Forgive me but my parents played way too much Cat Stevens & George Harrison vinyl during the early 70’s ;/

I’ve always wanted to write a crowd driven sing-along style street protest song but have always been a bit scared of coming out with something that seems contrived and inauthentic.
Thanks to Stefan’s awesome acoustic guitars and a world blinking with some serious flash points, I may have done it OK this time around. Added some crowd drums, a little piano and sitar, some bass and tried to do the vocal in one take, warts and all.

CCMixter in the past 10 years has always had a solid activist subtext and culture, so I thought it appropriate to add this kind of message to the intTENtions celebration.

Here’s the lyrics, pella is uploaded here

“Why Can’t We?”

There’s a thought thats been arising
people tired of hiding
every able man and woman
out here on the street!
Whether they’re black or white
beggars with rich tonight -
We come together

We share the same horizon
even when we’re fighting
love’s a common language
that we all can speak
If we dont try to hide
empathy deep inside
we’ll learn together

Hear the children playing in the synagogue
better than a marching to a demagogue
why cant we?

I’m tired of analysing
hatred we’ve been riding
Fighting wars for freedom
in the name of greed
Over a God this time
(that is the same as mine)
I’m just like you when I bleed!

Hear the children playing in the synagogue
better than a marching to a demagogue
why cant we?
Stop wait - let’s try to find some dialog
more things common when
we try begin to catalog
why cant we?

So why can’t we?
I say why can’t we?

Swap the bully out for the underdog
brotherhood is better as our travelogue
Why can’t we?

It’s time for realising
people synthesising
borders don’t mean nothing
as they used to be
If we just them slide
open our arms out wide
we’ll be to together

Watch the children dancing in the synagogue
to the beat we share too much to catalog
let them be
throw away the blindlnes of the monologue
if we dont it turns into an epilogue
Let’s be free

I say, why can’t we?
so, why can’t we?
Tell me, why can’t we?

Scomber x 2019