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I Am an I​-​Beam Girder

from Control Songs by David Garland

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lyrics

I Am an I-Beam Girder

Gird yourself for life among the girders.

Steel yourself for a riveting time.

Map a grid, plot a graph, coordinate coordinates.

Grab a grid, and put it on. Fit to it!

Nothing’s so erratic that it can’t be graphed.

Girder shapes loom on the horizon!

Button your belt, ride along the network

that funnels to the city.

Brush elbows with the sure and shooting.

Population averages a million per square foot.

Systematic thinking fits the shape of the city,

but it is a rare commodity.

Map it out, keep it straight. Fit to it!

Grapple with the girder girls!

Even romance can have good sharp edges—

like the shape of a grid.

The steps of a graph can serve as a path;

like the steps of a ladder, they’re a means to the top.

Map to it!

An I-beam girder has a fundamental shape:

it’s built to be strong.

Planks can snap; I’m not a piece of lumber

breaking into splinters and warping when I’m wet.

I have a stronger structure

I am an I-beam girder!

I form the superstructure

I am an I-beam girder!

(repeat)

credits

from Control Songs, released September 1, 1986

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David Garland New York, New York

Composer/singer/multi-instrumentalist David Garland has been steadily shaping songs in new ways since 1980.

"Like many great songwriters before him, Garland pushes the limits of acceptable harmony and dissonance, yet never at the expense of beauty. If it's not possible for popular music to reach the heights of the great classical masters, it seems no one has told David Garland."
--Sean Lennon
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