There's no stopping us this time

When my parents came out to see us play yesterday, we got to show off a few new songs they'd never heard before. Their reactions were almost uniformly positive. "That's a very powerful song," they'd say. Or, "You have to put that on your next album!"

But at the end of the first chorus for "Now You See Us," my father started laughing. And I couldn't figure out why. Did I do something wrong?

I asked him about it after our set, reciting the chorus to jog his memory:

Someone's got to keep the faith
Someone's got to hold the line
I can build a mighty fortress
With the power of my mind
I'll do anything it takes
Gonna take back what is mine
And there's no stopping us this time

"There's no stopping us this time," my dad echoed. "Every protest song is like that. They all think they can change the world."

He's right, of course, but what's the alternative? "Someone's got to keep the faith / Someone's got to hold the line / I'll keep singing at you people / Though it's just a waste of time"

The point is to convey a common purpose, and to give ourselves just enough optimism to carry us through to the next little action we take.

You can't rally the troops by being realistic, dammit!