SongVault Artist Profile

Songwriter David Shaw lives in Southern California. He’s been playing guitar and writing songs for since he was a kid. He is currently in the studio recording more songs, some topical, some about life and love. He's often seen playing at clubs with his band, Midnight Mojo or jamming at local blues clubs. www.MidnightMojoMusic.com

David is also a successful entrepreneur and has made his mark in the alternative health care arena. He is currently working with organizations to stop malaria in Africa, and will be going there for the month of June.

Comments on the song
I wrote this song because of the strong feelings of sorrow, anger, frustration and disbelief I’ve had since the day this country went to war in Iraq. It’s a war that’s been built on shameless lies, and the list of lies keeps growing. So much so, that at times, I have to work to be shocked. I've come to expect them. But the consequences of the lies are so spectacularly vast and frightening that to become inured to them would be extravagantly irresponsible.

My own feeling at the beginning was that our leaders seemed naive. How could the Islamic religion with its disparate sects, with its religious laws that dominate the social, economic and political landscape, produce the kind of democracy Bush and Cheney wanted? I never believed for a second that we’d be embraced with open arms. Further, the 'coalition' assembled by President Bush was, and remains, an insult to a world sorely in need of community and compassion. My gut told me that within a short time, we’d alienate ourselves from the global community, and, at the end of the day, terrorists would use this country’s bullying as a rallying cry.

The song, though, is written from a more personal perspective. It’s about how those lies have ruined young lives, ripped families apart and created financial hardships for the families of soldiers sent back for multiple tours of duty. It’s about the way the Bush administration would rather spend billions in Iraq than provide health care, top notch education, housing and food for people right here at home. It’s about the poor medical care our wounded veterans get; it’s about the lack of financial support for their families when they, especially those in the Guard, are pulled from their jobs for years at a time.

This song is a tribute to those who have suffered the indignity of being lied to by their President and his Cabinet; it’s a thank you to those who have felt the veiled cynicism of the greedy and power hungry darken their uniquely American innocence; and finally, it’s a salute to the men and women who signed up to protect this country from harm, who believed they were fighting for right, not wrong.