If It Were up to Me
A Minnesota Indian reservation is trying to overcome “shock and disbelief” as it looks for reasons why a high school student went on a shooting rampage Monday, killing nine people and wounding as many as 13 others before killing himself.
CNN.com — March 22, 2005
“If It Were up to Me”
from Cheryl Wheeler’s Sylvia HotelMaybe it’s the movies, maybe it’s the books
Maybe it’s the bullets, maybe it’s the real crooks
Maybe it’s the drugs, maybe it’s the parents
Maybe it’s the colors everybody’s wearin’
Maybe it’s the President, maybe it’s the last one
Maybe it’s the one before that, what he done
Maybe it’s the high schools, maybe it’s the teachers
Maybe it’s the tattooed children in the bleachers
Maybe it’s the Bible, maybe it’s the lack
Maybe it’s the music, maybe it’s the crack
Maybe it’s the hairdos, maybe it’s the TV
Maybe it’s the cigarettes, maybe it’s the family
Maybe it’s the fast food, maybe it’s the news
Maybe it’s divorce, maybe it’s abuse
Maybe it’s the lawyers, maybe it’s the prisons
Maybe it’s the Senators, maybe it’s the system
Maybe it’s the fathers, maybe it’s the sons
Maybe it’s the sisters, maybe it’s the moms
Maybe it’s the radio, maybe it’s road rage
Maybe El Nino, or UV rays
Maybe it’s the army, maybe it’s the liquor
Maybe it’s the papers, maybe the militia
Maybe it’s the athletes, maybe it’s the ads
Maybe it’s the sports fans, maybe it’s a fad
Maybe it’s the magazines, maybe it’s the internet
Maybe it’s the lottery, maybe it’s the immigrants
Maybe it’s taxes, big business
Maybe it’s the KKK and the skinheads
Maybe it’s the communists, maybe it’s the Catholics
Maybe it’s the hippies, maybe it’s the addicts
Maybe it’s the art, maybe it’s the sex
Maybe it’s the homeless, maybe it’s the banks
Maybe it’s the clearcut, maybe it’s the ozone
Maybe it’s the chemicals, maybe it’s the car phones
Maybe it’s the fertilizer, maybe it’s the nose rings
Maybe it’s the end, but I know one thing.If it were up to me, I’d take away the guns.
6 Ripples from “If It Were up to Me”
Kevin says:
March 22, 2005 at 5:03 pm
Wow. Great song. Who’s Cheryl Wheeler and why haven’t I heard of her?
zalm says:
March 22, 2005 at 6:03 pm
it is a great song. as you can imagine, it’s fairly rhythmic in sort of a half-spoken, half-sung way. i think it’s at the itunes store, so you can listen to a clip to get a better idea of the sound.
the answer to the first part of your question is that she’s a singer/songwriter folkie-type from the northeast. honestly, the only songs i have from her are on compilations, so i can’t tell you much more than that. i haven’t seen her in concert, although it appears that she’s in berkeley for two nights next week.
as for the second part of your question, i have no idea.
Kevin says:
March 23, 2005 at 5:03 pm
Thanks. I’ll give her an iTunes spin sometime.
jpe says:
March 24, 2005 at 7:03 am
If this automatically reserves me a place in hell, so be it. One of the side benefits of these shootings by kids is that we get to spend a few weeks cracking up as people like Al Hunt, George Will, and Pat Robertson discuss “youth culture.”
Kevin says:
March 24, 2005 at 11:03 am
"One of the side benefits of these shootings by kids is that we get to spend a few weeks cracking up as people like Al Hunt, George Will, and Pat Robertson discuss ‘youth culture.’”
I haven’t been paying attention. Have they started blaming anyone yet? Who’s fault is it this year? Video games? Marilyn Manson? Eminem? Gays? Certainly not our bloodthirsty president. Or violent Bible stories.
zalm says:
March 24, 2005 at 12:03 pm
so far, i don’t send comments to hell unless they mention “the-card-game-that-shall-not-be-named.”
but i don’t think we’re gonna get that reaction this time around, jpe. i generally don’t follow al hunt and pat robertson, so it’s possible they’ve mentioned it, but i don’t think i ever saw it even elevated to top graphic status on cnn.
maybe it’s because the media is all-terry-all-the-time. or maybe it’s because it happened on a reservation and not in a white suburb. or maybe school shootings don’t shock us as much as they used to. i’m guessing it’s primarily the first of those reasons, but i don’t know.
kevin, the first reports pointed out that the shooter had spent time posting some pretty dark things on neo-nazi sites (is it me, or does the “libertarian national socialist green party” sound like something the onion made up?). he also had been forced into a homeschooling program after violating school policy, which made him none-too-happy, it seems.
ominously enough, the headline in usa today this morning points out that he “blogged frequently.” so, um, there’s that.
-----