UPDATED 2: Okay. My deepest apologies for NOT KNOWING who this young man was. I wasn’t into the Hamilton Broadway thing, so please forgive me. Leslie Odom, Jr. was just in the biggest Broadway smash hit since, oh I dunno — you name it. He won a Tony for his performance. I bow down to my own ignorance, but he has my attention now!!!!! I don’t know who he is. Never heard of him before. But he has a GREAT voice and this song is off the chain.
The lyrics are totally on point. If I were the President, I would retweet this post under the POTUS account. Finally someone sums it all up in one song:
LISTEN. And pass it on.
UPDATED 1: WITH FULL LYRICS — Because it’s hauntingly important.
Seriously Lyrics
Sara Bareilles, Songwriter
Leslie Odom, Jr. Vocalist
Let’s start with hope.
I threw it in the middle
Like a skipping stone,
The ripples won, son of a gun –
Some would not have thought so.
But I stand here Commander-In-Chief,
And I take it seriously.
But along the way…
A rogue tide turned tidal wave.
In reaction to what I tried to do…
A rebirth of a nation’s hatred.
Red, White and Blue….Is Black in there too?
Seriously?
One man –
Rewriting the book on bad behavior
Maybe cheats the neighbors…
Feels he gets what they pay for –
WE CAN’T
Pat him on the back and SEND HIM ON THROUGH
No man’s ignorance
Will ever be his virtue
Is this the best we can be?
SERIOUSLY?
Let’s talk of fear,
And why I don’t bring it in here
It’s a dangerous word
It spooks the herd
And we all bleed in the stampede
Fear makes a false friend indeed
And I take it seriously.
So hear me now
Before the truth gets drowned out
By a demagogue flexing
A DEMAGOGUE FLEXING
He’s history repeating –
...
Angry?
Am I Angry?
You ask Am I Angry?
And I’m at a Loss for Words…
After all we done
Every battle hard won
Every hair gone gray
In the name of this place
In a history plagued
With incredible mistakes
Still I pledge my allegiance to these
UNITED DIVIDED STATES ------
SERIOUSLY.
Let’s end with ‘why’?
It’s a question I
Want to ask of us as a populace
Why not take the time
Or the weight of this story
Seriously.
--Graphic emphasis all Smoothnmellow’s.