NOTE: THIS TRACK HASN'T BEEN MASTERED YET, AND SO YOU'LL NEED TO TURN YOUR SPEAKERS UP A BIT.

I wrote this one a couple of days after the grotesque US election at the beginning of November of this year. Beyond upsetting (I've been down sick for almost 2 weeks now).

The song features a couple who are heartbroken over so many millions of US citizens turning to fascism. The man promises to shield her from what's coming, no matter what, but by the end of the song, he's in the park, muttering alone. Did she leave him? did the Brown Shirts haul her away? did she die of a broken heart over the immense sadness of the whole thing? was she even ever there at all?

I leave it to the listener to fill in the blanks.

This is the "full" mix, which will come out on my pending album "ColIapse, Cha Cha Cha," which will be released in late 2025. I also created a vocals/strings-only special mix of this song as a single (click here: https://walterehresman.bandcamp.com/track/love-in-occupation-single-mix-charity-single), with all proceeds from the sale of the single going to the Feed the Hungry charity here in San Miguel Allende, where I live.

Love in Occupation (© 2024 Walter Ehresman)

My love, hold me tighter and turn off the news;

My heart is too heavy for these Brown-Shirted blues;

All this sad confirmation of our animal side

leaves a room with no corners for our hope to hide.

But I’ll stay with you, darling, to the bitter end;

You’re the one thing tonight on which I can depend;

And if you’ll stay with me, I swear on my life

I will stand as your shield through the darkness and strife;

I will stand as your shield through the darkness tonight.

We allowed ourselves once more to believe in some light

in a world with so many full of hatred and spite;

Now the bootheels are marching and the crosses, they burn,

as the worst of us all take their barbarous turn.

We wonder why that man just talks all alone

in the park every day, in his clothes old and worn;

If he’s not careful, they’ll take him away……

These aren’t days for drawing attention that way.

credits

released November 15, 2024

Walter Ehresman: vocals, keyboards.

Produced and engineered by Walter Ehresman at Snipe Bog Studios, San MIguel de Allende, Mexico.

For Walter Ehresman official releases, please click here: https://walterehresman.bandcamp.com/

p. 2024 Walter Ehresman. Snipe Bog Records. All rights reserved.

, with the full mix coming on my next album, "Collapse Cha Cha Cha," to be released in 2025.