A song from my new album "Today & Tomorrow." This is song took me many years to write, far longer than any song in recent memory for me. 

To purchase the album: http://firebrandrecords.com/music/
Album-themed shirts: http://inkytentacles.com/store/259137928

INSPIRATION

And I gave it everything I had
To try to change for the better
And in those days I felt all the highs and lows
I had to push myself to feel it
I know you too seek wisdom
From the hard truths of life
And mold your heavy heart
To hold a lot inside

We get lost in attempts to find ourselves
Along these open roads
Searching for perspectives on our lives
To bring back home
Cuz there's something about the way we move
Through this world when we're alone
That we seek after,
That we follow

I found in you a comrade
A lover and a friend
A critic, a supporter
And an inspiration
For inside of you is that side of me
That can't be turned away
From the constant pressures of a world
In which we share responsibility

As we point ourselves like cameras
Towards all the things we see
To try to capture the desperation
And the hopes of society
But its not so much to justify
As to grasp the complexities
That we seek after
That we follow

And I made
A poetic piece of you
A concrete fleeting moment
To come back to
Cuz sometimes that's all we've got
Sometimes it's all we need
To face the world with open hearts 
And accept the things we've seen

And they ask us what we're looking for
They ask us what it means
Are we running from our demons,
Or are we running towards our dreams?
But it's something more fluid
And ever-changing in between
That we seek after
That we follow

Inspiration

Welcome back to The Rebel Beat's monthly podcast for January, 2018. And happy new year!

We have an amazing show to get to today, we’re gonna bring you a people’s history of music à la Howard Zinn with Dror. Dror is grassroots music journalist, a blogger, and a community organizer with the BDS movement in solidarity with Palestine. Check out his blog, Entre Les Oreilles ("Between the Ears") here:
entrelesoreilles.blogspot.ca

Like the Rebel Beat podcast? Wanna keep us going strong? Support us!
www.patreon.com/rebelbeatradio

Also on the show, we reflect on the one-year anniversary of the mosque shooting in Quebec City, when a white supremacist killed six Muslim men as they were praying. It was just one week after Trump was inaugurated as President of the USA. If you're on Facebook, check out this beautiful collection of tributes here:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/RememberJan29

We also reflect on a year of inspiring resistance against the white supremacist, sexist, ecocidal, and transphobic policies of the Trump regime. There are many frontlines of the struggle, but one in particular you can support are the J20 Defendants:
www.defendj20resistance.org

Finally, in our Turn it Up segment, we honour not one, but TWO groundbreaking musicians:

* Jackie Shane, a pioneering transgendered soul singer. Check out her recently re-released album here:
http://www.numerogroup.com/products/jackie-shane-any-other-way

* Hugh Masekela, the god-father of South African jazz, and anti-apartheid icon, who died this month at the age of 78. Rest in Power!

** Playlist **

The Narcicyst feat. Shadia Mansour - Hamdulillah
Oshun - Not my President
Entrance - Not gonna say your name
James Brown - Say it Loud (I’m Black and I’m proud)
Rachid Taha - Ya rayah
Rim Banna - Fares Odeh
Prince - Baltimore
Victor Jara - Venceremos
Miriam Makeba - Beware Verwoerd
Fela Kuti - Colonial mentality
N.W.A. - Fuck tha police
Zone d’Expression Populaire - Nique la France
Pussy Riot - Mother of god, drive Putin away
Roger Waters - Is this the life we really want?
Jackie Shane - Sticks and stones
Hugh Masekela - Stimela

The Rebel Beat is a proud member of the Channel Zero Network of anarchist podcasts:
www.channelzeronetwork.com

The Rebel Beat 081: A People's History Through Song

Firebrand Records

Related tracks