Dallas. Orlando. Newtown. San Bernardino. These are just a few of the places where deadly mass shootings have happened this decade in the United States. After the week we've had, with the police violence against black men and the shooting in Dallas leading to the deaths of five police officers, singer-songwriters Jamie Floyd and Maren Morris have decided to use their talents to promote peace and mourn the lives lost.
Jamie Floyd, a songwriter most well known for her writing on Ashley Monroe's "The Blade" released a poignant acoustic song to SoundCloud called "Names on a Page" on June 9. Written with Paul Duncan, Floyd dedicated the song to "all the beautiful lives lost to senseless hate. May God bless their families and loved ones," she wrote. The song alludes to some of the biggest shootings and tragedies in United States history, including the Sandy Hook and Charleston shootings. The song focuses on the value of human life. She sings in the first verse:
"Somebody's daughter
Somebody's son
Somebody's everything
Somebody's only one
A part of the soul that can't be replaced
And one day you wake up
And they're names on a page."
Floyd wrote a song that not only mourns the countless lives that have been lost, but a song that also towards the end points towards change. It points towards hope, and how we can use these horrific events to become better people, and a better country as a whole.
"Somebody's daughter
Somebody's son
Somebody's everything
Somebody's only one
A part of the soul that can't be replaced
And one day you wake up
And they're names on a page."
Floyd wrote a song that not only mourns the countless lives that have been lost, but a song that also towards the end points towards change. It points towards hope, and how we can use these horrific events to become better people, and a better country as a whole.
Morris shared an old acoustic demo that she had done a couple years ago, writing on her Twitter page:
Dear Hate... an unreleased demo of mine I cowrote a couple years ago. It seemed appropriate to post today. □□https://t.co/1NsQyZjrkn
— MAREN MORRIS (@MarenMorris) July 8, 2016
It's a simply stated ballad, and like Floyd's focuses on hope. The song mentions seeing the news of the newest shooting, or the newest terror attack, something that has become all too familiar for Americans these days. She acknowledges that hate is always going to be in our lives, it's always going to be there. It's there in the "garden like a snake in the grass" she sings, and even in the mirror when we look back at ourselves. Hate is woven throughout history, and many of the biggest events in world history have happened because of hate.
But she turns the song at the end, mentioning love, and how love is always there right along with hate. Morris sings, "I hate to tell you, but love's gonna conquer all."
I'm not going to go into the political side of all of this, because that's not what this post is about. This post is about choosing to love, instead of hate. This is about artists that have used music to choose peace. I"m going to leave you with this poem that country artist Ruthie Collins posted on her Instagram a couple of days ago, with hope that in your life, you decide to choose love over hate.
But she turns the song at the end, mentioning love, and how love is always there right along with hate. Morris sings, "I hate to tell you, but love's gonna conquer all."
I'm not going to go into the political side of all of this, because that's not what this post is about. This post is about choosing to love, instead of hate. This is about artists that have used music to choose peace. I"m going to leave you with this poem that country artist Ruthie Collins posted on her Instagram a couple of days ago, with hope that in your life, you decide to choose love over hate.
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