The title of this song is in reference to the 1982 book Cadillac Desert by Marc Reisner. It tells the history of American Land and Water policy in the Western United States.
Cadillac Desert - Wikipedia
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Cadillac Desert (1986), is a history by Amer...
Eyes like an army shining like the ice (the swell)
Shark teeth bite the hand that feeds itself & pays the price
It breaks under the feet or else it slithers down the drain
I tried to sing a voice to both
But cracked in cadillac desert sun
Scratching wrists & searching for the blame
When saline rivers are living out of habit
What say the missions &
What say the dams
When saline rivers are swimming us a famine?
(is it an addiction?)
Who stops at the salt lake to drink then burdens on the dirt
A church that screams its sermons in the lifting spade & spigot?
What named as reclamation is now sucking blood from land
Reckless, this trap door tap depletion
Is it an addition?
Destroying
Is it an addiction?
There is no water here
Dowsing with man's will
Drinking from the sane