We Can Change The World

[billroper]

This took a while to come together, partly because I was having trouble getting the guitar to cooperate with me. But I was on the way to work a while back and the chorus arrived as I was beating out the rhythm on the steering wheel. Apparently, this wasn't the guitar's song. It belonged to a drum somewhere...

Words and Music: Bill Roper
Copyright 2006

We Can Change The World

We can change the world.
We can build a new tomorrow.
We can change the world,
Working with the time we borrowed.
Teaching lessons we’re still learning
Out there where the fires are burning,
We can change the world.

Forty years of war,
Of Conelrad and sirens blaring.
If the missiles soar,
Just duck and cover, no despairing.
Fingers on the button
Waiting for the call.
Praying it was nothing
So the fire won’t take us all.
But I saw an empire crumble
And I saw an empire fall
And I watched the Germans dance upon the wall.

What does time demand
Of a superpower, the last man standing?
Fortunate, the land
In liberty set free, expanding.
Lessons for all seasons.
Lessons learned in war.
Searching for the reasons
And hoping that there’s more.
And I’m praying now for justice.
And I pray we fight for right.
And I pray that we can drive away the night.

Look across the lands
That still rise up to kill the stranger.
Wait for the demands
In a world that’s still there filled with danger.
Tyrants taking power.
Madmen in control
Waiting for the hour
When they can burn away our soul.
But I see a billion people
And they look a lot like me
And I need to find a way to set them free.

Is freedom just a word
That’s good for me but not for others?
Have you never heard
Of tolerance and love for brothers?
Listen to the music
We’ve heard through all our years,
Of peace and love and freedom
And put away your fears.
I know we’re less than perfect,
But it’s up to you and me
To try to teach the world how to be free.

(Chorus twice)
We can change the world.
We can change the world.

Comments

[blueeyedtigress.livejournal.com]

Wow. Shivery-making lyrics -- I want to hear the melody!

I can SO imiagine this being performed in a set with Fish's "Hope Eyrie" and Smith's "Shine, South Africa". And maybe Longcor's "The Only Help You Get" ... Fannish Protest Songs. It was only a matter of time ... ;]

[msminlr.livejournal.com]

hee hee hee

I hadn't got THAT far in my thinking; I just want to hear it.

[billroper]

Thanks! I expect we'll be crossing paths before too long. Although I'm pretty sure Chambanacon is a no-go for me this year...

[msminlr.livejournal.com]

[sigh] Thing was my convention up thataway for this year.
I'm still on short-rations convention-wise.
It'a likely to be GaFilk before our orbits cross again.

[billroper]

Thanks! I hope you'll like the whole package when you get to hear it.

[jrittenhouse.livejournal.com]

Very very very nice.

[billroper]

Thanks! Glad you liked it!

And this, ladies and gents, is why this man is in the Filk Hall of Fame

[(Anonymous)]

Oh. My. Freaking. Ghod. Bill, this is amazing. I am eager to hear the melody as well. I stand in sheer, stark awe and envy. Unbelievably good stuff! Thank you for sharing this.

Oops...sorry, forgot I wasn't logged in

[thatcrazycajun.livejournal.com]

Bill: the last message was from me. I forgot to check the radio button for "logged-in user" and it defaulted to "anonymous." Silly me. My bad.

Re: Oops...sorry, forgot I wasn't logged in

[billroper]

Trust me. It happens to everybody.

And thanks!

[pwl1.livejournal.com]

Okay, so when can I hear it??????? You WILL sing it at OVFF, right?

[billroper]

Absolutely!

[min0taur.livejournal.com]

I hear a voice of civilization -- and of civilized anguish -- here. I can especially connect with the call to a collective responsibility commensurate with our collective good fortune as Americans. I hope we can get there in a way that benefits the world community no less than ourselves; we'll need their help to suppress the well-equipped barbarians (I would cite examples of why I think that way about jihadists, beheaders, and other pissant bandit chieftains with big delusions and lots of things that go bang, but all anyone needs to do is look at the news).

Was it H.G. Wells who said the whole of human history was a race betweeen education and catastrophe? Keep the light, friend.

[billroper]

I don't know if it was Wells, but it sounds about right.

The one thing that is clear is that we do want to have friends out there. And as tarkrai observed elsewhere, that can be hard to do when folks know that you can turn into the meanest SOB in the valley if you think it's necessary.

Solutions are hard.

curious

[janmagic.livejournal.com]

loved the song, i can almost hear the beat.,

have you seen the movie "inconvient truth"?

i wonder if songs will come out of that.

cool to see you doing filk for cap. it has been awhile since you were the filk host for a con.