The Pannacotta Army - The Baglady Bossanova

from SpinTunes 20 Round 4 by Spintunes

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In the photograph the main building is a public library. There's snow on the ground so it's winter (there's also a Happy New Year banner on the front railings). The red sky in the west suggests it's sunset.
The lyrical idea is of a homeless person using the library as a refuge against the cold weather but also rediscovering a love of reading books. This continues outside the library's opening hours, providing a distraction/escape from the harshness of life on the streets.

lyrics

Walking through the fallen snow
When it’s nine degrees below
The library has closed
She’s nothing but clothes old and torn
To keep her warm through the night

When she’s buried in her books
People give her sideways looks
She looks back and smiles
It’s not worth her while to complain
Or try to explain how luck can be cruel

The new year brings no changes
There’s small kindnesses from strangers
But they mostly don’t care
Or pretend she’s not there at all

Pushing round her shopping cart
Finding doorways after dark
She hides out of sight
The humming streetlight’s enough
To read Nabokov, Austen and Twain, Tolkien and Kafka

credits

from SpinTunes 20 Round 4, released May 2, 2023

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Spintunes Union, South Carolina

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