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Steve Stearns - People Be Kind

from SpinTunes 16 Round 3 by Spintunes

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about

My entry for SpinTunes 16 Round 3, in which we were tasked with writing "an uplifting song to sing for a Graduation, Dedication, Bar/Bat Mitzvah, Funeral, Baptism, or similar event." An interesting challenge for me in trying to mine some of the same veins as Bill Withers or early Elton John: applying the harmonic movement of soul or church-type music in a secular context, and also saying something about our rather cynical age. Withers' lyrical messages tended to be affirming "Grandma's Hands" "Lean On Me" "Lovely Day" while Elton and Bernie Taupin leaned more toward biographical, story-based lyrics. Anyways, this effort was inspired primarily by those two men. I hope you enjoy it.

lyrics

It's easy to be a hater than to find something to praise
The roads to sadness and anger have always been the shortest ways
That's the world we live in for some reason it's just what we do
But there's another way and I'm here to say it starts with me and you

People gotta be kind to each other
Hate will suck us down just like quicksand
People gotta be kind to your brother
Got to help him understand that all of us
Are the same underneath our skins
Give your brothers and sisters a hand up, because
It's too easy to just give in

Suffering and madness, it's everywhere we see
Unless we stick together we'll never be truly free
Our greatest fear has always been the fear of what we don't know
Instead of hate, communicate
You might find out what you didn't know

People gotta be kind to each other
Hate will suck us down just like quicksand
People gotta be kind to your brother
Got to help him understand that all of us
Are the same underneath our skins
Give your brothers and sisters a hand up, because
It's too easy to just give in

credits

from SpinTunes 16 Round 3, released March 2, 2020
Steve Stearns: Piano, guitar, tambourine, drums, vocals.

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Spintunes Union, South Carolina

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