When "channeling" first became popular, I was editing and illustrating an instructional book on self-directed job search. I was skeptical about claims of being able to channel past lives. But because I was writing about exploring various careers and one's life/work at the time, the fantasy of experiencing different positions and lifestyles through the centuries appealed to me. So I played with the idea.
Rather than a series of separate lives, however, I thought exploring one very long and ageless life would be interesting. Although "A Shot in the Dark" only alludes to the method of longevity, I figured my protagonist attained his youthful immortality from surviving a near-fatal dose of bad snake oil (as opposed to good snake oil) in the early 1800s. The recipe for that elixir has never been duplicated.
Anyway,... In my mind, my protagonist was a banjo-playing huxter in a medicine show, a paddle-wheel pilot, a riverboat gambler, a buffalo hunter, a circuit-riding preacher, a sound-effects man during the Golden Age of Radio, a circuit-riding preacher (again, but as a televangelist riding electronic circuits), a starship pilot, and a banjo-playing snake oil huxter (again, but on another planet across the galaxy, where the lizard-people inhabitants can really use good snake oil). Too complicated? Well, I think I've got a screen treatment around here... someplace. I guess I should write the script so I can share it with you and help clarify things.
There are lots of circles in this song. The whole thing arcs back on itself by having the last verse duplicate the first. The letter "O" and "oh" sounds are repeated prominately and deliberately. And, oh yes, there's the imagery, either explicit or implicit, of the banjo, moon, Earth, sun, stars, rolling wagon wheels, curved space, et cetera.
For words and music, check out the Lead Sheet for this song.
Because there's also a lot of internal rhyme and alliteration, it can be a real tongue-twister. So be forewarned: Don't try operating this song after taking certain medications, elixirs, or snake oils. —BD
A Shot in the Dark
Words and Music by David R. Lister
Years ago in a medicine show
I sold snake oil and I played banjo
Kept the crowds from thinnin' too low
Then at midnight led the horses out of town real slow
Moving on and laying low
Sipping some elixir, laughing crazy at the moon
Rolling on, but going slow
A paddle-wheel pilot on the Ohio
I was a riverboat gambler betting aces low
A wild and wooly hunter of the buffalo
Till I saw the blinding light of God
I was blinded by the light of God
I saw the blinding light of God
A circuit-riding preacher in the Great Midwest
I was helping the curst become the blest
Guess the Devil laid claim to all the rest
But, Christ, that's the way it goes
Jesus Christ, you know how it goes
In the triode's glow of a radio
I was the sound effects man for the weeknight shows
A knock at the door, a mean dog's bark
Footsteps on the floor and a shot in the dark
My eye on the script, my mind on the mark
My finger on the trigger
Through the static in your living room
I took a shot in the dark
I took a shot in the dark
On an endless flight through eternal night
One can live too long near the speed of light
When the sun grew old, it grew too bright
In the end the Earth must've died of fright
Then the sun grew cold when it lost its light
Through fire and ice, then the darkest night
The Earth just died of fright
A circuit-riding preacher in the Great Midwest
Found the key to a rocket in his watch-pocket vest
Guess the Devil laid claim to all the rest
But, Christ, that's the way it goes
Jesus Christ, you know how it goes
Years ago in a medicine show
I sold snake oil and I played banjo
Kept the crowds from thinnin' too low
Then at midnight led the horses out of town real slow
Moving on and laying low
Sipping some elixir, laughing crazy at the moon
Rolling on, but going slow
Sipping some elixir, laughing crazy at the moon
Rolling on, but going slow
A Shot in the Dark