! Yeah!

You'll never live like common people.
You'll never do whatever common people do.
You'll never fail like common people.
You'll never watch your life slide out of view,
And dance and drink and screw,
Because there's nothing else to do.

The above are lyrics from the song "Common People," originally by the band Pulp. I recently heard a version of this on William Shatner's new freaking brilliant CD Has Been. I recommend everyone check it out for some great songs done in his own inimitable way, with some great celebrity duets.

Anyway, this one caught my attention because the lyrics are such a searing condemnation of upper-class or middle-class kids who go "slumming" with those of lower status because of the misconception that they are somehow more "real" and cool people. It's relevant to the Peace Corps because a lot of children of privelege have the impression that poverty has some sort of caché, and that those who live in poverty are somehow happier or more fulfilled people. They romanticize poverty and the poor and want to capture some of that perceived purity. The problem is, they cannot ever fully know what living in depressed economic circumstances is like, because they can opt out of it any time they want, a privelege the truly poor cannot rely upon. When things get really bad, they can't simply make a phone call, as the chorus of this song mentions.

To some extent, all Peace Corps volunteers live with this kind of privelege, because the Peace Corps will make sure you are always fed and provided with health care, something most locals can't necessarily count on, and if things get really bad -- like the are erupts into violence or there is a drought -- the Peace Corps will extract you and send you back to safety. So can any volunteer ever really know what true poverty is like? Or, as the song asks, are they sure they even wantto?

This is a common problem with volunteers, myself included. I catch myself looking forward to having a more simplified life, in many aspects, once I begin service. More complex in many ways, but simpler in others. It's easy for me to fall into the same fallacious thinking, because this is a common growing myth among Americans, that the poor are simpler and more pure.... although it never ultimately means we need to stop being so damn materialistic! I think it's a way of justifying the existence of those who have very little material wealth; even as they struggle for basic survival, for water and food, or for sanitary or peaceful living conditions, we can always say, "But look how happy they are! Their unaffected lifestyle is pure, is closer to the heart." Making, of course, the same mistake the Dada movement of last century made, that "colored" people are somehow more in tune with subconscious and animal behaviour. Racist and false, but some of those same bullshit misconceptions survive today.

-Bri