If You Can't Eat You Got to
If You Can't Eat You Got to - meaning Summary
Substitutes for Denied Needs
The poem presents a cyclical litany of human needs and their substitutes: when basic desires (eat, smoke, sing, die, dream) are unavailable, the speaker offers a fallback—sleep. Repetition and a conversational voice create a gentle, resigned rhythm that frames sleep as both consolation and escape. The persistent refrain mimics a lullaby while suggesting scarcity, social improvisation, and quiet surrender in the face of lack.
Read Complete AnalysesIf you can't eat you got to smoke and we aint got nothing to smoke:come on kid let's go to sleep if you can't smoke you got to Sing and we aint got nothing to sing;come on kid let's go to sleep if you can't sing you got to die and we aint got Nothing to die,come on kid let's go to sleep if you can't die you got to dream and we aint got nothing to dream(come on kid Let's go to sleep)
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