Because I Just Can't Help It

[catsittingstill]

Laredo Texas is a city of 290,000 people (roughly).  It has one bookstore: a B. Dalton's.  Or I should say "it had one bookstore."

And really, who could resist?

The Books of Laredo
(to the obvious tune)

Those words that are not part of the original are by Cat Faber

As I walked out in the streets of Laredo
As I walked out in Laredo one day
I spied an employee outside the lone bookstore
Turn the lights out, lock up, and turn sadly away.

"I see by your backpack that you are a reader,"
She said unto me as I slowly walked by.
"Come sit down beside me, and hear the sad story
Laredo's one bookstore is slated to die.

We sold lots of books and we made decent money
B. Daltons meant 'welcome to books' in this town
But came Barnes and Noble and bought up B. Daltons
And now it turns out they are closing it down.

Only last month Barnes and Noble gave orders
'Dismantle the store, sell it off for the cash;'
The books that we loved, we have ripped off the covers
And left the pale corpses to rot in the trash.

My nieces love books, they can read them for hours;
My daughter loves books, she will buy them no more--
Barnes and Noble has slaughtered B Daltons; Laredo
Is three hours drive from the next nearest store.

They say Barnes and Nobel is planning a bookstore
That's opening after two years have gone by..."
I said "In the meantime, there's something called 'e-books'
You get off the web; you should give those a try."

Comments

[foxfirefey]

Hey, would you mind if I featured this on dreamlight? It's kinda cute!

[technoshaman.livejournal.com]

Good one. Sad reason to write it, but then a lot of filk do have sad origins... what was that one you and Callie wrote about no selling songs?

E-books, Powells, library cards.... but I do agree, there's something about putting the hands on the merchandise and walking out with it....

(you know my opinion of the guys in the Gozer Building alreddie.)

[catsittingstill.livejournal.com]

I get a lot of my books from Amazon now, or as e-books.

But there's a lot to be said for a place where you can actually handle the books. Browsing on the web just isn't the same.

[admnaismith.livejournal.com]

Ooooh! Well played, Cat!

[catsittingstill.livejournal.com]

Thank you :-)

[randwolf.livejournal.com]

Snicker.

"The Laredo library is planning on opening two additional branches. Laredo, and the county it is in, has a literacy rate of nearly 50%."

50%? Say, what?

[catsittingstill.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the literacy rate in the area is unusually low. It doesn't help the image that the one bookstore within 140 miles is being closed down--in spite of the fact that it was turning a profit.

Best of luck to the Laredo library--I have a soft spot for libraries and not everyone can afford to *buy* their books.

[dan-ad-nauseam.livejournal.com]

Border effect, possibly.

[janusfiles.livejournal.com]

Border effect, or Borders effect? :)

[dan-ad-nauseam.livejournal.com]

Touche