Lyrics

The Great Divide
©2020 Jud Caswell

Nana was a registered Republican,
Pappy was a Democrat for life.
You never heard a word of anger
pass between that husband and his wife.
People kinda wondered why they bothered
to even take the time to put on coats
go out to the schoolhouse on a tuesday night
to cancel out their votes.
It used to be there was a time we could agree to disagree.
That was before the slide into the great divide

Now every word I hear about my country
feels like gasoline poured on a flame.
Seems like everybody's picking sides
and picking fights and calling names.
Everywhere I look I see the anger,
every conversation fills with trolls,
everybody knows the party lines,
we wave our signs, we play our roles.
But it used to be this land of us and them was made for you and me.
I guess that died in the great divide

Yes, I know, you didn't start this fight,
and I've heard the other side is more to blame,
And I know that there's a wrong and right,
and we can't afford to lose this game.
We're all losing just the same.

‘Cause we get kinda stupid when we're angry -
It's easier to herd a herd that hates.
They play us like a sucker on the line
each time we rise to click the bait.
Oh, but there's a simple hard solution,
older than the oldest grudge you've nursed:
someone's gonna have to lay their sword down,
but someone's gonna have to do it first...
It seems to me we've forgotten who's a friend or enemy,
and you'll recall that a house divided’s surely gonna fall:
fall for spite, and fall for pride, into the great divide.

Nana was a registered Republican,
Pappy was a Democrat for life...