Nothing to Fear

No jinx! No jinx! No jinx!

On Saturday September 12, 2009, my wife and I drove from Lexington, KY to Naples, FL, through TN and GA. It's a 1000 mile drive, so we stopped several times. It seemed like every place we stopped there was a TV on tuned to Faux "News" showing big crowds of old white people being harangued by various old white men shouting things like "It's a new day for America" and "We are going to take out country back". What the hell was going on?

It was the Taxpayer March on Washington, sponsored by Faux and the Tea Party. I think of that as the real coming out party for the Tea Party. The election of our 1st black president seemed to have totally deranged old white people. And, in a policitally brilliant if completely unpatriotic move, Faux and the GOP came up with the Tea Party to tap into the vast reserves of (mostly repressed) racism in the US.

So I wrote this song on September 26. I am a horribly frustrated songwriter. I would think that the 10s of 1000s of songs in my head would be breeding like crazy and producing new songs out the wazoo, but you can count the songs I have written on the fingers of 1 hand. I keep thinking it's like a supersaturated solution where if a seed crystal gets introduced, precipitation would occur at a breakneck pace. But it ain't happened yet. This is the best song I have written.

I dedicated the song to Jackson Browne, Bob Marley, and Barack Obama. Of course props should go to Bobby McFerrin (Don't Worry, Be Happy), and "Fear is the mind killer" is from the "Litany Against Fear" in Frank Herbert's "Dune".

I first performed the song around this time of year in 2010. Ha ha, I now have a DigiTech Vocalist Live 3 with autotune, I could have used it then. Man, I suck at rapping too. I like my spiels before and after the song

The outcome of the 2010 election, as we well know, is that the Tea Party swept to power, giving us the last 6 years of the laziest know-nothing do-nothing Congress in the history of the US. Hence the "no jinx". But I am hopeful for the upcoming election that, as Trump craters, enough people will vote straight ticket Democrat to get back control of the Senate, which will give us liberal new Supreme Court justices, and maybe even retake the House.

I include the lyrics below. I have updated them I think for the better based on the current political rhetoric. I thought about replacing "the lynch mob" with "a Trump rally", but I think the original is better, plus, I do not want to name the Evil Orange One in my song.

[chorus - 1st time instrumental intro]
There is nothing to fear But fear itself
There is nothing to fear But fear itself

[chorus]

They want you to fear The black man
They want you to fear The brown man
They want you to fear The yellow man
They want you to fear Strong Woman

[chorus]

They want you to fear The immigrant
They want you to fear The refugee
They want you to fear The government
They want you to fear The future

[chorus - then 2x solo]

[bridge]
Don't be afraid [ don't be afraid]
Fear is the mind killer [ fear shuts your mind right off]
Don't be angry [ don't be angry]
Anger makes you stupid

[applied neurochemistry lesson delivered as a rap]
Because fear leads to anger, fear and anger both cause stress
Your brain fills with adrenaline and cortisol and then
Your mind loses the best part of its rationality
You cannot form a single thought to help you to break free
Now you are a killer ape who's primed for fight or flight
Now you have forgotten everything you know is right

That's when you strike the child you love
That's when you hurt the woman you need
That's when you become the lynch mob

[bridge]

Work hard Help a stranger Help a child Help a brother
Help a neighbor Help a sister Help a father Help a mother

Give up fear Give up anger Give up hatred [2x]

Learn to love Love to learn [4x]

Learn to love The beauty of all people
Learn to love The beauty of our world
Learn to love The beauty of the starry night sky

Here's the original lyrics.

[chorus - 1st time instrumental intro]
There is nothing to fear But fear itself
There is nothing to fear But fear itself

[chorus]

They want you to fear The black man
They want you to fear The brown man
They want you to fear The yellow man
They want you to fear Strong Woman

[chorus]

They want you to fear Some angry god
They want you to fear Some devil
They want you to fear The government
They want you to fear The future

[chorus - then 2x solo]

[bridge]
Don't be afraid [ don't be afraid]
Fear is the mind killer [ fear shuts your mind right off]
Don't be angry [ don't be angry]
Anger makes you stupid

[rap]
Because fear leads to anger, fear and anger both cause stress
Your brain fills with adrenaline and cortisol and then
Your mind loses the best part of its rationality
You cannot form a single thought to help you to break free
Now you are a killer ape who's primed for fight or flight
Now you have forgotten everything you know is right

That's when you strike the child you love
That's when you hurt the woman you need
That's when you become the lynch mob

[bridge]

Work hard Help a stranger Help a child Help your brother
Work hard Help your neighbor Help your sister Help your mother

Give up fear Give up anger Give up hatred [2x]

Learn to love Love to learn [4x]

Learn to love The beauty of all people
Learn to love The beauty of our world
Learn to love The beauty of the starry night sky

So to reiterate, everybody please GO VOTE!