This 40-page booklet-and-CD is Grant’s “new idea” about how to distribute his work. Inside the booklet is a CD. You’ll also find a QR code for downloading or listening to the songs online, and a special internet link if you prefer to do it that way. Then there are pages of “liner notes,” where you find lyrics to all the songs, detailed stories behind the songs, and how and where they got recorded and who played on them. Additionally, there is a short story Grant wrote about a certain baldheaded Florida folk singer driving home from Texas, and a half dozen poems and an essay about Lincoln.
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about
In 2019 I was a writer in residence in Beluthahatchee, Fl, at the
home of the late activist and writer, Stetson Kennedy. (Stetson, a
friend of Woody Guthrie, infiltrated the KKK in the 1950’s. There
are photos of Woody at Beluthahatchee, taken when he came to
visit Stetson.) This song was written during that residency. I see it as
very much influenced by Woody, and the way he enjoyed injecting
dark irony in his songs. (I submit Do Re Mi as an example.) I have
enjoyed singing this song on stage and breathing in the ambivalent
air that hovers at its conclusion, as it’s met with a tentative
smattering of clapping.
lyrics
Let’s Start Killing Each Other by Grant Peeples
It was way back in 1975
When I first had some hope for our cultural divide
That’s when I saw hippies and rednecks dance side-by-side
At Willie Nelson’s Texan 4th of July
But in the last few years I’ve seen a troubling change
It’s like both sides now have just gone insane
Yea, everybody’s screaming and nobody’s listening
It seems to me like a timebomb’s ticking
Got your leftwing, rightwing, your black and white
Conservatives and Liberals just itching for a fight
When you know they’re wrong and they swear they’re right
You can bet there’s gonna be trouble
So, just whip out a switchblade, pull out a gun
Pistol whip some sumbitch just for fun
And don’t stop dealing till the dealing’s done.
Till we start killing each other
You know you’re wasting time, trying to pump the brakes
Winning never happens for those who hesitate
Gotta ask yourself if you got what it takes
To take aim at your brother
So get your axe handle ready, get your machete sharp
Brit bats, ice picks, and poison darts
It’ll be hard to stop once this stuff starts
Once we start killing each other
Don’t let the circle be unbroken, don’t let the sunshine in
Who gives a damn where all the flowers have gone
The answers aren’t blowing in the wind
So, don’t be afraid to take a stance
Let’s all be victims of circumstance
You gotta be willing to give killing a chance
Yeah, let’s start killing each other
Oh, let’s start killing, let’s start killing…
It looks to me like we’re about to start killing each other
credits
from A Murder of Songs,
released February 21, 2023
We did all the recording at Gatorbone
studio. Lon Williamson plays rhythm guitar and bass, and the
guitar intro. Tracy Collins is on piano, and Doug Stock is on pedal
steel.
A self-described “tree-hugger that watches NASCAR, and Buddhist with a gun below the seat,” Grant Peeples is known for his
axe-sharp socio-political tunes, raucous humor and heart-gigging ballads.
He is the recipient of the Focus Foundation Award for Creative Excellence, which cited the “humor, compassion and wisdom of his songs,” and their "unflinching social insight and cultural acuity."...more
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