Ghost Of John William by Eric Chasalow published on 2020-05-28T13:38:42Z Ghost of John William The history of our obsession with guns in the US is long and feelings about it run so deep that rational discussion about the horrific violence this causes has been impossible. I chose a modal frame and a traditional genre to signify that long history and the text is purposely without a specific reference to any time period, remote or present. The issue is not an artifact of history, but urgent and on-going. The cry that “this insanity has got to stop” is meant as a kind of exhausted scream. I wrote the song out of a deep sense of frustration and exhaustion. The urgency that rises with each horrific incident recedes almost immediately, normalizing violence as something we are all suppose to accept for the sake of the rights of a minority to live without even reasonable restrictions. I find this intolerable, even from my position of both economic and racial privilege. It is our communities of color that suffer most from our glorification of guns. It is crystal clear that gun rights and white supremacy are intertwined. The deeply entrenched, well-financed gun-rights movement is, at its core, a fear-driven, reactionary institution for maintaining our racist and classist power-structure. So the insanity I sing of in this song is about much more than unbridled gun ownership – it is about ever-present violence fueled by fear, greed, and hate. Ghost of John William John William was a very fine tailor John William never hurt no one John William wasn’t nothing but your neighbor ‘Till the day that he got a gun. Feeling fear and rage because they said so Couldn’t say where it would stop. Always said he’d never have to use it But everybody wants to take their shot. All that hatred blowing through the country All that hate can’t be contained Every hate just calling for another When did life become a hateful game? It’s a story older than the ages Hatred calling from the mountaintops All those neighbors aiming at each other This insanity has got to stop. Every gun just calling for another Calling out from the mountaintop Calling out like the only true religion This insanity has got to stop. John saw them bowing down to dollars Calling citizens to take their shot It’s your right to murder one another Everybody wants to take their shot. John William was a very fine tailor John William was a very fine shot Took aim didn’t think about his brother This insanity has got to stop This insanity has got to stop This insanity has got to stop… Copyright 2020 Suspicious Motives Music (ASCAP)
