A HOUSE DIVIDED

by Charles Duncan

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lesliebeauvais I love the political poignancy of the sentiment of this song.

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about

I got my 2nd dose of vaccine a while back (because I'm old, and thanks for asking); felt okay for a few days -- and then came up with a pretty good fever, which lasted four nights. That last evening, I was lifted back to my feet by this song -- which came in whole, in a way they seldom do. I grabbed the first pen handy, which was red, and in red ink wrote it down -- like taking dictation. Recorded it the next day, sharing it today, Good Friday. Hoping if you like it, you'll pass it on and help it travel: thanks.

lyrics

A HOUSE DIVIDED
(C. M. Duncan)

Lincoln was a carpenter
And speaking as a working man
When he said, “A house divided
Against itself cannot stand”

And soon came true his sad prediction
And then the guns of ’sixty-one
Cut down the first of half a million
Who paid full price for work half done

‘Cause Reconstruction was a wreck
And it takes my breath away—
Like someone kneeling on my neck—
That we’re dealing with this still today

Jesus was a carpenter
He laid his words out straight and true
And what he said was “Love thy Neighbor,”
Not “only those who look like you”

To Black folk all across our nation:
You don’t know me—the loss is mine
I grew up under segregation,
My side of the color line

I haven’t always been a white man,
I was a little white boy first
Who saw the march on Birmingham and
Could imagine nothing worse

Than fire hoses, police dogs,
Attacking schoolgirls on TV
My Dad got up to turn it off
But I still saw, and I still see

We’re living in a House Divided
Not made of wood, but human lives
And only if we stand united
Hand in hand will we survive

Only if we stand united
Hand in hand can we survive

credits

released April 2, 2021
(c) 2021 C. M. Duncan, Wasteland Music/BMI
(p) 2021 requisite records

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Charles Duncan California

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