Starting at the bottom...

My cousin moved to New York to make it as a singer and songwriter. She's a multilingual, super intelligent college graduate, but employers in New York City are sometimes reluctant to hire folks in show business, fearing they wouldn't stay with the company after they made a name for themselves. I wrote "Starting at the bottom" just for her in an attempt to inject some humor into the struggle that she and other performing artists have to face in the Big Apple.


Starting at the Bottom

I'm starting at the bottom
A hog just feeding on slop
Trying to see
If there's room for me
Anywhere near the top

They tell me that I'm fortunate
Just to find work at all
But I spend every cent
Just paying my rent
And I hope I make it through the Fall

I told them I spoke several languages
And I've got a college degree
So they confide
That I'm too qualified
And at the bottom I'm lucky to be

I've got to be real careful
Not to mention that I like to sing
For they'd all start to worry
I was just temporary
It's some kind of New York thing

And so I do my typing
I answer the phones and I file
They hand me my check
And I think 'what the heck'
It'll only be for a while

At night I practice my singing
And play piano till my fingers ache
I spend all my time
Making music and rhyme
Just praying that I'll catch my break

Till then I need all the courage
I can beg or steal or borrow
To get past my dread
And get out of bed
Just to go to work tomorrow

Starting at the bottom
It's a life of unbearable gloom
It's a singular curse
Every day it seems worse
I just hope I get my break real soon

Steven Pein
4 September 1994
Copyright 1994
.