VEGANGELICA

Happy New Year!

I haven't posted song lyrics for a vegan song in a while, so I decided to correct that deficit today by posting the lyrics for "Hands Off," which I completed in October of 2012:

* * *

"Hands Off" by Erica (yet another song inspired by MusicBanter! )

Yes, I’m a vegetarian.
My view of the world has changed.
I feel people should be kind to animals.
Now people think I’m deranged.

They tell me,
“It’s our choice and yours is yours.
You should live and let live,”
but as they bite through an animal’s corpse,
I see that’s the speech
a hypocrite would give, saying:

“Hands off our traditions.
Hands off the way we get our food.”
Yet I think, “You don’t keep
your hands to yourself.
Why should I keep my hands off you?!”

Yes, I want civil rights
to end discrimination
and all the sexist, racist, hurtful laws
some rulers like in the nations they run.

They tell me,
“It’s our choice to force compliance.
You should live and let live,”
but as they hate and segregate,
I see that’s the speech
a hypocrite would give, crying:

“Hands off our traditions.
Hands off the way we rule.”
Yet I think, “You don’t keep
your hands to yourself.
Why should I keep my hands off you?
Why should I keep my hands off you?!”

Oh, why do they dish it out, when they can’t take it?
They smash the Golden Rule, but tell you not to break it.
I’m not religious but I think I know what Jesus meant.
It’s so simple: don’t support mistreatment.
Some people get their thrills by being cruel,
but I prefer the Golden Rule.
Treat others like you want to be.
Use your hands peacefully.

Don’t pull your trigger finger.
Don’t give into the itch.
Don’t crush other souls.
Don’t steal from the poor to feel rich.
Don’t take anyone’s life.
Would you want to die by the knife?
Find your inner Gandhi.
Use your hands peacefully.
Use your hands peacefully.
Use your hands
peacefully.

* * *

^ I was reminded of my song when reading the violent lyrics by Earth Crisis for "The Wrath of Sanity," which advocates killing people to get revenge for their hurting animals.

Since killing a person violates the vegan idea of reducing harm to sentient beings, the Earth Crisis song is definitely not supporting a vegan ethical view. In contrast, "Hands Off" is about taming the desire to get one's hands on people who refuse to keep their hands off others.

I've been thinking recently about how most of my lyrics aren't "vegangelical" (someone's clever play on the word "evangelical" used to describe proselytizing Christians), because my main goal is to share the mixture of sadness and anger I feel when people use animals as food and "resources." I'm not simply trying to cause people to decide to become vegan, and I don't want to manipulate them or hurt them. Yet I also realize that if sharing my honest feelings causes people to think more about how they make food choices, I'd be cool with that.

I sometimes hesitate to share my vegan songs, because I don't want to hurt people's feelings. An example of hesitating is when I posted my lyrics for "Hide," which is one of my favorite songs I've written because it is also brutally honest: http://www.musicbanter.com/song-writ...tml#post842154

Yet I'd rather be honest about my emotions than hide them. The truth is that sometimes my frustration over a system in which people are encouraged to discount the worth that animals' lives have to the animals themselves spills out from me as a feeling of aggression toward people...but only the ones with whom I have little emotional attachment.

I know it can be uncomfortable whenever someone you care about disagrees with your choices, because I think most of us want those we love to approve of our every decision. As a vegetarian, I fear that people may not understand that I can both love them and also feel that they support an unjust and unkind practice.

I've had to try to find a way to co-exist with people who don't fully share a basic ethical viewpoint that I have. For example, when my dad was ill and having problems gaining weight, he decided to start eating chickens. Although I didn't feel it was the best choice (for his health and for ethical reasons, because it also wasn't good for the health of the chickens!), I cooked the flesh for him since he could not do so himself, although I did not buy it. While I handled the dismembered chickens (with a fork because I didn't want to touch them; I only wanted to bury them), I asked myself, would I prepare a slaughtered human if my dad requested it? Hmmm.

So my questions today are these:
(1) How do you decide whether to value some other sentient being's life enough not to support the harm and killing of that being?
(2) If being respectful of someone means letting that individual make her or his own choices, what is the respectful way to respond if that individual's choice is to use another sentient being and violate that being's right to self-determination?

* * *

Slappy, thank you belatedly for all your comments and thoughtful questions.

Yes, I think about all these questions you ask and they affect what I write.

I don't believe that gods or God exist. I cannot prove they don't exist. However, I don't believe they do, because I have seen no evidence for them (that convinces me). I also observe that even if there were gods, this wouldn't answer the question of how existence came to be. How would a god create a universe? How did the god originate? I feel that religious beliefs don't actually answer the fundamental questions they are *supposed* to be answering.

Like you, I am not an enthusiastic supporter of organized religions. I feel organized religions tend to discourage questioning while blurring the line between reality and fantasy, such that followers can no longer reason through flaws in arguments for religion. On the positive side, organized religions can help people come together as communities and do a lot of good. On the negative side, "truth-owning" by an organized religion can inspire people to do great harm, depending on the religion or sect.

I think the design you see in the universe and in life on Earth results from there being natural laws (and why they exist, we don't know) that cause matter/energy to interact in particular ways.

What you may view as design in living beings, I would view as the result of random chance (genetic variation) interacting with environmental changes. An environmental change can lead to non-random shifts in a population's traits because some individuals have preferential traits enabling them to have more children than their fellows, thus passing on those traits to a greater proportion of the next generation.

Although living beings seem very well suited to their environments, this didn't happen purely by chance and yet I see no evidence for a designer or a need to hypothesize one, either, because living beings interact with their environment in ways that promote the propagation of individuals who better fit that environment. This would account for the "design" you see. (Also note that no living being's design is "perfect," just like no car is a perfect feat of engineering. People need glasses. People's bodies lose the ability to function as they age. People end up with genetic mutations that can cause harm.)

Consider any population of living beings of the same species. By chance, those living beings will not all be genetically alike. (For example, radiation damages DNA and biological DNA repair systems aren't perfect, as we can see when people develop cancerous cells.) Now if the environment's temperature changes such that prey travels farther away and our organisms have to travel farther to find food, some of those organisms may have DNA sequences, such as for reduced body hair and increased sweating, that allow them to avoid overheating as quickly during exertion. They may then survive better and have more children compared to the furrier individuals of the same species, who may tend to die out without procreating very much because they were less able to travel far and get food. Eventually, more and more of the descendents in this population inherit the genes for less body hair. (I'm talking about humans.)

Similarly, we humans have the capacity to survive as omnivores, which means we can eat plant matter or animal matter. This probably resulted because an omnivorous diet is beneficial for animals that travel frequently into many different environments. (We humans travel, walking generation after generation from continent to continent!) If there were earlier hominids who could only eat meat (as carnivores), they would be less likely to exploit their environment as well as hominids who could eat a more diverse diet, and so the trait of omnivory would lead to better procreation. Those individuals who were able to be omnivores survived preferentially, passing on the omnivore trait to descendents.

So now we humans can eat almost any organic matter, including other humans. But does the ability to do something mean that we should?

I won't swat at you because you eat meat! I might pin you down, wrench a rib out of your mouth, and throw it across the room...but I won't swat at you!

Yes, animals in nature and human animals can be very cruel to one another as they kill for food (or turf). I wish the natural world didn't allow this and were instead a peaceful, vegetarian utopia.

However, the fact that other animals kill prey does not mean that *I* as a human with a wide range of eating choices must follow the example of predators and kill animals to survive. Humans have a great ability to choose our actions. Living without ever killing and eating a single animal is possible. I choose to follow my conscience rather than follow a lion. Choosing not to eat animals is a very natural thing to do, since I *am* part of nature, and my nature is to have and make choices.

You have known a lot of animals! Mr. Quackers the duck, a squirrel-hunting pot-bellied pig, dogs shnuffling out small prey, and cats like Chester who dropped a mouse-gift on your chest! LOL! My question for you would be whether you feel you must follow their example, or are you free to choose. (Please don't drop a mouse on my chest!!! )

I remember hearing a baby rabbit grasped in the claws of a suddenly swooping crow and carried away into the sky. The rabbit screamed a horrified, human-like cry as she or he was lifted from the grass-nibbling mother and siblings to a certainly painful death. Supporting meat-eating is well and good as long as one is not the prey. I think of how the rabbit could have lived longer and enjoyed her life for many more weeks and months and even years if her life had not been taken from her. Since I can avoid being that crow, I avoid it. I hate feeling fear and pain. I want to live long and enjoy my life. And so I wish that for other animals, too.

I realize there is no way I can stop the pain that animals inflict on each other, but as a human animal I can stop my contribution to that suffering in the natural world. Vegetarianism isn't the only way to be kind to animals, but I feel it is one good way.

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slappyjenkins

^^I had to come in and reply to this.

Vegangelica, even though our view points are fundamentally at odds on the concept of a creator, you present your side with clarity and care and logic(you know how big a fan of logic I am). I have always appreciated your responses, as they cause me to take different paths in my thinking that I would have otherwise not explored.

And you have brought awareness with your kindness to the suffering and eventually death of our livestock, grown for no other reason than to feed us. I'm not completely done with meat yet, as that is a hard dietary habit to break, but please please know that you saved at least one chicken or cow or pig as I have cut back on my meat eating quite a lot.

It IS difficult to rationalize contributing to the suffering of animals when there is no direct need to do so.

So you have made a positive change in me and allowed me to explore other alternatives, and just plain got me to thinking!

I expected no less from you.

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I was once told...True intimacy is finding out what the other person wants and needs and if it's within your power giving it to them.

VEGANGELICA

^ I love your response, slappy! Thank you!

About the concept of a creator: I've always thought that believing in a benevolent supernatural being who cares about everyone would be very comforting.

If I *could* believe in such a benevolent universe, I would, because it would probably make me feel a greater sense of optimism and peace during life and less agitation about the eventual losses and death! I've found, though, that I can't make myself believe something I don't believe.

Because I believe that human love is all that marks a death or birth, I try to compensate for the absence of a deity in my worldview by striving to be loving. For example, I wish we could create a little heaven on Earth, since that is the only existence I am assured we (chickens and humans alike) will have.

Thank you for telling me I've made a positive change in you. You encourage me to think about issues more, too.

* * *

Thinking about religious beliefs and their possible benefits reminds me of how I coped with my dad's dying process last year as an atheist: I wrote very honestly about my sad feelings about my dad and his decline. I also tried to honor and acknowledge my dad's life and the losses he was experiencing by showing him I cared about him, and by talking openly with him about his regrets, accomplishments, hopes, and fears.

My dad was an atheist like I am and believed when life is over, it is over. He fought very hard to stay alive!

I wrote the song "Mayday" for my dad in February 2012. At the time, I debated whether or not to give him the lyrics. I didn't want to upset my dad by describing what I saw in his future. Yet I also wanted to be honest with him about my concerns.

After some internal debate, I decided to share the lyrics with my dad because my desire to be honest won out over my fear of upsetting him. I'm glad I did. I remember watching him read the lyrics at his office chair in February. He smiled a little as he repeated the words, "present descent." I think he liked the rhyming!

Later that month, I played part of the violin part for him, hoping he could tell me what chords I was using, because I know only minimal music theory while he knew everything! I was glad I at least got to play part of the violin part for him, because I didn't finish the recording of the whole song in time for him to hear it.

* * *

“Mayday” by Erica

Calm before the storm,
then squall, and child, you’re borne
by life out to sea,
no control, you’re spiralling,
your happy past
no guarantee it would last.
Can’t hold fast.

You call emergency.
Your capsized quality
of life is sinking,
your options shrinking
as memories and pleasures cease
to release you and bring relief
from your present descent.

Once I hoped when it’s time to die
the misery would make me cry in anguish,
for I wished to know
when death arrives, I’d want to go.
Oh foolish desire to suffer and tire.

(Cadenza)

You struggle in the waves.
Now all that I can say is
I’m sorry you have to live through this,
I’m sorry we’re both helpless this Mayday
when no worship will save you
and no spring will renew health and youth
as you’re drowning

I wish you calm, not this frustration,
I wish you ease, no more aggravation,
I wish you love
as your culmination.

* * *

Finally, in honor of my dad, I'll post his favorite piece of music that he enjoyed hearing in the last 6 months of his life: Bach, The Well Tempered Clavier, Book II, Prelude No.11 in F Major BWV880.

My dad felt this song sounded beautifully peaceful, like water trickling downstream.

After my dad could no longer use the computer, I used to play his iPod through its speakers so that he and I could enjoy his favorite Bach music while walking around the house together to get exercise. Sometimes my dad would use the walker, but he hated it because stooping hurt his back, and so sometimes to help him stand up straighter I would offer my shoulders. My dad would hold onto my shoulders with his hands and walk slowly behind me as we made circles through the house...kitchen to living room to dining room to kitchen.

Now hearing Bach music like this song reminds me of all the slow fall days and evenings my dad and I spent together as he gradually lost the ability to walk around the block, and then walk down the alley, and then stand, and then finally, on his final night and day, get out of bed.

He had to suffer many slow losses and excruciating pain along the way. Along with the physical pain, it distressed my dad greatly that his cognitive abilities were dwindling due to chemotherapy, since he had always had great pride in his mental capabilities.

During the last two hours of my dad's life, although he was unconscious as best we could tell, I put his earphones on his ears so that he could listen to Bach, as was his routine before going to sleep in the evenings.

After he died, I checked to see how far he would have gotten in the music, had he heard it. He died before getting to his favorite piece. Such is life. But while my dad was alive, he enjoyed this music very much, and for that I am thankful:


J.S.Bach - The Well Tempered Clavier: Book II: Prelude and Fugue No.11 in F Major - S. Richter - YouTube

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ribbons

For a well-loved father and his wonderful, caring, brave daughter who has a beautiful soul. I am very sorry, Erica.

VEGANGELICA

Thanks, ((Liz)). I know you aren't around here much recently and so thank you for remembering and following up on our conversations about my dad to tell me you were thinking of me. The song you shared made me smile because my dad liked that one. I remember a distinct conversation he and I had about it.

I hope you are well!!! !!! !!! !!!

Liz, I wanted you to know that early last year I bought a Telecaster because I hoped and planned to use it for the Hearth song to surprise you! I bought it used on eBay from a nice grandpa in Minnesota who had fallen in love with the guitar in a shop in 2006 but decided to part with it to use the money for another purpose. I still have happy memories of planning and writing that song for you, and so thank you for being you and therefore inspiring it. I loved surprising you!!! (http://www.musicbanter.com/song-writ...ml#post1154963)

I just haven't recorded much music this last year and I fear I might not get to recording the song for you for some time. Yet I thought you'd like to know that you inspired me to purchase a Telecaster because I had wanted to make that jangly sound you and I both like. I still think about your dream guitar and hope you get her/him/it someday.

Please don't be a stranger, Liz, but whatever you do, I hope you continue to be happy and fulfilled wherever you are. All my best to you, always.

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VEGANGELICA

I wrote the following song lyrics several years ago after religious "morality police" beat some unfortunate Middle Eastern woman in public because her ankles were showing. A brief search on the internet shows me that brutality by morality police continues still, unfortunately.

My heart goes out to all the brave women, and men, who are trying to find freedom, respect, equality, and individuality under totalitarian governments and militaristic groups that deny them the basic civil rights such as freedom of expression that I believe all people should have.

I can't imagine how difficult it would be to stand up to morality police and totalitarian religious regimes when doing so causes you to risk physical and emotional violence. If I lived in such a country and could (safely!) give a piece of my mind to government officials and the morality police, this is what I would tell them:

* * *

“Swallow” by Erica

I don’t swallow the words you say.
You always make the rules so you get your own way.

You tell me since I’m a daughter and not a son,
I don’t have the same rights – “God’s will be done.”

You claim your privileges are because you’re male.
You show yourself in public, forcing me to wear a veil.

You forbid me from going outside alone.
You treat me as if I were something you own.

But I don’t swallow when you say
that I’m weak and need to be kept out of harm’s way.
You try to feed me a line, but you can’t make me bite.
You say it’s “God’s plan,” but I don’t think you’re right

because I’m stronger than you will ever be.
You bully people while I get them to agree
through rational discussion and public discourse.
You resort to violence. I don’t need to use force.

I don’t swallow that your laws were heaven-sent
making you dominant and me subservient.

You make religions up, justifying what you do.
You make your rulings so they benefit you.

You tell me I must embrace the chains you put me in
and that questioning them would be a sin.

You claim I like to comply, but you give me no choice.
You say you speak for me, as you muzzle my voice.

But I don’t swallow these limitations.
I won’t succumb to your manipulations.
I’m no fish to catch and mount on the wall.
I’m not your sacrificial lamb to stick in the stall

because I’m stronger than you will ever be.
You bully people while I get them to agree
through rational discussion and public discourse.
You resort to violence. I don’t need to use force,

for the word is mightier than the sword
and calls for compassion are loved and adored.
When you and your weapons are history,
we’ll still be singing songs of peace and equality.

Strong leaders don’t need to force you to follow.
If they do, it means their strength is hollow.
Good governments allow you to criticize.
If they don’t, it means they’re weak and unwise.

Know the citizens of the world are well aware
your treatment of us is inhumane and unfair.
They won’t believe that we accept your views
until you grant us the freedom to choose.

Grant us the freedom to choose
not to bow to your idol of modesty
that you place before me.

Your vice is protecting virtue.
You blame me for the lecher in you.
You don’t take responsibility
for your shame, so you pile it on me.

If you can’t keep your passions mastered,
then you should be the one sequestered.
Drape yourself in black, hide yourself from view,
stop blaming us for the lust in you!

I’ll never swallow your cultural norms.
I reject your sexism in all its forms.

I won’t bend to the will of your unfair demands.
I’ll make my own life, not be subsumed in a man’s.

I won’t be brainwashed to believe I show my family respect
by letting men walk over me while I genuflect.

I know your wish to control where I go and what I do
only shows the fear and the weakness in you.

You decree gender inequality
and try to force compliance by threatening me.

You fight democracy. You want to block my vote.
You try to shove your edicts down my throat

but I don’t swallow.

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VEGANGELICA

I haven't written many song lyrics recently that involve non-human animals, but below are the lyrics for one such song.

Since I originally planned for this thread to be all about vegan themes, I decided it was time to throw an animal song into the mix again. (My rap song "Beans and Broccoli" hasn't progressed much during the last 3 years, but I may work on it again soon. One never knows.)

* * *

“Naturally” by Erica, started 10-21-12, finished 11-4-12

The squirrel undulates like a wave in the leaves,
tamping down earth over acorns and seeds.
I am no different. I act naturally.
That is why you find yourself loved by me.

You nourish me, you nurture me,
you make me plan for the winter
but hope for the spring,
and when my life feels bleak with fear,
like a hidden treasure you reappear.

The bird orchestrates a nest in the trees,
using a pattern that she never sees.
I am no different. I act naturally.
That is why you find yourself loved by me.

You stir me, you spur me,
you make me look to the future
with reason to sing,
and when the woods close in with gloom,
like a hidden guide you help me find room

to weave my home and rest my head
in the pillow of words you silently said
through every gesture of your love for me:
I should care for myself as naturally

for you would love me forever and a day,
so I should care for myself the same way.

The slumbering bear awakes in her den,
the season’s changes telling her when.
I am no different. I act naturally.
That is why you found yourself loved by me.

You warmed me, encouraged me,
and like the rising sun roused me from sleep,
and though your star has died and gone,
I see your light shining on,

for I know you would still love me if you could,
so I should care for myself like you would.

And so I weave my home and rest my head
in the pillow of words you silently said
through every gesture of your love for me:
I should care for myself as naturally.

Oh I weave my home and raise my head
filled with words of hope you silently said.
Just as you love and care for me,
I should care for myself as naturally.

Just as you loved and cared for me,
I will care for myself as naturally.

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VEGANGELICA

I finally finished recording the song, "Mayday," that I wrote over two years ago about my dad (http://www.musicbanter.com/song-writ...ml#post1272626). Here it is, at last.



I had two goals while making this song. First, I wanted to share with my father my sadness about his cancer and decline, which turned out to be excruciating at times, both physically and emotionally.

Second, I wanted to combine elements of rock music (drums, electric guitar, a simple melody, and vocals lacking vibrato) with elements of classical music (violin, cello, piano, recorder, a meandering melody, the passing of the melody from one instrument to another, and counterpoint).

I was hoping that sneaking rock elements (which my dad despised) into a song with classical elements (which he enjoyed) might inspire my dad to appreciate the elements of rock music a little more...or at least despise them a little less!

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Plankton

Very moving piece Vegan. You have a nice, soft, and sincere vocal quality. The middle section with the violins really stood out for me. I know combining all those elements that you used can be quite a task, but you pulled it off nicely. Well done!



I'm sure your Father would be very proud of you.

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See location...

ribbons

Erica, so glad you finished recording “Mayday” and thank you for sharing it with us. I love your clear, sincere voice (as Plankton stated), which I find very moving on all your recordings. I also agree that the middle section is stunning: 2:31 – 3:15 is one of the best strings-piano compositions I’ve ever heard. I’ve listened to it several times now, and it brought tear to my eyes each time. It brings the character of your father straight to the heart. The guitar works well in evoking a sort of frustrating undertow throughout the piece. I know hard you struggled to take care of your dad toward the end of his life, and I’m sure that meant so much to him. If any song could make your father appreciate “rock elements”, it’s this one.

Your father would be very proud of you, indeed.