“The worst part of this song,” I’ve been saying on stage a lot lately, “is that I wrote it five years ago.”
It was spring/summer 2020, and I’d been pounding away on my weird ‘80s electric piano, reading feverishly in the same blue sweater my grandma knit for me, not changing my clothes or couch position for about 6 straight weeks. The End was the first song that came out of that piano, the first song that came out of that crazy chapter of America.
I like to believe I’ve always been relatively clear-eyed about the state of “Freedom” here in the ol’ land of the free. I grew up a New York Jew, coming from a long tradition of feisty leftists, people who believe in the kind of books and education that’s primary intent is to open the eyes, to see the world more widely, and who don’t give a shit about speaking their mind (prime example: Bernie Sanders).
But more important than all that, all the maxims and books and good lessons from school, I grew up on soul music.
I grew up on Stevie Wonder, on “Living For The City,” “You Haven’t Done Nothing’,” “Big Brother.” Before I even really knew what I was listening to, I was listening to Marvin’s “Inner City Blues,” hearing Gil sing “Home Is Where The Hatred Is.” These were speakers of truth; these were voices that, of course, you believed and listened to—I mean, just LISTEN to them—and they were telling their stories, telling me that America was NOT living up to what it had promised. And yeah, I was dorky little 12-year-old paying attention to all the lyrics.
Right now is a time when it’s easy to forget about the power of culture. We tend to fall into believing that everything needs to be legislated and changed quickly; we suddenly see the injustice in living color and forget that other groups have been living with it and fighting it for decades (or, sadly, centuries). But our best weapon in dark times, as dark and urgent as these times appear to be, is the slow power of art, music, books, and film.
Who, in my generation, hasn’t seen “Remember The Titans” 25-to-500 times in reruns on TNT? Anyone here not cool with Bertier making friends with Julius?1 There exists a dark and dangerous world of people who actually don’t want to be on Team Denzel…but their numbers pale in comparison to those of us who do, and yes our numbers still include those of us we disagree with or believe we’ve lost to the dark side.
What I’ve learned most since 2020 is that I don’t need to start The Revolution.
I just need to join up.
Fundamentally, the largest majority of us still believe in treating all people like people, when push comes to shove looking another human in the eye and doing what’s right. I will never stop believing that.
Why? Because as much as we have never lived up to their promise, we were all nevertheless raised on those same enduring American Myths, the ones that valorize integrity and bravery and taking care of your neighbor, those myths that say if we stand up tall and do what’s right, we should be able to rest easy at night.
Those myths did not come from some slave holding aristocrats saying all men are created equal. They came from the books and music and movies and culture we’ve all absorbed. Those are the lessons that set down deep in the bones.
And so, here we are when the questionable nature of those myths becomes so stark we must risk everything we’ve been taught to believe—in order to live up to what we believe in.
Work hard, get a degree, get a job, a dog, a family, and it’ll all be alright.
It’s a lie. It worked like that for some, but never for everyone. And the reason I’m pissed is because everything I’ve been taught to believe tells me it can and it should be true—and it’s our collective fault that it isn’t.
But this is not a new fight. It’s one we’ve been living through for decades; we just see it clearer now than ever before…because, slowly, surely, with plenty of setbacks but also plenty of quiet steps forward along the way, it’s a fight we’ve been winning.
What I’ve learned most since 2020 is that I don’t need to start The Revolution.
I just need to join up.
Good thing I’ve had some incredible Lieutenants helping me along the way: Stevie, Marvin, Nina, Gil, Aretha, Ray. And many, many more.
Here’s what they have to say about being fed up with the world.
Notice how joyful it somehow still remains.
-David
P.S. New Song on Thursday! Pre-save it now.
Or anyone think they should have left Ryan Gosling in at Safety instead of playing Petey?