{"id":2393,"date":"2010-08-01T00:02:17","date_gmt":"2010-08-01T05:02:17","guid":{"rendered":"\/nashvillereview\/?p=2393"},"modified":"2015-03-24T15:13:27","modified_gmt":"2015-03-24T21:13:27","slug":"little-emperor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/archives\/2393","title":{"rendered":"Steve Earle"},"content":{"rendered":"
Little Emperor<\/h6>\n

Hey little emperor come down from your throne<\/em>
\n The hour glass is empty your time has come and gone
\nThe battlements are crumblin’ the walls are tumblin’ down
\nYour counselors are concubines are gettin’ outta town
\nSome say it’s an omen say say it’s the winds of change
\nWhich ever way it’s goin’ it’s blowin’ like a hurricane<\/em><\/p>\n

Hey little conqueror where you gonna go<\/em>
\nThe world is even smaller than it was when you left home<\/em>
\nEmptiness in front of you and detritus behind<\/em>
\nNobody ever told you that history was kind<\/em>
\nStandin’ on the corner your fortune blowin’ in the wind<\/em>
\nDaddy didn’t warn ya there ain’t no goin’ home again<\/em><\/p>\n

No pomp and circumstance no more shock and awe<\/em>
\nYou’re just a little emperor that’s all<\/em><\/p>\n

Hey little hypocrite what you gonna say<\/em>
\nWhen you wind up standin’ naked on the final judgement day<\/em><\/p>\n

How you gonna justify it who you gonna call<\/em>
\nWhat if it turns out that God don’t look you at all<\/em>
\nThe leaves are in the teacup the hieroglyphics on the wall<\/em>
\nYou ain’t the first to rise up you sure won’t be the last to fall<\/em><\/p>\n

Hey little emperor come down from your throne<\/em>
\nAnd let another emperor climb on<\/em><\/p>\n

Steve Earle<\/a><\/h6>\n

“Uncut Gems” is a series of unreleased song lyrics, recipes, notes, and more by prominent Nashville songwriters.\u00a0Nashville Review<\/em> is proud to present our first uncut gem, “Little Emperor.” Steve Earle began writing “Little Emperor,” a work still in progress, this summer, as he was completing his first novel, I\u2019ll Never Get Out of This World Alive (<\/em>forthcoming from Houghton-Mifflin).<\/p>\n

Songs that established Earle\u2019s reputation as arguably the great Texas songwriter of his generation include “Devil\u2019s Right Hand,” \u00a0“Little Rock N\u2019 Roller,” “Copperhead Road,” and “Number 29.”<\/p>\n

From a tale of a boy falling in love with his first gun, to a tale of a troubadour daddy calling home from the road, to a tale of a moon shining family turning into a marijuana farming family, to an elegy for a broke-bone tailback, Earle explores a world that is distinctly male and Southern while expanding our understanding of what it is to be<\/em> male and Southern.<\/p>\n

A collection of short stories, Dog House Roses<\/em>, appeared in 2001. The novelist, short story writer, playwright, and songwriter is also an actor currently appearing on the hit HBO series Treme<\/em>. \u2013 Alice Randall<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Little Emperor Hey little emperor come down from your throne The hour glass is empty your time has come and gone The battlements are crumblin’ the walls are tumblin’ down Your counselors are concubines are gettin’ outta town Some say it’s an omen say say it’s the winds of change Which ever way it’s goin’ […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[13],"tags":[32],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6Jypy-CB","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2393"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2393"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2393\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11535,"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2393\/revisions\/11535"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2393"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2393"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2393"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}