“Obama (Start Believing Again)” - DOWNLOAD MP3
©(p) 2008 Mark Simos/Devachan Music (BMI). All Rights Reserved.
Guitars, vocals, Garageband™ programming, iMovie™ editing: Mark Simos

Greetings, friends. I’m Mark Simos: songwriter, guitarist, fiddler, tunesmith and composer, teacher, and now guerrilla Garagebandido, iMovie(On)-maven and videographer of last resort. I’m releasing this song as a tribute to Barack Obama and the remarkable campaign staffers and volunteers that are proving to the world exactly what a little bit of “community organizing” writ large can do. It incorporates video excerpts from a campaign speech Obama gave on October 22, 2008 in Richmond, Virginia.

I currently teach songwriting at Berklee College of Music in Boston. However, the views expressed in this song are entirely my own; and I take full personal responsibility for every aspect of the song and its production and release on the Internet.

I first wrote this song some time ago, inspired by Stevie Wonder, one of the musicians I admire most in the world, singing at an Obama rally. Stevie sang Barack’s name with a simple chant that ran up, then down the major scale. Though I found it delightful, I somehow suspected it would not become the universal theme song for the campaign, since most people in this country would have trouble singing a full octave range! So I began reflecting on the musical qualities of Barack’s name; and wound up with my own chant—a tune that ironically (though not surprisingly, for those who know my penchant for complicated simplicity) also spans an octave in range, and unfolds in intervals far trickier for most people to sing than a simple scale. Furthermore, this chant melody is sung in two variants (the folk process already in action!) that, sung against each other, move from harmony to fleeting dissonance to unison (the musician’s version of unity) in a ten-note passage. For the solfegists among you, those melodies are:

The asterisk marks that intentional moment of fleeting dissonance, the interval of a major second. Let this interval remind us all that in this eleventh hour (as we set fourth to the voting booths), every second counts in a major way!

After writing the song, I am ashamed to admit that I did nothing with it until almost the last moment. The song needed some work; but I still wish I had acted sooner. I would like to thank Peggy Seeger, Emma’s Revolution (Pat Humphries and Sandy O), Michael Merenda, Brad Powell, Audrey Molsky and others unnamed for respectively scolding, inspiring, encouraging and advising me into getting off my duff.

Back in 2003, before the invasion of Iraq, I wrote a protest song which, at the last moment, I hesitated to send out in full musical form. Some of my hesitation was honorable caution, some trepidation that I now regret. In any case, I hope getting this song out there will serve as some form of restitution. If Colin Powell can work through his karma maybe I can too.

This is still only a “work demo”—if you are inspired to learn the song and want the chord chart or sheet music (lyrics are below), email me at devachanmusic@comcast.net. A free mp3 download of this song will be available at my website about songwriting and social activism: www.songofconscience.com, and through my Facebook account page. If you’d like to create a derivative work from this song I’ll consider making full audio (AIFF) or GarageBand tracks available on request. If you enjoyed this music please consider making a donation of $5 to the Obama/Biden campaign or the DSCC senate races.

This song is dedicated to Barack Obama’s grandmother, Madelyn Dunham.

Obama (Start Believing Again) (PDF of lyric sheet)
© Mark Simos/Devachan Music (BMI). All Rights Reserved.

Obama, Obama
Obama—can we start believing again?
Obama—the journey is long, but it’s time to begin
Obama—can we start believing again?
Obama—time to be leaders, each woman, each man
Can we change the world?—yes we can, yes we can

Time to keep faith with what once made us great
Join the new great debate between choosing and fate
The hour is near midnight and all is not well
If our will is alive, then it’s still not too late
For the meal to be laid on the hungry child’s plate
For the student to walk through the future’s bright gate
To tell the round world we will wipe clean the slate
Learn the lesson—that unjust war just fans the hate
And a pause to reflect doesn’t mean—hesitate
Make no bargain with fear, yet fear not to negotiate

            Oh—can we walk the talk?
            Help us win back our country, Barack

Obama, Obama
Obama—can we start believing again?
Obama—the journey is long, but it’s time to begin

            Though the lines may stretch around the block
            We will win back our country, Barack

Obama—can we start believing again?
Obama—the journey is long, but it’s time to begin
Obama—can we start believing again?
Obama—time to be leaders, each woman, each man
Can we change the world?—we can, yes we can
Can we change the world?—we can, yes we can