The Weekly Rocker: In Parallel

Each weekend I plan on putting an up MP3 of one of my songs. It's partly a clearinghouse for what I've written, since I'm not a working musician. This week, though, the song I'm putting up is apropos, particularly in light of Margo pointing NPR's request for songs that thematically relate to this week's inauguration of Barack Obama,

I wrote "In Parallel" right after the election. The last eight years have really seemed like a gut punch for many of us. We've endured an insular, paranoid administration that squandered America's good will post-9/11; that led us into a poorly rationalized war that has damaged or ruined the lives of thousands of soldiers; and that led us to the brink of financial collapse. The song is really a jolt of relief from eight depressing years. However our new President performs, he's already provided many of us wit some crucial: hope that we can restore our standing in the world, rectify past wrongs, and bring forth a new vision of America's place in the world. Here's to the next four years.

The gut punch is over
It’s time to get up off the mat
The air is crisp, as it always is
Right after the storm has passed
And you see, we can reclaim
A little of the shine that we once had
Before the fall, before disgrace
Was the robe in which we were clad

And I can hear
Something you say time will only tell
The day when word and deed
Are running in parallel

And not in divergent paths
Like convicts who had to share a cell
But down the aisle, side by side
Like lovers who long ago felt the swell
Here we are, different face
Time to redecorate the place
Leash the dog and lose the fence
Build it up on a different base