Dystopian Dance

So here it is, two posts in a row of cup art!!! Like there have been no other events in my life... This was inspired by a line from The Gaslight Anthem's "We Came to Dance"

We are the last of the jukebox Romeos

We are romantics by the light of the fourway

We came to sing out a chorus, reinvent the good times

And bring it all back home again

Honey, we came to dance with the girls with the stars in their eyes

Do the jump back, jack, stop and slide to the right

Never break their hearts, never make them cry, come on

Strike up the band, play a song that everybody knows

If I'm not your kind, then don't tell a soul

I'm not the one who hates bein' alone, so come on

And in this unstable arena

Of what's left or become of my America

I'm askin' this dance so come take my hand, come on

And in this unstable arena

Of what's left or become of my America

I'm askin' this dance so come take my hand, come on

Honey, we came to dance with the girls with the stars in their eyes

Do the jump back, jack, stop and slide to the right

Never break their hearts, never make them cry, come on

Strike up the band, play a song that everybody knows

If I'm not your kind, then don't tell a soul

I'm not the one who hates bein' alone, so come on

And if they end it all

By the end of tonight

If the big bomb drops down

Over this quiet Edison sky

We'll blow one last kiss

To all the beautiful nights like this

Under this central Jersey sky

Honey, we came to dance with the girls with the stars in their eyes

Do the jump back, jack, stop and slide to the right

Never break their hearts, never make them cry, come on

Strike up the band, play a song that everybody knows

If I'm not your kind, then don't tell a soul

I'm not the one who hates bein' alone, so come on

Cause you ain't never had a night on the town

Like I can show you such a night on the town

And you ain't never had a song you could sing

Well it's a deep dark night and I hear you, I've been there

And these are the songs that we sing

Oh, these are the songs that we sing

You've never seen a two-step

Like when you've seen it from your mama's house

Where the kids flash like lightning

To the very best dancers around

We learned from the very best dancers around

We learned from the very best dancers in town

Come take my hand, cause mama, we came to dance.

I'd always pictured a scene like this from the line quoted on the cup. A tree and shrubbery lined horizon, spanned by high tension wires (which, as pictured, encircle the cup), with that big bomb dropping down behind it. Of course, I enjoy the song. Along with this line, it also has the line, "And in this unstable arena, Of what's left or become of my America" gives this song a distinctly dystopian vibe.

Everyone at work likes it. Before I'd added the text, one of the guys I was working with recognized the mushroom cloud. I was glad for that, that it wasn't mistaken for a big red tree!!!

Around the side, I added in the river from another Gaslight Anthem tune, "Meet Me By the River's Edge", to offset the dystopia.