Sunday, June 30, 2013

Pride Day Song of the Day - Same Love - Macklemore and Ryan Lewis

When I was in the third grade I thought that I was gay,
'Cause I could draw, my uncle was, and I kept my room straight.
I told my mom, tears rushing down my face
She's like "Ben you've loved girls since before pre-k, trippin' "
Yeah, I guess she had a point, didn't she?
Bunch of stereotypes all in my head.


Happy Pride Day!  Today is New York City's Gay Pride Parade, the culmination of a week-long celebration that's the biggest in the world.  The events in the Supreme Court this week have given cause for even more celebration, more pride, as a long, hard battle for equal rights has been won.


theatlanticwire

I remember doing the math like, "Yeah, I'm good at little league"
A preconceived idea of what it all meant
For those that liked the same sex
Had the characteristics



This will be the third time that I am featuring this song as Song of the Day in a relatively short period of time, but I can think of no better tune to represent this day, and I feature the lyrics here because they're so profound, especially coming from a straight ally who's so popular right now.

The right wing conservatives think it's a decision
And you can be cured with some treatment and religion
Man-made rewiring of a predisposition
Playing God, aw nah here we go
America the brave still fears what we don't know
And God loves all his children, is somehow forgotten
But we paraphrase a book written thirty-five-hundred years ago
I don't know

There is a guest vocalist in this song, Mary Lambert, who sings the chorus in such a way she hearkens back to the folk singers on the sixties and seventies who so often spoke out for their own causes.  Her voice is beautiful and melodic, and the words ring so true for anyone who is gay.

And I can't change
Even if I tried
Even if I wanted to
And I can't change
Even if I try
Even if I wanted to
My love, my love, my love
She keeps me warm
She keeps me warm
She keeps me warm
She keeps me warm

Then Macklemore goes on the attack against a community who's harsh rhetoric hidden behind lyrics often goes unnoticed and unspoken, who's fraternity regularly demonizes "faggots" and the like.  Like the rapper says, it's actually surprising being that this particular community comes from a place of oppression, yet their words fan the flames of oppression upon the gay community...

If I was gay, I would think hip-hop hates me
Have you read the YouTube comments lately?
"Man, that's gay" gets dropped on the daily
We become so numb to what we're saying
A culture founded from oppression
Yet we don't have acceptance for 'em
Call each other faggots behind the keys of a message board
A word rooted in hate, yet our genre still ignores it
Gay is synonymous with the lesser

It's the same hate that's caused wars from religion
Gender to skin color, the complexion of your pigment
The same fight that led people to walk outs and sit ins
It's human rights for everybody, there is no difference!
Live on and be yourself


The song continues with words never truer spoken.  It's advice we all need to take, no matter what our prejudices may be.  Though I've never really been the object of such discrimination personally, the fact that it happens gives me a pain in my heart, and no one deserves to face ridicule just because of how they were born, whether it's skin color, gender, or sexual orientation.

We press play, don't press pause
Progress, march on
With the veil over our eyes
We turn our back on the cause
Till the day that my uncles can be united by law
When kids are walking 'round the hallway plagued by pain in their heart
A world so hateful some would rather die than be who they are
And a certificate on paper isn't gonna solve it all
But it's a damn good place to start
No law is gonna change us
We have to change us
Whatever God you believe in
We come from the same one
Strip away the fear
Underneath it's all the same love
About time that we raised up

So please press play. The song is really very good.  Happy Pride Day to everybody, and if you happen to be LGBT, or even just different in any way, stand up and be proud of who you are...

And I can't change
Even if I tried
Even if I wanted to
And I can't change
Even if I try
Even if I wanted to
My love, my love, my love
She keeps me warm
She keeps me warm
She keeps me warm
She keeps me warm



MACKLEMORE ft RYAN LEWIS & MARY LAMBERT " Same... by UnderProject

No comments:

Post a Comment