Tonight I am in Ottawa to participate in the 25th annual Song-Along. This is an event that I started in Toronto and ran for four years. It ended then in Toronto, but people in Ottawa had joined in and have kept it going all this time. Each year several themes or topics are chosen, and participants write songs inspired by these and perform them at the Song-Along.
I was invited to come to this special anniversary edition, and I wrote a song for the occasion. The theme I used was "late-night call", with a nod to one of the others, "keep going."
This song is my art of the day today. You can watch a video on Facebook here:
https://www.facebook.com/karen.l.hall.102/posts/10154280836671123
Be a Shining Light
I went to bed, full of dread
I couldn't sleep at all
I felt the change, all was rearranged
When they made the late-night call
The world was stunned that truth was shunned
In favour of a fall
My daughter cried, "People are gonna die"
And I said, "Stand up tall
Be a shining light
Do what you know is right
And love with all your might
Be a shining light."
We victimize, we vilify
We march to battle drums
Right or left, or right or wrong
Rights for all or rights for some
We'll pay the price for fear and lies
Our fragile world undone
Let us love and rise above
Singing we shall overcome.
Be a shining light
Do what you know is right
And love with all your might
Be a shining light