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Watch It Burn

from For Frogs and Trees by Kristin Gordon

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about

I wrote this song in September of 2020. The forests just south of us were on fire. There was a week when the sky was orange, and the smoke was too thick to spend even a few minutes outdoors. It looked and felt like an apocalypse movie. Fires, floods, freak snowstorms, hurricanes, tornadoes, heat waves, droughts and other unpredictable weather events are becoming more and more common, and will continue to accelerate as the temperature rises, the glaciers melt and the sea levels rise. And congress has not succeeded in passing any meaningful climate change legislation, because it will temporarily inconvenience the American populace.

This song rises from both my frustration and my hope that we will find a way forward. We need change that may hurt financially in the short-term, but will help secure a better future for the generations that come after us. We need to have the heart and foresight to consider other species in our plans. We will need creativity and fortitude and the willingness to inconvenience ourselves in order to create change that will alleviate future suffering.

This song was used as the finale in Broken Planetarium’s production of “Live! Prophets! Live!” Even as “prophets” are predicting the end of the way of life we’ve always known, we hold this hope:

“May the rain wash the smoke from our eyes.
May the truth shine through these darkened skies.
May the seeds of something more begin to rise.
May this struggle make us wise.”

lyrics

Are we all going to stand around and watch it burn?
Are we all just dying to take our turn?
To build a house on melting ice
and let our children pay the price?
Are we dying to watch it burn?

We built this house of straw on bones and tears
On the status quo that we can’t let go of as the flames draw near
Fist held fast in a jar of our past sins that we’ve dressed as rights
Caught in the trap of not looking back on the greed that holds us tight

If we claim to be brave and we want to be free
We have to look at the shadows we pretend not to see

Are we all going to stand around and watch it burn?
Are we all just dying to take our turn?
To take a swing, to lay the blame,
To point a finger and hide our shame?
Are we dying to watch it burn?

May the rain wash the smoke from our eyes.
May the truth shine through these darkened skies.
May the seeds of something more begin to rise.
May this struggle make us wise.

credits

from For Frogs and Trees, track released May 19, 2023
Kristin Gordon, music, performance, production
Erin Christensen, cello
Theo Spanos, drums

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Kristin Gordon Portland, Oregon

Kristin Gordon is a singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist living in Portland, OR. She loves coffee, singing in harmony, laughing, and looking for meaning in everyday things. When she’s not writing words & melodies, she’s often directing choirs or teaching young fingers to play the piano. ... more

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