The MTA Song
Jacqueline Steiner and Bess Lomax Hawes
This song always puts me straight back in Boston. I discovered on my trip back in December 2013 that their public transport pass is called the Charlie Card! According to an article from The Boston Globe, this version from the Kingston Trio is sanitised to avoid the trio running foul of McCarthy-ism.
INTRO (spoken)
“These are the times that try men’s souls. In the course of our nation’s history the people of Boston have rallied bravely whenever the rights of man have been threatened. Today, a new crisis has arisen. The Metropolitan Transit Authority – better known as The MTA – is attempting to levy a burdensome tax on the population in the form of a subway fare increase. Citizens, hear me out! This could happen to you.”
Well, let me tell you of the story of a man named Charlie
On a tragic and fateful day
He put ten cents in his pocket, kissed his wife and family
Went to ride on the MTA.
Chorus
Did he ever return? No, he never returned
And his fate is still unlearned.
He may ride forever ‘neath the streets of Boston
He’s the man who never returned.
Charlie handed in his dime at the Kendall Square Station
And he changed for Jamaica Plain,
When he got there the conductor told him “One more nickel”,
Charlie couldn’t get off of that train.
Chorus
All night long Charlie rides through the station
Crying “What will become of me?
How can I afford to see my sister in Chelsea
Or my cousin in Roxbury?”
Chorus
Now his wife goes down to the Scolley Square station
Every day at quarter past two
And through the open window she hands Charlie a sandwich
As the train comes rumbling through.
Chorus
O, you citizens of Boston, don’t you think it’s a scandal
How the people have to pay and pay?
Fight the fare increase! Vote for George O’Brien!
Get poor Charlie off the MTA.
Chorus
People Like Us
One thing about being an immigrant nuclear family is that you leave all your relatives behind. That means that as the kids grow up, there’s no Aunties to say “He looks just like our cousin Fred” or Uncles to say “She’s got attitude, just like your grandmother”. And when you’re with a bunch of cousins, you know what behaviour is and isn’t acceptable, including in relation to which adults are around.
I hadn’t been back to Saugus for 35 years when visited for just a few hours in 2008. The only relatives I saw were my Aunt Jeanette and Uncle Ray, and my cousin Lenny. It felt strange and familiar all at the same time. Five years later, I made a point of visiting for 3 nights, wanting enough time to gauge how comfortable I was – or how alienated. I was made so welcome, I felt that I belonged, although I knew I belonged in Australia also.
Charlie with clarinet; Tim with quokka
While I was there, my cousin Charlie gave me a small photo album. In there was this picture of him playing the clarinet. It immediately reminded me of this picture of Tim. I thought, "Here is someone like us." Although Tim and Davy always looked very much alike, Tim is tall, like his father, but Davy is shorter, like my mother's family. They both have the receding hairlines of the Maes clan.
PS: It occurred to me that Charlie and Tim had the same birthday - September 12 - but cousin Judy tells me Charlie's birthday is September 13. Judy's is September 12!
