Experimental cover of Joni Mitchell, meant to sound like the unfolding spreading of butterflies, chaos, or peace; mechanical licensing secured through HFA May 13, 2021.

I did this recording as part of the “Lineage” edition of my monthly Song CSA Program. Through this program, I send out a handful of songs on a theme meant for nourishment each month. Please learn more about this Song CSA Program at: clairebatesmusic.com/song-csa.

Woodstock Experiment – Excerpt from Song CSA Program – 5.13.21

Noam Chomsky: "So essentially what President Trump was saying is 'We'll destroy your countries, slaughter you, impose brutal regimes, but if you try to get out, you're not gonna come here, because America's full.' "

Chorus:
Excuse me, Mr. President, have you heard the news?
Would you walk a mile in their flip flop shoes?

V1.
The Golden Rule has suffered in our nation as of late
We're seeing so much love replaced by bigotry and hate
But now here comes a caravan that's 7,000 wide,
a chance to open up our hearts and let the world inside.

V2. 
I hear that in Honduras, we bought off all their land, 
deregulated coffee, made the military grand. 
And all across the region we've backed dictators and coups.
Does it really sound like we are innocent to you?

V3.
There's versions of the Spirit that say we all are one
That say we are all connected each of us under the sun
There's versions of the Spirit that say we should not care,
Let's look out for each other and forget those over there.

V4.
With 15,000 weapons and 15,000 men
We're making a mistake that we should never make again
We've got all the materials for gates and guns and walls
But do we have the courage to make brothers of us all?

Excuse me, Mr. President, have you heard the news?
Would you walk a mile in their flip flop shoes?
We've got no room for prejudice, we've got no room for hate
Let's open all our hearts and minds before it is too late
Excuse me, Mr. President, have you heard the news?
Would you walk a mile in their flip flop shoes?

Migrant Caravan Protest Song

When I lived in Watsonville, CA, in part of 2018, I wrote this song inspired by teenage men there. I met one wearing a literally spiked backpack. With underpaid farm work and criminal activity the future options immediately available to them, what options of dignity, openness, and freedom could these men access?

I experienced a lot of vulnerability while living in CA, compared to what I've usually experienced in my life, so this song speaks for me as well. 

This recording was completed in the beautiful, buggy secret garden of the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island once I had returned to Michigan. Michigan is an environment I find more restful, and I was regaining a sense of having a safe and predictable home. But inequality is pervasive and work is not done. To learn more about the Grand Hotel Garden Recordings, please visit this blog post: https://clairebatesmusic.com/2019/07/21/what-are-the-grand-hotel-garden-recordings/.

Spiky Shell - Grand Hotel Garden Recording

Mountainside Song emerged at the end of a month where I had considered broken pieces of past life and wondered how much to take along with me, how much to leave behind. Mountainside Song is an answer, one which allows for continuing questions and which I hope others find helpful as well. 

This version of Mountainside Song was recorded in the garden of the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island, Michigan. To learn more about the Grand Hotel Garden Recordings, visit this blog post: https://clairebatesmusic.com/2019/07/21/what-are-the-grand-hotel-garden-recordings/.

Mountainside Song - Grand Hotel Garden Recording

I wrote this song in response to the story of Shannon Bigley. This woman about my age was experiencing homelessness in summer 2018 and was killed during a CalTrans clearout of a homeless encampment in Modesto, CA.

Shannon had been sleeping in a cardboard box. CA had recently accelerated disassembling of homeless encampments, and CalTrans employees had complained that their role in this dismantling did not fit their backgrounds and job descriptions.

According to news reports at the time, Ms. Bigley went by the nickname Sunshine. I imagine her story in this song. The story shared in the song is in part also my own, as I myself was living near Modesto at that time and experiencing housing tenuousness exacerbated by a brain injury and a brush with Lyme disease.

To learn more about the Grand Hotel Garden Recordings, of which this is part, visit this blog post: https://clairebatesmusic.com/2019/07/21/what-are-the-grand-hotel-garden-recordings/.

Load of Trouble - Grand Hotel Garden Recording

Cover inspired by Ella Fitzgerald's version of this song and heartaches. By Sonny Burke and Paul Francis Webster. Mechanical licensing secured through HFA July 6, 2019.

Black Coffee Cover - 2.20.19

Woody Guthrie cover, mechanical licensing secured through HFA July 21, 2019. 

I made this recording to recognize veterans, refugees, asylees, immigrants, low wage workers, and climate refugees who struggle for housing around the world. It is also in memory of the constant compassion of my grandma, Bona Jean Bates. 

I recorded this track outside Michigan's Mackinac Island's Grand Hotel, a symbol of opulence. To learn more about the Grand Hotel Garden Recordings, visit this blog post: https://clairebatesmusic.com/2019/07/21/what-are-the-grand-hotel-garden-recordings/.

Ain't Got No Home Cover - Grand Hotel Garden Recording

This traditional Venezuelan love song - which, here, I sing in Spanish and English - speaks to me of the ways love lights us, all over the globe. 

I'm singing this to everyone.

Learn more about what I am doing at https://clairebatesmusic.com/.

Si De Noche Ves Que Brillan Cover - 9.20.19

My friend https://soundcloud.com/seth-shamp produced and recorded and designed and played the instruments for this rendering of an original song I'd composed. I had only to sing the lyrics! Thank you to him for seeing the potential and transforming this into a fuller multi-layered version.

I composed this about the interconnectedness of human beings (moreover, living beings)beyond conflict or any differences.

Branches - Seth Shamp & Claire Bates on Claire Bates Original

Across the U.S. people in captivity wrestle with coronavirus in crowded, unsanitary quarters; people on Rikers Island are offered $6/hour to dig mass graves. Stand up on behalf of the incarcerated by signing by 4.8.20 this letter to the CDC to improve medical care and decarcerate:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSftqC-hpGzkZxyoCKM0TwrGOG-CV5pURDvLQOKWP5hVrSWhWg/viewform

Rikers Island - 4.6.20

Conscious analysis and loving transparency illuminate tender, gutsy, bluesy folk when Claire plays and sings. Claire Bates gives from her heart songs for hard times.

Claire Bates Music

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