"Carnivals & Bread": New song in the #SocialismSongs series

New song I'm happy to share with you. My brother says it would be really cool with a beatbox :)

YouTube description with lyrics below.

This is the 3rd song of my #SocialismSongs series. Lyrics below. I built the lyric from a misremembered classic political phrase "circuses and bread" which refers to the idea that the bulk of the population in any society will be easily controlled as long as you keep them fed and entertained. Let's not be that, okay? Let's not let the powers that be reduce us to such little dignity.

We are a culture obsessed with food and entertainment, and have nearly completely let these things eclipse the high and noble call that it is to be human. Like I've said a few times now, we can be better. We are better. We are capable of thinking differently than we've been told to think and constructing our own way of viewing the world hinged on thoughtful study and real facts and history.

I don't want us reduced to consumers. I want us to be alive again--thinking, feeling, seeing with wonder, loving down to our bones in a way that sacrifices, fighting for the things that truly matter.

This is part of an ongoing "song theme" series I'll be doing throughout 2020 with regular commentary. I'll be sharing the gamut from politics, culture, and art, to love, injustice, and true humanity. You can check out my song "Venezuela" (song #1 of the #SocialismSongs theme about what happened there) here:

And my commentary on that here:

Subscribe to follow along on my hike through these chaotic times. Civilization is still worth fighting for.

My regular professional work is currently performing at select private events in Canada and the US. To contact my business partner and me with a request, please e-mail [email protected]. Signed, limited editions of my most recent album can be obtained only by direct request at this email.

Carnivals & Bread

Carnivals and bread aren’t enough to keep you fed
Get the mediocre voices out from inside your head
We are better than we’ve been so far
Get the pulse back going inside your heart

[Chorus]
Freedom
Doesn’t look like you think it does
You’re a golden child
In need of the truth
You’re strong and wild
With a whole lot to lose
Freedom

Circuses and bread keep you going at their pace
Live a little virtue, don’t go hiding your true face
Raise your head up, darling—see the sun
Glowing in her freedom till the day’s work’s done

Freedom
Doesn’t look like you think it does
You’re a golden child
In need of the truth
You’re strong and wild
With a whole lot to lose
Freedom

It’s a war for your mind out there
It’s a war for your mind out there
It’s a war for your mind out there
It's a war, it's a war, it's a war, it's a war

Freedom
Doesn’t look like you think it does
You’re a golden child
In need of the truth
You’re strong and wild
With a whole lot to lose
Freedom

Carnivals and bread aren’t enough to keep you fed
Circuses and bread aren’t enough to keep you fed
Carnivals and bread aren’t enough to keep you fed
Circuses and bread aren’t enough to keep you fed…

Copyright 2020, Kay Clarity ("Young Skin: Songs and Poems of Emergence" collection)