SMALL PLASTIC IDOLS | Rachel Epperly

ABOUT

This song marks the beginning of my exploration of the intersection of guilt and comfort involved with consumption in the age of climate crisis. The song poses a series of questions to all the 'plastic idols' I've collected over the years, which once gave me joy but now fill me with guilt, knowing that these objects will never decompose. I ask the idols if it's possible for me to turn them into trees, to turn them into seeds, to undo them somehow. The song began as a cover of the lullaby "Hush, Little Baby."

This song is a part of my series in progress PORCH SONGS.

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LYRICS

Hush, little baby don't say a word

Papa's gonna buy you a mockingbird

And if that mockingbird don't sing

Papa's gonna buy you a diamond ring

And if that diamond ring is brass

Papa's gonna buy you a looking glass

Small plastic idols in castaway drawers

Once gave me a smile, but now broken and worn

When this house falls and I’m not here anymore,

Where will all my plastic idols go?

Small plastic idols, never to die

Can I plant you in the earth as a sacrifice?

Will roots sprout from your feet, leaves from your eyes?

As you decay, will you grow like a tree and rise to the sky?

Will this plastic tree grow, grow incredibly high?

Will its neon green leaves shield us from deadly hot light?

Will its plastic shell melt into pure, perfect rain?

Can we undo your making, can we undo this pain?

Hush, little baby don't say a word

Papa's gonna buy you a mocking bird

And if that mocking bird don't sing

Papa's gonna buy you a diamond ring

And if that diamond ring is brass

Papa's gonna buy you a looking glass

Hush little baby, don’t say a word.