PURCHASE OF T-SHIRT INCLUDES DIGITAL DOWNLOAD OF ALBUM! A conversation starter on your body ... All profits (minus the cost of printing + shipping) from the sale of these t-shirts will be donated to Immigrant Families Together, working to reunite families separated at the U.S. border.
Classic Bella + Canvas unisex Tee in three colors and multiple sizes.
Colors: Black, Dark Grey Heather, and Heather Midnight Navy
Includes unlimited streaming of For A Better Life
via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
It’s not difficult, as a mother, to empathize with the plight of anyone seeking a better life for their family, nor to imagine the hell on earth of being pulled apart from your child. I wrote this song to sing in front of a large, politically-mixed crowd and knew it had to lead with empathy, asking “what would you honestly do?” I doubt any of us who are parents can honestly say we wouldn’t do anything to create the best life possible for our children. If we can lead from that place of connection and empathy, it becomes more difficult to support such cruel border/immigration legislation. I knew I wanted the song to be a fundraiser, but quickly realized there would be more power in numbers. I threw an inquiring post on Facebook and received more submission ideas than I could handle. Putting this together has been a labor of utter love for all the parents and caregivers (including grandparents, older siblings and cousins and friends) who are living through this hell. We see you. We are here to help however we can. ~ Annie Bacon
lyrics
I put myself in the shoes of a mother of a son
Running from the guns of gangs
Armed by the CIA
Same story today and every other day
We’ve covered ground at a hurried pace
Cause I saw the fear on my baby’s face
And I’m not taking any chances
Not today or any other day
What would you honestly do?
Look your child in the eyes and tell me
You wouldn’t do anything
For a better life too
I imagine we arrive with no stars in our eyes
Cause word has traveled fast
That things are getting worse
Rumor has it they’re putting us in cages
And sure enough we’re chased down
By men in green outside the town
Thought we could get around it
But now we know the sting of tear gas
What would you honestly do?
Look your child in the eye and tell me
You wouldn’t do anything
For a better life too?
I can see the life we’re running for
Just a quiet street and a front door
Don’t want your job, don’t want your wife
Just don’t want to fear for my child’s life
It’s been three weeks and four days
Since they took my son away from me
And I still can’t breathe
I don’t feel grief, I’ve become it
But my mother always told us
There were heroes among us
Fighting every day for strangers far away
And that keeps my hope alive
What would you honestly do?
Look your child in the eye and tell me
You wouldn’t do anything
For a better life too?
What would you honestly do?
I look my child in the eyes, I tell you
I would do anything
I would do anything too
I would do anything too
credits
from For A Better Life,
released December 3, 2019
Written by Annie Bacon / oshen music (ASCAP)
www.anniebacon.me
Guitar & vocals: Annie Bacon
Bass: Paul Defiglia
Engineered & mixed by Paul Defiglia at Sensitive Sound, Nashville TN
Mastered by Piper Payne at Infrasonic Sound, Oakland CA
Annie Bacon is a songwriter musician in Michigan. She aches for a more empathic humanity + her creativity orbits around this. She also composed a Folk Opera.
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