The Revolution Will Be YouTube-ised

(I posted this also at my other site, www.community-organizer.com.

I love songs that tell a story. And sometimes putting songs from different artists together can create a narrative of it's own. And as I was cruising YouTube through the internet channel on my family's new Wii, I came across a few songs that have always spoken to me, and together I felt told a story of the crisis we're in.

So I start with a song that's at least twenty years old, "Revolution" by Tracy Chapman, who sings that "Finally the tables are starting to turn."

Then it's on to Peter Gabriel's haunting "Don't Give Up," from 1989, an ode to hanging on during hard financial and mental times. "Rest your head / You worry too much / It's gonna be alright / When times get rough you can fall back on us... Don't give up. Please don't give up."

Then I finish up with (who else) the Boss, Bruce Springsteen, from his most recent album, "Magic," singing about the "Long Walk Home." It's a song of redemption, of what it's going to take to get back to who we were: "And that flag flying over the courthouse means certain things are set in stone / Who we are and what wel'l do, and what we won't"

Yes, it's going to be a long walk home from where George Bush and Company have taken America and the world. But we'll get there. Don't give up. The revolution is just beginning. Be part of it. Be the change you want to see in the world.

Enjoy.

Tracy Chapman, "Revolution"


Peter Gabriel, featuring Kate Bush, "Don't Give Up"



Bruce Springsteen, "Long Walk Home"