September 28, 2018

This Hopeful, Perfect Song Is an Antidote to the GOP Nightmare

In this “Friday Find,” a contender for a new national anthem.

Hubert Boesl

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Happy Friday…I think. 

It’s been a long and painful week, one that threatens to bleed into the weekend. But that also means it’s time for our weekly “Friday Find” series, where we pick a song, record, or artist we’ll be blasting to keep us centered all weekend long.

This week: “Here Comes The Change (From the Motion Picture ‘On The Basis of Sex’)” by Kesha (Kemosabe Records, 2018)

Why we’re into it: It’s the perfect mid-GOP nightmare song to make you feel as if there’s still hope in the world.

This would be my top contender for a new national anthem should the need ever arise. A strong drumbeat, a sweet, sweet harmonica tune, and a nice touch of acoustic guitar should elevate this into the pantheon of classics like “This Land Is Your Land” and “My Country, ‘Tis of Thee.” But like the very best renditions of those dusty songs, Kesha Sebert’s voice overflows with hope, the lyrics pop with power, and the tone rings in the energy we need to revitalize and recharge after a long and painful week.

Hailing from the film On The Basis of Sex, a Ruth Bader Ginsburg biopic due out later this year, the single is the perfect song to have on blast as we digest a week dominated by conversations about sexual assault, personal accountability, bruising political gamesmanship, and the Kavanaugh and Ford hearing. We all need to sing along to lyrics like “Oh, it’s hard/I know it’s hard/To be the lightning in the dark/Hold on tight you’ll be alright” and “I hope I leave this place better than I found it.” 

Her call to arms, “Here Comes The Change” brings together the political and personal in a powerful ballad that not only reminds us of Sebert’s musical prowess, but also her ability to make every word she sings charged with intense emotional depth. We are all in this together, she reminds us, to fight the good fight and keep powering through the madness and pain in the country right now. Change is coming, she reassures us, and we’re the ones bringing it around.

Enjoy! Be sure to drop in the comments thoughts about the song, how it makes you feel, and your suggestions for next week. Happy Friday y’all, it looks like we’ve made it. 

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WE'LL BE BLUNT

It is astonishingly hard keeping a newsroom afloat these days, and we need to raise $253,000 in online donations quickly, by October 7.

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Readers also told us to just give it to you straight when we need to ask for your support, and seeing how matter-of-factly explaining our inner workings, our challenges and finances, can bring more of you in has been a real silver lining. So our online membership lead, Brian, lays it all out for you in his personal, insider account (that literally puts his skin in the game!) of how urgent things are right now.

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Because the in-depth journalism on underreported beats and unique perspectives on the daily news you turn to Mother Jones for is only possible because readers fund us. Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism we exist to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

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