This is a song I wrote 20 years ago, as I remember, and have kept revising since then, in keeping with the continuous slaughter of schoolchildren by the likes of Eric Harris, Dylan Klebold, Adam Lanza, and now Salvador Ramos. I use a slide back and forth between C and D, very simple. I don’t know what else to say.
Columbine
Slide in C, by James Livingston
[CHORUS: start here, insert >>> between each stanza]
Gonna die with a gun in my hand—
Lay waste to this promised land:
Gonna die with a gun in my hand.
……….
Out here on this frontier,
With your permanent sun,
You’d better be careful,
Gonna buy me a gun.
>>>
Down there on the border,
I’m your favorite son,
I’m here for the showdown,
Better get you a gun.
>>>
You hear the old story:
Child father to the man,
You’d better get started,
Better run while you can.
>>>
Cause I’m here to remind you,
You made me what I am
I’m your very worst nightmare:
Here to make my last stand.
>>>
When I enter your classroom,
With my favorite gun,
I’ll be waving that pistol
I’ll be watching you run.
>>>
Got my black body armor,
It’s all part of the plan,
Here to act out your story,
My Bushmaster in hand.
>>>
I’ve told you my story,
Still your favorite son?
Gonna have to endure it
While I kill with my gun.
>>>
Your heavens won’t darken
Your heart will go numb
Your Gods will not answer
Cause my work’s never done.
>>>
Not until you stop asking
Will the end ever come?
No, I’m just getting started:
It’s my will be done.
>>>
By the time I am finished
You’ll be on the run:
Cause you’ll have to deny me
Next time I kill with my gun.
>>>