In the immediate aftermath of the United States Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe Vs. Wade on Friday, Ed Hale performed a new song entitled “On the Day They Overturned” on his Instagram account and his Transcendent Television channel on YouTube, along with a copy of the song’s powerful, at times graphic lyrics.
“I haven’t been writing as many songs with lyrics lately as you know, because I’ve really been into writing these orchestral guitar instrumentals. But this one came rather fast & furious in the last 48 hours. Like everybody else i was in a state of shock all day after hearing the news, dumbstruck really.”
“The song came to me late Friday night, popped in my head pretty much completed. Saturday I just had to sit down and flesh out the lyrics. Took Sunday to fine tune them. But the song already knew what it was, knew what it wanted to say. I just had to listen.”
On social media Hale wrote, “This song was particularly inspired by human rights and enlightenment activist Devkirn Khalsa, based on a whirlwind of important, intense conversations we had during those first 48 hours. Some of the lyrics are nearly direct translations of conversations we’ve had about these topics in the last two days.”
Performed on a 1971 Hofner 489 acoustic guitar. Two microphones going direct in mono. No treatment or effects.
Lyrics
“On the Day They Overturned”
On the day they overturned
I looked away the world was burning
On the day they overturned
As we were fighting to be heard
All was lost but we didn’t understand
How the rights we had
Could be wrestled from our hands
On the day they overturned
On the day they overturned
Didn’t I see you crawling
Through an alley on your knees
The scars of pain
Carved in your face
As you lay bleeding in the street
Like an animal
I know
That’s what we fought for
On the day they overturned
I looked away, my body trembling
On the day they overturned
A final battle cry was heard
A billion people gathered on the earth
To mourn a nation’s death
So soon after it’s birth
On the day they overturned
On the day they overturned
Didn’t we see it coming
From a million miles away
When states misguided
By stacked courts and gods
Become theocracies
It’s inevitable
I know
That’s what we fought for
I know
Isn’t that what we fought for
On the day we overcame
stared straight ahead
And never fumbled
On the day we overcame
And stopped corruption in our name
All was lost
But they didn’t understand
How it was theirs to lose
As we snatched it from their hands
On the day we overcame
On the day we overcame
We finally raised the flag of freedom
In the morning light
Not for the men the straight
the christian or the wealthy or the white
But for everyone
I know
It’s what we fought for
Music and Lyrics by Ed Hale
