May, 1998. I was a sophomore at the University of Massachusetts and after some seriously bowel-loosening anticipation, I finally went to see Leo Kottke play live.

I was quite infatuated with this song at the time. It took me a while to really get into it, though the stream-of-consciousness lyrics kick the living shit out of Satan. See, the chords to this song are B-E-F#-E, or I-IV-V - the most beloved and insipid chord progression in all of rock and roll, reggae and ska. I had been far too iconoclastic for that business, especially when there were so many other Kottke tunes with a great deal more musical complexity.

But I eventually came to my senses, and when I did, this was my song. When I was a sophomore I slept in the lower of two bunk beds with a bookshelf pushed in front of it for some privacy. This, friends, was my "snort fort."

So we're all asleep in the same dream,
In the snort fort, in the snort fort, in the snort fort.
And every night when you lay down
Every day in the morning when you crawl out of bed

Yeah, so anyway - this one particular day in May, I crawled out of the snort fort, spent the day coding in Scheme for a Computer Science class, then took a shower. After that, the evening's events went like this:

• I met up with two friends, L. and M.
• We smoked a metric pantload of marijuana
• I drove L.'s car to Northampton - L. was in the back, M. rode shotgun
• I missed a street and had to turn around
• Very stoned, I picked the worst place possible to turn around - the packed-ass parking lot of the Northampton Police Department
• Surrounded by three parked cruisers and a Camaro, and with about 6 inches space on any given side, I made a 13-point turn; four Northampton police officers stood by a window, watching the entire thing
• M., who had a quarter-ounce of marijuana in his pocket, got a little nervous
• Everything was okay, though
• We went to the show

Needless to say, the show was downright spectacular. Except...

Except that the only song I really wanted to hear was Jack Gets Up. We were sitting on a balcony (the show was at an upscale dinner-and-live-laid-back-entertainment joint called the Iron Horse), and I planned on yelling to Leo, telling him to play the song. I almost did it.

In fact, I stood up and cupped my hands to my mouth to scream, but before I could get that far, Leo started talking about the song he was about to play, in his trademark "goose farts on a muggy day" voice, low and lazy.

"Back when I was in college I had a roommate named Jack. We shared a bunk bed; I was on the bottom. And every day he'd jump down from the top bunk, and sometimes he'd knock things over and wake me up. Anyway, this song is about him."

And then he played "Airproofing." It was the last song of the set.



Jack Gets Up by Leo Kottke
from My Father's Face, 1989, and Leo Kottke Live, 1995.

Every day in the morning when you get up and you crawl out of bed
And you crawl out of bed and you crawl out of bed
Every day in the morning when you get up and you crawl out of bed
And you look at the moon where the window is
And the stars shine, and the stars shine, and the stars shine
Every day in the morning when you get up and you crawl out of bed

And way down below in the sun belt
And the telephones, and the telephones, and the telephones
And you look out the moon where the window is
Every day in the morning when you get up and you crawl out of bed

And some of us breathe in the brown ground
Where the worms clown, where the worms clown, where the worms clown
Way down below in the sun belt
Every day in the morning when you get up and you crawl out of bed

And every night when you lay down
You fall flat, you fall flat, you fall flat
Some of us breathe in the brown ground
Every day in the morning when you get up and you crawl out of bed

So we're all asleep in the same dream
In the snort fort, in the snort fort, in the snort fort
And every night when you lay down
Every day in the morning when you get up and you crawl out of bed

Santa Claus modified snow peas
On the sun roofs, on the sun roofs, on the sun roofs
So we're asleep in the same dream
Every day in the morning when you get up and you crawl out of bed

If you look in the mirror it's your father's face
And the thin grin, and the thin grin, and the thin grin
It's Santa Claus pulling up snow peas
Every day in the morning when you get up and you crawl out of bed

And there's tears in the bank and the credit card
In the back yard, in the back yard, in the back yard
If you look in the mirror it's your father's face
Every day in the morning when you get up and you crawl out of bed

And once in a while when the wind blows
And the heart winds, and the heart winds, and the heart winds
There's tears in the bank and a credit card
Every day in the morning when you get up and you crawl out of bed

But there's lint in the pocket and a breath mint
Or a car key, or a car key, or a car key
Once in a while when the wind blows
Every day in the morning when you get up and you crawl out of bed

And your kid has a face like a walnut
From the ice cream, from the ice cream, from the ice cream
But there's lint in the pocket and a breath mint
Every day in the morning when you get up and you crawl out of bed

Every day in the morning when you get up and you crawl out of bed
Every day in the morning when you get up and you crawl out of bed