• From: Hendersonville, NC USA
  • Registered: 2006-03-04
  • Posts: 2,521

Topic: I Hear America Singing Today

I wrote this a couple of years ago after reading a poem by Walt Whitman of similar name. Made me think of what America used to be and is today. Short simple song  - uploaded to soundcloud too: https://soundcloud.com/jets60/i-hear-am … ging-today

I Hear America Singing TodayJeff Gilpin


1 Oct 2017


/\/\


[C]-[D]-[A]


/\/\


[Em]I hear America singing today.


[Em]So different from times long ago


[G]When the goal was merely survival


All the while [G]building from the good that we know.


[Em]Society less intermingled, and


[Em]Equality nowhere in sight.


[G]The hopes for all were for betterment,


[G]And to improve whatever our plight.


/\/\


[C]-[D]-[A]


/\/\


[Em]Oh but today, it’s a life of emotions


[Em]That stretch us from laughter to tears.


[G]One day on the steps of greatness,


[G]And the next it’s the worse of our fears.



[Em]Hate seems to spread like a wildfire that


[Em]Makes gulfs that are wide and are deep,


[G]And that quenches all hope of achieving


[G]Any tomorrow we’re hoping to seek.


/\/\


[C]-[D]-[A]


/\/\


[Em]I can’t change the views of the people


[Em]Who refuse to let their views change.


[G]I’m doing well if I only manage


[G]To keep away from all this strange


[Em]Behavior infecting so many and that


[Em]Drives them to strike out in rage,


[G]Like the book you want to stop reading because you’re


[G]Afraid of what’s on the next page.


/\/\


[C]-[D]-[A]



 

J  E  T  S
...and yet a Washington Commanders fan (unless they change their name again) ...long story...HTT...C

jets60's Website

  • From: Virginia, USA
  • Registered: 2016-02-07
  • Posts: 923

Re: I Hear America Singing Today

Nice words and you did a great job singing on it too.  I  think most our governments are as great as we can make them and then you read of someone who shot somebody else over a parking space.     

Music is what feelings sound like.
Music is life, that why our hearts have beats.

3 Reply by TIGLJK (edited by TIGLJK 2019-10-27 12:08:44)

  • TIGLJK
  • Honoured Member
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  • Registered: 2010-05-11
  • Posts: 3,375

Re: I Hear America Singing Today

Jeff

Impressive !

It's too bad we have such a cynical view of the world.  The media sensationalizes everything that is wrong and basically ignores good people and good things.
Your lyrics capture that exactly - I love your last two lines - they are spot on!
Your song sounds great !
It reminds of a lute player playing for the court in the Renaissance - updating the king on the news!

The price of anything, is the amount of life you exchange for it.   - H.D. Thoreau
Your vision is not limited by what your eye can see, but what your mind can imagine.
Make your life count, and the world will be a better place because you tried.
"Use the talents you possess, for the woods would be very silent if no birds sang except only the the best." - Henry Van Dyke
  • From: Hendersonville, NC USA
  • Registered: 2006-03-04
  • Posts: 2,521

Re: I Hear America Singing Today

Thanks you two.     

J  E  T  S
...and yet a Washington Commanders fan (unless they change their name again) ...long story...HTT...C

jets60's Website

  • From: The Land Of Song
  • Registered: 2007-12-10
  • Posts: 5,789

Re: I Hear America Singing Today

WOW, between you and Jim we are blessed with some phenomenal writers. I don't mean to leave out our antipodean friends, or my countrymen in that statement, I feel humbled at your talents.     

Ask not what Chordie can do for you, but what you can do for Chordie.

Phill Williams's Website

  • From: Hendersonville, NC USA
  • Registered: 2006-03-04
  • Posts: 2,521

Re: I Hear America Singing Today

Thanks Phill. I love Jim's writing too; it is wonderful. Your's as well, and don't forget the great songs Russ has shared with us.     

J  E  T  S
...and yet a Washington Commanders fan (unless they change their name again) ...long story...HTT...C

jets60's Website