Rise Up Music Project

Matt Halvorson is a musician, writer, activist and father living in Seattle. This is a song for his mom -- about what it would mean to lose her, and about what her unconditional love has made possible.

Here’s a brand new song from Jesse Hanlon, an old soul living in Taos, NM, and passing his time as a musician and a builder.

LYRICS:

The Apocalypse This word from lips

Seems to eclipse Our duty to fix -

We are fixated On hopes faded

Avoiding choice Of efforts concentrated

Made afraid Isolated we stay

Not today we say As we pray and wait

For someone to take reigns And show us the way

Weighing down and wasting now

tasting bitter words And chewing doubt

Just ride it out And forget about

Forming and storming This social drought

Of apathy indifference Happy bliss of ignorance

Napping amidst impending risk

Wishing for justice to whisk

Away and judge the wicked

Ticking time as witness To minutes gone missing

This mission needs wind to lift it Swiftly

Whispers won’t win us The gust enough to

thrust us to harbor 

Darkness hitting harder

And peaks appearing farther 

Knees get weak and hearts harden

Beats starting to Get fewer and further

Hums and murmurs Nurture and urge

The herd to courage Instead of cursing

This occurrence This current Emergence

Merging with A surge of due Diligence

To protect Any innocence

Is this how you want to say

How you lived the last of your days

Head down mouth shut 

Taking what they give - refusing to really live

WAKE UP

Before the day breaks 

Shake off the sleep 

That keeps you weak

LIFT UP

Miles to go before a pitstop

It’s not optional to slow

PICK UP

All the pieces leave what doesn’t 

Help achieve our freedom

STAND UP

To the face of all who waste 

The source of what we’re made of

SHAKE OFF

All the shackles and tackle 

Those who hold the chains

BREAK OFF

From the path that leads us

Into the mouth of the machine

SHUT OFF

All the frequencies that sink

Your spirit until you’re wiped clean

TAKE OFF

To the the forest before us 

ThAT can restore our chorus

Everything you thought you knew

It’s time to forget and start anew

It’s the last you thing you might want to do

But choose wisely or you will lose ya life easily

Feasibly there’s a chance we won’t make it

So take this space to strengthen 

Haste is waste but no more time for patience 

Running out of our sweet graces

So sorry this is what we are faced with

It should never have been so complicated 

You deserve peace, love and separation

from these evil men who run on pure hatred

But It’s still not to late to turn the tables

There are many just like us just a ways a way

Our survival requires our due diligence 

And bold resilience to these trials everyday