I was walking by a house that essentially had one room, but it had this enormous long shed like garage that could fit about 7 or 8 cars.  This was in Japan, but it immediately brought to mind images I have seen in the U.S of long white limos and little shacks, (to alter Neil Young's words and meaning) or in Canada of an unfinished house with 4 cars, 3 snowmobiles, a satellite dish and a 4 wheeler, that last stuck in a ditch.  I always felt that this obsession with machines reflected a poverty of mind, among both rich and poor in which luxuries are purchased before necessities, resulting in a decline in quality of life not an increase. So I had the line in my head: "Seven car garage and a one room house." And that started the song growing naturally out of the rhymes on house.  The theme obviously is the increasing claims of copyright ownership over everything, often quite perversely.  A famous case in the Calgary area was a 100 year old family run furniture store, that was suddenly not allowed to use its own family name because someone else in the U.S., not of that family name, had recently copyrighted it.  Disney is of course the most famous with its copyright ownership of many fairy tales from other countries.  But the most scary thing is the trend now opened up by Monsanto's patenting of GMO seeds. Without getting into the agricultural nightmare of that, what happens if other DNA is allowed to be patented, will we literally lose or be denied ownership of our own bodies?  One woman was so worried about this she tried to patent her own body(Harper's Magazine circa 1993), but was refused.  Such themes and the environmental mess created by our obsession with ownership all manage to squeeze into this "simple song"--the river of mind and of nature fused.  The title was the result of overactive word play. It started out as Disnial, from Disney + Denial.  But then fitting it with the river theme, came up with: Dys, the river of death + the Nile, for Dysnile = River of Denial. oh well. I get carried away at times.
 

Lyrics

The Dys Nile(River of Denial; All our Past is Gone)© Roman Rhodes. 2008 & 20131.  He had seven-car garage and a one-room house.Shared the bathroom with Mickey Mouse.Wiped his arse with Donald Duck,straight out back went all the muck.Down to the River with Finn and Huck,Where the chickens now crow and the rooster cluck.   And there's no way this simple song   can reveal all that's been lost   All,  all our past is gone, (buried under the new Chemlawn.)   We've been double-crossed.2. Now Disney's in denial of everything it steals and stole,But now the copyright cat is in the bag, they want to keep the fruit in the bowl.But if the gift is never shared, everything disappears,The fruit rots, the cat suffocates and all that's left is fear.   And do you own the alphabet and do you own the blues?   And do you own the breath I breath, and the walking in my shoes?   And do you own my way of life, I know you already own the news!   And will you own my DNA or just the family jewels?3. Now the poor, they say if shit were gold, the rich would own your hole.They'd put a lock where the sun don't shine and make you pay to go.They'd spike your feet to the old barn floor and stuff you full of feedAnd make you watch commercials that told you this is what you want and need!And if blood were gold it goes without saying, they’d simply make you bleed.4. Now the flow of the mind and the flow of lifeThese two are joined like man and wife.When you hold on to things you get stuck.You silt up the river with all your muck.So much crap in the water, the river can’t flow.When the river turns black Jack then we all must go.
 5. And maybe there’s no coming backOr maybe we're born again into this little shack.And the mess we left is the mess we get.Gimme, gimme did you learn your lessons yet?
 6.The worse kind of poverty there is, is the poverty of mind.That puts excessive luxury above what’s deep inside.But if we share then there's enough and everyone's full of joyIf were all just rich enough, then there's no need to steal, hoard or destroy.You can ride your bike to work, turn your garage into a library. And fill your mind with the light of life and set your spirit free.