Welcome to 2021.
Sunday night I co-MCed the Greenwich Village Folk Festival with Ron Olesko of "Folk Music Notebook" -- it was a terrific lineup, starting with Terre Roche in NYC, ending with Roy Zimmerman in Northern California. So many highlights, but THE highlight of the night to me was a song, "Because We Need You Now," that Cliff Eberhardt and Tom Prasada-Rao wrote together following Joe Biden being declared winner of the presidential election.
Tom sang the song solo.
It was bracing to hear this the same day we also got to hear recordings of the president trying to talk Georgia's Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger into 'recalculating' the election results.
Here's the link to Tom Prasada-Rao's performance, including his spoken introduction:
Recorded live at The Greenwich Village Folk Festival, Jan. 3, 2021
Brandon O'Sullivan, recording engineer
Phil Klum, mastering engineer
Raymond Micek/Rod MacDonald GVFF producers
“Because We Need You Now”
by Cliff Eberhardt & Tom Prasada-Rao
©Hank Sr. Music (BMI) / Simple Gift Music (BMI)
Life is not a horse race
it’s not win, place, or show
some people grab the brass ring
and why we’ll never know
some people seem to always win
and we’ll always wonder how
perhaps that’s why you lost before
because you’re needed now
You can spin the wheel or roll the dice
or leave it up to Fate
but Fate will always trip you up
no matter what you say
some people bend
the rules until they break
to see what the law allows
perhaps that’s why you lost before
because we need you now
Ring them bells
ring them bells
let us hear them chime
ring them bells
ring them bells
you were made for this moment
in time
this moment in time
If you ever needed proof
that this day would come
look outside your window
see what we have done
every color of the rainbow
each race in the crowd
we’re all here because we’ve lost before
that’s why we need you now
that’s why we need you now
There were so many highlights in the evening -- but this one jumped out at me as a song that needs to be heard RIGHT NOW. Tom's so right -- Cliff recognized a moment in time that called out to be commemorated with such a well written, heartfelt song.
And as Tom says -- let's hope 2021 is a better year for all of us --
Onwards and upwards!
xoxox
Christine
p.s. There's also a version of the video with the words on the screen. If you are a performer, it's an easy way to learn this song -- you can see Tom's left hand on the neck -- the chords aren't difficult.
"Because We Need You Now" WITH LYRICS on screen:
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