One of my favorite songs for years has been
http://www.lyricsdownload.com/blessed-union-of-souls-i-believe-lyrics.html">"I Believe" by Blessed Union of Souls. It's a beautiful song about race relations, and it always makes me cry, especially the last line. Inspired by Obama's race speech and a conversation I had last Tuesday with a Philadelphia voter who told me point blank that he could not vote for a black man, I rewrote the lyrics to the song to describe my feelings about the presidential race and the simultaneous hope and disgust I have felt about the state of race relations in this country as a result of the Obama campaign.
If you haven't heard the original song, I recommend buying it on iTunes immediately.
So here are my lyrics. If anyone can sing and wants to record them, be my guest.
Walk blind into the light and listen to this man
Try to listen carefully and try to understand
Open up your mind and then open up your heart
You'll see that you and he aren't very far apart
'Cuz I believe that we've turned a corner
I believe that change is on the way
Violence is spread worldwide and there's soldiers overseas
Families struggle to pay their bills
Oh why can't we just see?
That all we do is to limit our own future when we let them stoke our fears.
We can stand up now and say not this time, not this year.
'Cuz I believe that we've turned a corner
I believe that change is on the way
I believe there's hope for the future
I believe that hope will win the day
He's been out campaigning now for a little over a year
They say they never seen such passion, but yet there lives a fear
That maybe we are just too narrow-minded still to overcome our past.
He knows he could lose it then but he still takes that chance.
'Cuz he believes that hope unites us all and this time we'll understand.
And we'll judge him as a person, not just a black man.
'Cause I believe that we've turned a corner
I believe that change is on the way
I believe I believe I believe I believe in hope for the future
I believe that hope will win the day
Hope will win the day
Hope will win the day
Hope will win the day
Please hope win the day
Please hope win the day