Fear is inherited
Fear is a frightening disease
Fear’s a genetic mutation
Fear’s on the flip side of grief
I fear the faces I don’t see
When I’m looking outward from here
Outwards in a fifty mile radius
So it’s the outlier you fear.
“Come and put your feet on the white line
Come and put your back against the wall
Just gonna lock the door for a second
There’s nothing here to look at here at all”
How many ways we gonna teach the kids to
lock em out
lock em out
lock em out
lock em out
Creep low
We gonna show you how.
Love might be aching or scorching
Depending on whose life was spent
Was it some kid who knew he was dying
or some tortured and fractured soul bent sideways and sure of destruction
and clinging to faith that he’s right
in a place we all live in together
just trying to survive the night
“Baby what you say to a stranger?
Baby what we do to a friend?
Baby how well do you really know your neighbor?
Baby here’s a something to defend?”
How many ways we gonna teach the kids to
shut em out
shut em out
shut em out
shut em out
And so
How they gonna grow proud?
How’ll they grow feeling strong and loud?
credits
from Long Arc,
released June 22, 2016
Music: Sasha Brown & Heather Christian
Lyrics: Heather Christian
Soulful guitar interplay form the heart of this lovely Americana collaboration from Dave Alvin and Jimmie Dale Gilmore. Bandcamp New & Notable Mar 2, 2018