Ballad Of A Cult Survivor

I was born some time ago,
Away out in the sticks,
In a Mormon cult in Mexico
In nineteen forty-six.

By the time I turned eleven,
We were a family of twelve;
For everything I ever got
I had to dig and delve.

REFRAIN:
Dig and delve?
Yes, dig and delve!
For everything I ever got,
I had to dig and delve.

We hid among the hicks,
Created toys out of sticks,
But thought we were the best–
God’s most blest zygotics.

‘Twas the only life I knew,
All the while I grew;
To pass God’s tests
Was what we must do.

CHORUS:
Oh, a hick,
A dad-gum polygamist hick!
Born into a cult,
“Plyg!” the ultimate insult.

But how was I to know
Someday I would grow
And leave it all behind,
This ridgid life of woe?

REFRAIN:
Life of woe,
Oh, misery and woe;
So I left it all behind …
Let the fandom go.

A masochistic life
We all did sow.
It was the only world
I would ever know.

Till one day I did find
These people were all blind,
And sniffing after
Some false “Profit’s” behind!

So I fled that fundy faith;
Left it all behind.
Into the world I went,
A whole new life to find.

I settled in LA,
And found a better way.
Now I am a Graduate
Of UCLA.

When I fled that stoic sect,
Didn’t know what to expect;
Times were Herculean,
Money hard to get.

But I kept on pressing on.
Though progress was slow,
‘Twas better than I got
In Old Mexico.
Now here I am today,
Living a better way
Than the previous life
I had to obey.

I’m grateful for each day,
And the good ole USA.
“You’ve come a long way, Babe,”
I tell myself today.
I’m a cult survivor
And thriver in every way