"If I
Wasn't Me I Might Be You"
Copyright John Farrell
 
 
If I wasn’t me, I might be you,
And if I was you, what would I do?
Would I treat you differently if I could see
That when I looked at you I was looking back at
me?
If I wasn’t me I might be Jerome
If I was Jerome I wouldn’t have a home
I would sleep out on the street
And if by chance our eyes should meet
Would you look at me or would you look away?
If I wasn’t me I might be Claire
And instead of legs I’d have a wheelchair
I will never sing or talk
I will never dance or walk
But I can feel when someone cares for me
If I wasn’t me I might be Shirley
A fading shadow of the woman I once used to be
But the strangers came and the strangers stayed
They took my memories away
And what you see is all that’s left of me
If I wasn’t me, I might’ve been Ahkmed
But if I had been Ahkmed I’d be dead
A victim of a senseless crime
In the wrong place at the wrong time
Then darkness came and took my life away
If we weren’t us, we might be them
And if we were them, then they’d be us
We could tear down the walls of hate
And we cold open up the gates
There’d be no them.
We’d all be us.
Top
of Page
Background
About the Song
from songwriter John Farrell
“It isn’t us
against them, it’s us against us.”
When I wrote these words in
my journal, I was thinking about the war in Iraq,
the growing gap between the world’s richest
and poorest people, and the increasing rudeness
and intolerance I was seeing and sensing around
me. I was saddened and perplexed that so many
people, groups, corporations, and governments
seem to view the world as “Us against
Them.” When nations go to war, leaders
demonize their enemies as being evil. When
individuals or groups discriminate against
others, commit violent hate crimes, or torture or
kill, they treat their victims as if their lives
are worthless because they are
“different.” When corporations
recklessly destroy the rainforest, and do it with
disregard for the people, plants and animals that
live there, they are in effect saying, “our
wants are more important than your needs.”
The list of “Us against Them” behaviors
and attitudes goes on and on. The idea I wanted
to express with the song is that “all of us
– and all of life - are connected,” and
that if we tried harder to understand how others
felt we would act more thoughtfully and
compassionately.
As I started working on the song, I was trying to
convey these big ideas about war and injustice,
but it wasn’t working. The words sounded
“preachy” and the message wasn’t
coming across in an engaging way. I stopped
working on the song, but kept thinking about it,
and then one day several months later some
seemingly unrelated inspirations converged and
the song idea matured.
It was a cold, spring day in early April and a
blustery wind was blowing surprise snowflakes
through the air. I was stopped at a traffic light
en route to my friend Frank Hodge’s book
store, Hodge Podge Books, in Albany, N.Y. As I
sat there waiting for the light to change a
middle-aged woman wearing a long wool overcoat,
with a canvas brief case of some sort slung over
her shoulder, came pedaling her bicycle through
the intersection. I smiled to myself, admiring
and identifying with her unwillingness to let the
cold or snow change her commitment to ride her
bike to work. I grabbed a pen and wrote in my
journal “If I wasn’t me I might be
you.” Even though I didn’t know her or
speak to her, I felt I had just connected with a
kindred spirit. I had empathized with her
situation.
The second part of the inspiration came from a
powerful book called “The House That Crack
Built,” which I purchased at Frank’s
store that day. The book was written by Clark
Taylor and Illustrated by Jan Thompson Dicks, and
it is a cumulative verse written in the style of
“The House That Jack Built.” The
subject matter is the devastating effects of
crack cocaine use and the chain of people and
transactions that connect the wealthy and
powerful drug lords to the suffering addicts on
the street, in this case including an infant born
to a crack-addicted mother. The book startled and
disturbed me. I had never seen a picture book
deal with this type of topic before but I quickly
realized how effective the presentation was. I
was also reminded how important it is to find
ways to discuss issues that are unpleasant or
troubling without being judgmental and divisive.
I combined the impact that “The House That
Crack Built” had had on me with the ideas
“It Isn’t Us Against Them,” and
“If I Wasn’t Me I Might Be You”
and I began writing a song about empathy. The
first several drafts of the song included a verse
about a crack-addicted teenage mom with a newborn
baby, but during one revision I decided the song
worked better with that verse removed and I
deleted it.
The verses that remain are about people I know
personally, or composites of people I’ve met
or read about. Claire is my niece whose first
name is Annie and her middle name is Claire.
Shirley is a composite of a few people I have
known who suffered from Alzheimer’s. Jerome
is based on some homeless men I have met while
volunteering with Midnight Run, a non-profit
organization that brings volunteers together to
share food, clothing, and fellowship with
homeless people in New York City. Ahkmed is based
on a Muslim security guard named Mohammed who was
killed on September 11 during the terrorists
attacks on the World Trade Center. Since 9/11
there has been a deliberate attempt by many
voices and organizations to define all Muslims as
evil terrorists who are anti-American. This
isn’t fair or true, and it inspires fear,
hatred, and acts of vengeance. By including a
Muslim man as the victim of violence, I hope to
encourage listeners to question the prejudices
that have created such deep divisions in our
world.
I don’t know the reality of being homeless,
or the challenge of living with Alzheimer’s
or Cerebral Palsy, and I have never been the
victim of a violent crime, but I can try to
imagine how it feels, and when I do it makes me
want to be more thoughtful and understanding in
my interactions with others. That’s why I
wrote the song.
Top
of Page
|
