Hello friends. I just finished up a song inspired by my latest songwriting book club read, The Sandcastle Girls by Chris Bohjalian. It was a good read - really intense but fascinating (fictional but historical) account of the Armenian genocide. I loved how the author traced the story of struggle and survival through multiple generations, ethnicities, etc. of women. In these songwriting challenges, I always try to find the characters or themes that resonate with me, and apply my own experience, but I felt like kind of an imposter trying to relate on a personal level to the unimaginable suffering these characters witnessed and endured. My problems become all but imaginary when viewed through the horrifying lens of attempted ethnic cleansing. So instead of narrowing my focus, I widened the scope and thought about how the book relates to the position many women have found themselves in since the dawn of time. We play so many roles for "some man, some god, some war" - some of which are forced on us, some of which we embrace, many of which demean us or destroy us in one way or another. Whether we are perceived as sexual objects of desire, spiritual objects of religion, or social objects of war, we've been consistently rendered useless, unworthy of governing our own bodies, choosing our own beliefs, or creating our own culture. I'm encouraged at how far we've come, but slightly exasperated at how far we've yet to go. Here's hoping the momentum will continue to build. I truly believe women are the key to making a more powerful impact and a more peaceful world. If you agree, please give this song a share! Lyrics:
1. She is dried out like the desert She is famished, all but vanished by design And her hide out is her cactus heart Her own hand grenade, a barricade of spines CHORUS The sands of time repeating She’s seen suffering before Her future takes a beating for some man, some god, some war 2. She is minding her own business Steadfastly building castles of sand She is blinded by a raging son Who demolishes and calls it all his land CHORUS These poor holy rolling soldiers’ plight They can’t live without their virgins and whores To lift their strengths and spirits to fight for Some man, some god, some war 3. We are sucking out the venom Of poisonous scorpions and snakes We are bucking this ecosystem Til our mother’s deserts are our daughter’s lakes CHORUS Oh, wondrous, thunderous women Together too loud to ignore No more curtsies at the mercy of some man, some god, some war
1 Comment
doughead
1/29/2018 10:02:20 pm
I can hear dylan in this song, and it takes me back to when I played dylan in the good ship dakota when you were just a spud.
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