Should DU have a theme song...

[Longgrain]

Warning long and shmaltzy...

Just to give me a chance to say hi to everyone and maybe get to know a few of you more personally.

Today I had to drive to work early this mourning At 6:00 A.m. It was still dark out and up here in New England we had just gotten our first taste of icy weather. Route 2 East was a mess with a lot of cars swinging off the road and cop cars everywhere. Traffic was forty-five miles per hour at best and my eyes, being groggy from staying up all last night chatting with another DUer, were easily mesmerized by the red tails lights of the car that had been in front of me for the last twenty minutes...

I was listening to my "Another Side of Bob Dylan" C.D. when this song came up..."The Chimes of Freedom"...I wasn't listening much at first, and I had heard it about a thousand times before, but certain lines stood out and seem to fit my own personal situation, I began to think about one or two Duers who had reached out to me in the dark of night, and those I had reached out in the past, often when we we're new here and just feeling our around...

As the song ended I hit the replay to listen to the song again, I started hearing it again in a new light, suddenly it was no longer about me it was about all of us, all of us who had taken the risk to come here and speak out, and to bring our ideas together...even if it seems we don't get heard sometimes...
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Far between sundown's finish an' midnight's broken toll
We ducked inside the doorway, thunder crashing
As majestic bells of bolts struck shadows in the sounds
Seeming to be the chimes of freedom flashing
Flashing for the warriors whose strength is not to fight
Flashing for the refugees on the unarmed road of flight
An' for each an' ev'ry underdog soldier in the night
An' we gazed upon the chimes of freedom flashing.

In the city's melted furnace, unexpectedly we watched
With faces hidden while the walls were tightening
As the echo of the wedding bells before the blowin' rain
Dissolved into the bells of the lightning
Tolling for the rebel, tolling for the rake
Tolling for the luckless, the abandoned an' forsaked
Tolling for the outcast, burnin' constantly at stake
An' we gazed upon the chimes of freedom flashing.

Through the mad mystic hammering of the wild ripping hail
The sky cracked its poems in naked wonder
That the clinging of the church bells blew far into the breeze
Leaving only bells of lightning and its thunder
Striking for the gentle, striking for the kind
Striking for the guardians and protectors of the mind
An' the unpawned painter behind beyond his rightful time
An' we gazed upon the chimes of freedom flashing.

Through the wild cathedral evening the rain unraveled tales
For the disrobed faceless forms of no position
Tolling for the tongues with no place to bring their thoughts
All down in taken-for-granted situations
Tolling for the deaf an' blind, tolling for the mute
Tolling for the mistreated, mateless mother, the mistitled prostitute
For the misdemeanor outlaw, chased an' cheated by pursuit
An' we gazed upon the chimes of freedom flashing.

Even though a cloud's white curtain in a far-off corner flashed
An' the hypnotic splattered mist was slowly lifting
Electric light still struck like arrows, fired but for the ones
Condemned to drift or else be kept from drifting
Tolling for the searching ones, on their speechless, seeking trail
For the lonesome-hearted lovers with too personal a tale
An' for each unharmful, gentle soul misplaced inside a jail
An' we gazed upon the chimes of freedom flashing.

Starry-eyed an' laughing as I recall when we were caught
Trapped by no track of hours for they hanged suspended
As we listened one last time an' we watched with one last look
Spellbound an' swallowed 'til the tolling ended
Tolling for the aching ones whose wounds cannot be nursed
For the countless confused, accused, misused, strung-out ones an' worse
An' for every hung-up person in the whole wide universe
An' we gazed upon the chimes of freedom flashing.

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I'll be pushing 900 soon, but instead of just having you all ask me questions and giving you all answers, I'd like every one to come over and tell me more about you, I feel like I know many of you well already, but I'm not always certain sometimes. Or maybe you'd like to greet someone who you've formed a bond with here at DU, and give them a big hug. Or maybe your new here and haven't met anyone yet, and feel like no one listens to your responses.

Don't let this thread be just about me, let it be about all of us...

I've got to go write a letter to a friend now, I'll be checking in soon..

[Lizzie Borden]

1. Wee, I'd support that song.

Something you may not know, John Kennedy Jr. said that was his favorite song. It was in George Magazine before it's demise.

[Longgrain]

4. Thank for chiming in Lizzie

It's one of my favorite songs too.

[HEyHEY]

2. I'd prefer "we are stardust"

[Darth_Ole]

3. How about Paul Simon's "American Tune"?

Many's the time I've been mistaken
And many times confused
Yes, and I've often felt forsaken and certainly misused
Ah, but I'm all right, I'm all right
I'm just weary to my bones
Still, you don't expect to be bright and bon vivant
So far away from home
So far away from home

And I don't know a soul who's not been battered,
I don't have a friend who feels at ease
I don't know a dream that's not been shattered or driven to its knees
But it's all right, it's all right
For we lived so well so long
Still, when I think of the road we're traveling on
I wonder what's gone wrong
I can't help it, I wonder what's gone wrong

And I dreamed I was dying
I dreamed that my soul rose unexpectedly
And looking back down at me
Smiled reassuringly
And I dreamed I was flying
And high up above, my eyes could clearly see
The Statue of Liberty
Sailing away to sea
And I dreamed I was flying

We come on the ship they call the Mayflower
We come on the ship that sailed the moon
We come in the age's most uncertain hours and sing an American tune
But it's all right, it's all right, it's all right
You can't be forever blessed
Still, tomorrow's going to be another working day
And I'm trying to get some rest
That's all, I'm trying to get some rest

[Doctor_J]

5. Simon wrote that in mourning

over Nixon's re-election in 72. So I think it would be very appropos right now.

I always preferred Simon to Dylan anyway...

[Darth_Ole]

7. I agree on the Simon vs. Dylan, TOJ.

Right, and Simon has some great thoughts on the tune. He says that he always finds new meaning in the song when we go through times in which the defintion of American doesn't fit everyone.

I <3 Paul Simon.

[kodi]

6. flintstones, meet the flintstones!

.

[Longgrain]

8. He-he

Very funny...the Lounge goes crazy!

[FizzFuzz]

10. for the Lounge, allow me to grace you with my rewrite of that:

Fuzzbutts! Meet the Fuzzbutts!
They're the fuzzy fuzzy fam-il-leeee!
From the
Town of Fuzz-Rock
They're the cats right out of his-tor-reeee!

Hello Longgrain, what a neat post!
Tell about me? Ahhh, I feel like a member of the crowd at a dance, waiting for someone else to be the first to get on the dance floor.
Guess I'm not drunk enough yet. ;)

[liberalhistorian]

9. I've always thought that

"Do you Hear the People Sing", the rallying protest song from Les Miserables, would fit DU perfectly. "The Red and the Black" from Les Mis would fit well also.

Do you hear the people sing?
Singing a song of angry men
It is the music of a people who will not be slaves again
When the beating of your heart echoes the beating of the drums
There's a life about to start when tomorrow comes

Will you join in our crusade, who will be strong and stand with me?
Beyond the barricade, is there a world you long to see?
Then join in the fight that will give you the right to be free!

Do you hear the people sing?
Walking the valley of the night
It is the music of a people who are climbing to the light
For the wretched of the earth there is a flame that never dies
Even the darkest night will end and the sun will rise

They will live again in freedom in the promise of the Lord
They will walk behind the plowshares
They will push away the sword
The chain will be broken and all then will have their reward!

Will you join in our crusade, who will be strong and stand with me?
Beyond the barricade is there a world you long to see?
Then join in the fight that will give you the right to be free!

Do you hear the people sing?
Singing a song of angry men
It is the music of a people who will not be slaves again
When the beating of your heart echoes the beating of the drums
There's a life about to start when tomorrow comes!