The Flip-Flop to Win!

[In 2010, I entered a songwriting contest sponsored by wearelistening.org in the lyrics-only section, with the first of the two songs below. The result? The organizer and owner of the website and contest, Lior Shamir called me on the phone to make sure that I wasn’t close to suicide. I assured him that the lyric was only a story. Now here’s the funny part: the next year, 2011, I entered the contest again, using the second poem below as my lyric entry, and won top prize in the category. Pay attention to what a totes 180 the second song represents compared to the first and you’ll have a clue as to the disparate nature of the things I can be found thinking about.]


Nightshade
by Roosevelt Jordan

(1st Verse)
Post-apocalypse I took a walk
Death was near and everything was strange
I met a man and we began to talk
A mighty plan we started to arrange

(2nd Verse)
Since the world had stopped and nations fallen
We must build a new society
But as I spoke to him I was recalling
Just one could reign supreme, 'twas him or me

(Chorus)
Just ask her
Just ask her how she knew
Who left the nightshade flower on her table
Just ask her how she knew that it was you

(3rd Verse)
I told him I would go and gather women
At once to help repopulate our land
He went down to the lakeside to go swimming
I wanted him to drown; was I unmanned?

(4th Verse)
A girl of twenty-five was in the forest
Together we set up a murder plot
Before the bomb she once had been a florist
And knew a bloom that caused the flesh to rot

(Repeat Chorus)

(Bridge)
It was you
You—
Good God, it was you

(5th Verse)
I had to climb a tree to get the flower
Which grew among its thinning lofty limbs
We brewed a tea infused with deadly power
And at the lake we gave the tea to him

(6th Verse)
The sparkle left his eyes after he drank it
And on his knees he whispered, "Please forgive"
The girl covered the body with a blanket
And I said, "Only one of us could live"

(Repeat Chorus)

(Coda)
It was you
You—
It was you

***

The Angel Played Rock & Roll
By Roosevelt Jordan


I had an angel on the phone, and so I asked her why
They thought of things I could have done and sentenced me to die
She said don't worry, gentle boy, I'll come see you tonight
And you and me and Jesus will go out and set things right

So I put on my walking shoes, and crept beneath the stars
And wondered 'bout the distance 'twixt Mercury and Mars
She came up right behind me, though I didn't see a soul
She picked up my old Martin and she played some rock & roll

She sang baby, baby, baby, if you can make it to the dawn
And be a man and say your prayers, your time will come along
Oh, baby, baby, baby, If you will open up your eyes
You'll take a breath and shout a shout and see through all the lies
Oh baby

So I took the guitar from her, and looked up at the sky
A falling comet told me I had just seen Heaven's eye
I strummed a note or three or four, remembering what she'd said
And praised the eternal Lamb of God who rose up from the dead

I sang baby, baby, baby, it's like I'm born again
Even if my Lord and Savior is my only friend
My angel whispered in my ear, He's with you till the end
Oh baby, baby, baby
He's with you till the end

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