Several Stories, One Song, One Massive Tangent

I wrote a song this week, which started out as a song about things in my past that I had not written about before, and ended up as a massive polemic.

Halfway through writing, my mind wandered onto everything in the last few weeks that has upset or angered me in current events, or the world outside my house.  So here is my new song - see if you can spot where I lost it.

(If I Gave You Anything, I'd Guess It Was) The Confidence To Leave

If I gave you anything, I'd guess it was the confidence to leave

If you're trying to get better then it's best to do it far away from me

But if you want to be with him, then you can tell me something I'll believe (like the truth!)

Yeah, if I gave you anything, I'd guess it was the confidence to leave

If anybody needs me, I'll be lying in a gutter in the street,

With the ghosts of conversations seeping in and waterlogging both my feet

And if you can't be arsed to fuck me up, then I don't really want to take the lead

So if anybody needs me, I'll be lying in a gutter in the street

She's my sister, she's the only one I've got, and I had just begun to see

How she suffered at the hands of every mood and every whim that passed through me

And I always used to worry that I'd spoiled the person she was meant to be

But now she's doing well and all that worrying has turned into relief

Some people are nightmares and their bullshit takes its toll on everyone

They can run you round in circles 'cause it happens to be their idea of fun

Well you can take a horse to water but you can't make it hold a loaded gun

But you can make it choke on silence, and kill it with a lack of attention

I've been looking at the world outside, it's fair to say it's given me the blues

With its gunmen and its sexists running riot on the internet and news

So much misogyny and racism it feels like there's nothing I can do

Yeah, you could your breath forever, but they're never going to broaden out their views

All these idiots and bastards complicating life when it could be a breeze

Hassling women on the internet and wondering why they never seem that pleased

So it's okay to threaten rape at every woman daring to express her views

Well you're just wasting oxygen

Well, yeah maybe it's not all men

Like anti-choice and anti-vaxxers

And far-right racist rights attackers

People who don't do their research

Or realise how much their words hurt

All the chummy capitalists

And ignorant gun lobbyists

I think I've wandered off my point

So take me to the start and help me sing

If I gave you anything, I'd guess it was the confidence to leave!