Bill Roper (billroper) wrote,
Bill Roper
billroper

We Can Change The World

This took a while to come together, partly because I was having trouble getting the guitar to cooperate with me. But I was on the way to work a while back and the chorus arrived as I was beating out the rhythm on the steering wheel. Apparently, this wasn't the guitar's song. It belonged to a drum somewhere...

Words and Music: Bill Roper
Copyright 2006

We Can Change The World

We can change the world.
We can build a new tomorrow.
We can change the world,
Working with the time we borrowed.
Teaching lessons we’re still learning
Out there where the fires are burning,
We can change the world.

Forty years of war,
Of Conelrad and sirens blaring.
If the missiles soar,
Just duck and cover, no despairing.
Fingers on the button
Waiting for the call.
Praying it was nothing
So the fire won’t take us all.
But I saw an empire crumble
And I saw an empire fall
And I watched the Germans dance upon the wall.

What does time demand
Of a superpower, the last man standing?
Fortunate, the land
In liberty set free, expanding.
Lessons for all seasons.
Lessons learned in war.
Searching for the reasons
And hoping that there’s more.
And I’m praying now for justice.
And I pray we fight for right.
And I pray that we can drive away the night.

Look across the lands
That still rise up to kill the stranger.
Wait for the demands
In a world that’s still there filled with danger.
Tyrants taking power.
Madmen in control
Waiting for the hour
When they can burn away our soul.
But I see a billion people
And they look a lot like me
And I need to find a way to set them free.

Is freedom just a word
That’s good for me but not for others?
Have you never heard
Of tolerance and love for brothers?
Listen to the music
We’ve heard through all our years,
Of peace and love and freedom
And put away your fears.
I know we’re less than perfect,
But it’s up to you and me
To try to teach the world how to be free.

(Chorus twice)
We can change the world.
We can change the world.
Tags: filk, lyrics, musings
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