I want to give you a song. It’s called “Lonely Child”, and I am giving it to this community to help express the reason we come to this website. It should download for free. There are a lot of different groups that gather here. You all make this a great website to come to and inspire even those of us who don’t post diaries or comment very often.
If you want to use this song for any non-profit use, you can. I retain all commercial rights because I do not want any profit-motivated use of this song. This song is dedicated to, among many others: the neglected and abused children of the world, regardless of age; the homeless; the imprisoned; our service members, including the Peace Corps, and those working in faraway places on behalf of all of us; the mentally ill; the working mothers and fathers that are trying to make ends meet and give their kids a decent life; the firefighters and emergency services teams; all of you.
I wear my bleeding heart on my left, liberal sleeve, and I always have. But I understand that we are all more the same than we are different.
Lonely Child
Are you the child who needs to hear that someone loves you
Are you the child who needs to hear that you’re good
You’ve seen the lonely road this careless world can give you
If I could ease your heart and make you safe I would
Are you that lonely child
Are you the one I love
I may not know your name
I love you just the same
We’ve grown much softer, but our hearts have grown much harder
We race against our time in purpose and in need
But every kindness shared will only make us stronger
It never takes away from who we want to be
You’ve been that lonely child who’s seen a million sorrows
You’ve heard the hollow sound of no one there for you
I sing this song of love for every child who hears me
So you will know that there is someone who loves you
People call me Liz Parker. I am a lot like your mom, if your mom started doing something very different in her life as she got older. Like most moms, I have the best kids in the world. They taught me, guided me, and encouraged me, as I tried to do the same for them. While raising my kids and finally putting them through college, I struggled with mental illness. I functioned very well, advanced in my career, but finally ended up on the medication necessary to keep me functioning and living a comfortable, but not wealthy, middle class life. I contributed to society, volunteered, paid my taxes, and then my medication started doing different things and I couldn’t perform the job that had been so easy just the year before.
I knew I had to change my life before I lost everything. So I moved to Marfa, Texas. As I left Austin, Texas I told everyone that I was moving to Marfa to become a folksinger. Thank goodness I have lived in poverty before. I know how to be poor, and most people in Marfa are poor. So I have been on Social Security Disabilty for the last two years. I have been learning to live without all the things I can’t do anymore, financially, physically and mentally. I don’t want to be on disability, but I can’t have my old life back. I know that it’s not material wealth that defines you, it’s what you do with your life. So…
I write songs and sing, and that’s something I can do. I think it’s something I’m supposed to do. So I spent the last of my savings recording some of my songs, because I was afraid I would never have the opportunity to do it again. I wanted to leave them for my kids. I wanted to leave them for the world to maybe someday hear them, and maybe someday sing them. I have the extremely good fortune of having a son who is a professional musician. He is guiding his mom through the YouTube generation of music, and I’m taking a chance that other people will like this music. I, like a billion other people, sing and play guitar. My son, however, understands music, and performed, instrumentally or digitally, all the other percussion and music recorded. I think it’s wild.
It’s what I have to offer to the world. This is the statement that I am beginning to voice about this beautiful world. This is the first opportunity I have ever had to do anything like this and I feel blessed that it has come to fruition, whatever the outcome may be. My first two accomplishments were my kids and this is my third. The first two were phenomenal.
Please don’t expect someone who is 35 years younger or 35 pounds thinner. I might be like your mom, if your mom started wanting to share her music with the world and made it her goal. I also do not have blue hair. Although I do like Katy Perry and think Nicki Minaj is out there, they will be old too someday.
That brings me to the introduction of my music to the world. You can find more of my music on lizparkermusic.com. If you are moved to download, it will be cheaper on ITunes kinds of sites and is up on some of them. Here’s a link for Tunecore and there is also a free download link for Lonely Child on my site. If you got this far, all my thanks.
I feel like I'm learning to fly.