Lyric of the Week: I HAVE NOT YET BEGUN TO WRITE

Things were slow this week

It was easier to stay in bed

I chose to get more sleep

Rather than face myself again

Is it just depression

Working its way into my brain

Or is it a form of rebellion

At having to get up at 5 day after day

Well one thing’s true and one thing’s right

Through long work days and shortened nights

Whether in the dark or in the light

I have not yet begun to write.

Things were weird this week

I didn’t get my pages done

Before work, so I had to sneak

And steal away under the gun

But I managed to do it

I got my thoughts onto the page

It was tough but I got through it

And maybe it was just a growing stage

With all the sounds and all the sights

With all the lines clichéd and trite

There is no wrong, there is no right

I have not yet begun to write.

Things were funky this week

I went through my waking hours in a daze

Some kind of confusing streak

Was shrouding my vision in a haze

I couldn’t see too far ahead

But the other choice was sliding back

The thought of that filled me with dread

So I fought to keep myself on track

The threat of slipping back into the deep black night

Was in no way imagined or slight

I had to put up a fight to maintain my right

I have not yet begun to write.

Because it’s my duty to speak the truth

Even if it’s “incorrect” or uncouth

Even if it goes against the grain

And stirs up a mini-hurricane

With piano and paper, computer and pen

I’ll expose and condemn, and protect and defend

I will fight for what’s right

With all my might

I have not yet begun to write!

©2021 The Hesh Inc.

Ya gotta fight for your right to write.

This one goes back to late 2002 or early 2003, when I was working as a limo driver as a stopgap between being laid off from my publishing job in the wake of 9/11, and moving to California. Trying to find time to write, especially when I felt I had a lot to say, was always a challenge. And sometimes, it was easier to write about not being able to write what I wanted to write about, than actually writing it. It continues to be a struggle, after several cross-country moves and upgrades in my job situation that required increasing degrees of responsibility and commitment.

The music for this song is actually a fast-paced, minor-key rocker that I composed a number of years before when I was living in Philadelphia. I have written several sets of lyrics to this music but I never actually performed it outside of a rehearsal room.