Well, I’m sitting here
Still in bed
While the sun’s come up
and the day has long since started
I’m searching for words
Inside my head
But nothing comes up
My deepest thoughts are still closely guarded
So many things
Have come to pass
Too much to capture
And to express in one short song
But I’ll find a way
To break the impasse
And what’s inside
Will come pouring out before long.
Well, I gotta have faith
I gotta stay faithful
And stay true to the path that I follow
Well, I gotta have faith
I gotta stay faithful
‘Cause any other way for me would just ring hollow.
Well, I got a message
I didn’t want to accept
So I pressed hard
To get to the source of the truth
I had to get some answers
I had to go direct
I had no desire
To deal with the one I love being so obtuse.
Well, I gotta have faith
I gotta stay faithful
That was the essence of the answer I heard
Well, I gotta have faith
I gotta stay faithful
Anything else is a corruption of the word.
Be faithful to yourself
Deal in good faith with others
That’s where the good orderly direction will be found
Be faithful to your friends
Stay faithful to your lovers
And then yours will be the treasures that abound.
Well, you gotta have faith
You gotta stay faithful
Stay true to the things that you believe in
Well, you gotta have faith
You gotta stay faithful
Love and understanding will then deepen.
Well, you gotta have faith
You gotta stay faithful
Stay faithful to the road that you have chosen
Well, you gotta have faith
You gotta stay faithful
Hold on long enough and then your eyes will be opened.
©2023 The Hesh Inc.
Here's another one from the early 2000s, when I was still living at the Jersey Shore before I moved to California. It was really a period of uncertainty, in the immediate aftermath of 9/11 when it seemed that things that ought to have stayed permanent were not. This song was really an exhortation to myself, and anyone else going through this type of phase or period, to stick to the things we believe in because those are the sources of strength and perseverance.
I originally posted this on my blog in March 2019, when there was a period of uncertainty enveloping Jews throughout the world because of the rise in antisemitism seemingly everywhere, but especially in America. And now, in November 2023, uncertainty has metastasized into outright existential dread in the wake of the October 7 pogrom, the worst attack on Jews since the Holocaust, and the logic-defiant spike in antisemitism throughout the world that started along with it.
But now, we are stronger and more united than we were during those dark times in history. We need to stay faithful to our roots and the Reason for what we are in the world, and do everything we have the power to do to not let any of these antisemitic elements prevail.
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