During the recent coverage of the California wildfires, I read about two people who were found burned beyond recognition trying to escape. I’ve been sick to my stomach imagining what it might have been like to lose everything, even your life. I can’t stop picturing myself in a car with my wife in the same situation. What would I even say, knowing I was unable to keep her safe? My heart bleeds for all the families suffering. I sat down to write this song, and ended up incorporating a bit of the Modern English song "Melt With You" into the chorus. Lyrics:
fire’s coming round the mountain, babe, start running for the car no time for family photo albums, records, or guitars freeewheelin’ dylan was my savior but I cannot return the favor i know them all my heart anyways they’ll be blowin’ in the wind after the blaze you’re the only thing that i refuse to lose even driving toward death’s door, you’re my refuge when the world stops burning, this flame will continue and i’ll melt with you smoke’s clouding up our eyes, babe, open your ears and try to hear me they may not recognize our bodies but I’ve memorized your spirit leaving life is really scary but skin and bones are temporary my love for you’s the only truth that stays it will be blowin’ in the wind after the blaze you’re the only thing that i refuse to lose even driving toward death’s door, you’re my refuge when the world stops burning, this flame will continue and i’ll melt with you
0 Comments
I wrote this song in honor of a young friend, Tyler Hastings, whose funeral I recently attended. Most of the attendees were fellow Red Cross workers, all wearing their red shirts in honor of him. Red is usually such an aggressive color, but on this day, I saw it through a softer lens and decided to write about it in the context of mourning and celebration of life. Tyler was one of my Patreon supporters, and he never failed to offer encouragement and humor, not just to me, but to everyone around him. I'm very thankful to have known him. Lyrics:
red today, i’m seeing red todayi’m seeing red today not in an angry way red like a cross that saves on disastrous days or a heart that loves in fantastic ways read like the cartoons when you’re searching for laughter red like a curtain that falls from the rafters at the end of a play, we all make our way off the stage and i don’t pretend to be certain but i’m pretty sure that curtain will rise again it’s just a matter of when Yet another song about the current state of leadership (or lack thereof) in our country. When I say “we ain’t worth keeping” I certainly don’t mean human life isn’t worth anything. I mean that when we treat life as meaningless (either our own, or other groups of people), or when we demonstrate with our words and actions a belief that money/power is more important than the well-being of life/the planet, there are severe consequences, and we’re seeing those consequences play out in our society daily. I am so saddened by where we are but also not in the least bit surprised based on our choices/actions as a society. It doesn’t take a genius to realize a Trump presidency was going to produce the circling-the-drain reality we wake up to every morning. I believe our country is diseased, and in order to cure that disease, I think we should promote education, celebrate diversity, encourage and applaud service, provide all people with the food, housing, healthcare, and mental health services they need, respect all religion (or no religion) while firmly separating it from our government, put down our defenses, be willing to listen, and acknowledge the hurt and fear we all feel. Above all we need to take ownership of the the ways we individually contribute to other people’s suffering even when we don’t intend to or aren’t aware of it. In a nutshell, we have to take care of each other. Until we all collectively decide that money and power are not worth the countless innocent lives lost to senseless acts of hate and violence, we will just continue to be desensitized to the skyrocketing probability that we, our someone we love, will be shot and killed in public by a stranger with a gun. The “getting used to it” is our body/brain’s way of coping with trauma. I hope in my lifetime, we rise up, fight that numbness, fight that greed, and make every sacrifice possible to show that we value human life more than we value wealth/power, comfort, and convenience. Lyrics
this is what we get this is who we are we’re the tin man who ran away from a heart this is who we are it’s easy to explain we’re the scarecrow who said no to a brain you see, that rug is getting bigger the broom is getting thicker we ain’t worth keeping, so it’s sweeping us under we’re reaping what we’ve sown this ain’t no place like home this is what we get this is what we’ve become we’re the wicked and the cowardly just eating up our young this is who we are this is what we get ain’t no yellow brick gonna get us out of it and that rug is getting bigger that broom is getting thicker we ain’t worth keeping, so it’s sweeping us under we’re reaping what we’ve sown this ain’t no place like home |
Archives
December 2024
Categories
All
|