Years ago, I was in a card shop looking for a birthday card. I never found a decent birthday card, but I found one even better. It was a card with this quote:
Barn’s burnt down… now I can see the moon… – Masahide.
I loved that.
I had no idea who this Masahide person was, but I did know that I liked what was being said; Lose the nonsense and a person can get the truth!
A few months later, I was sitting in our high-end recording studio located inside a large barn ( a person can not make things like this up! ). I’d written a song based on the quote. Sky and Jessie were putting their vocal tracks down. Crew teen Ben turned to me and said, “Honestly, I’m not quite sure I understand this song completely, but I love it. My favorites are this one and Fearless.“
Our engineer, Em, laughed and tried to explain more fully to Ben what I was saying in with lyrics. If I recall, he explained like this…
Verse one: Gossip leads to flawed perceptions that can damage friends and put up walls.
Verse two: Fake news leads to flawed perceptions that damage society and put up walls.
If we keep things real, the world will become a much kinder and gentler place. Got that?
Ben smiled. To this day, I’m not sure if he fully caught on. Rumor has it, he still loves the song.
A Timely Topic
I felt compelled to share this song’s backstory because, at the time I wrote the tune, the term ‘fake news’ didn’t even exist. It’s interesting that I spotted that card with the quote so long ago, writing the song soon after, and now – years later, the topic is more timely than ever. Seems the world has finally caught up to us!
Whether or not you check out our song itself, I urge you to cover this topic with any young person willing to engage. Truth is important. Checking facts is important. Understanding the perils of gossip and misinformation has never been more important.
We’re living in rather crazy, polarized times. Just picking a team isn’t a productive trend, quite the opposite. Hopefully, things will calm down soon. We can relax a little, take a beat, and remember to listen as well as lecture. After all, doesn’t the truth usually fall somewhere in the middle?
Barn’s burnt down… now I can see the moon. Here’s hoping someday soon, it will glow beautifully for all of us.
Bullyproof Rainbow Club girls with each other’s back. No gossiping for the righteous!
I considered posting a photo of our barn studio, but it just seemed a bit too literal. It’s just a barn, after all. 🙂
