I had a job helping a paint crew, working on a $20,000,000 mansion. While I was painting, I got an idea and started writing verses on a piece of paper. Docked myself half an hour, and that's how this song got started. I got to thinking: "There ought to be a song for the Republican Blues . . ." I couldn't help but write it! : )
Then I couldn't get the right sound on my guitar, until I remembered the one lesson I had gotten from Rory Block in open G, and the few riffs she taught me. I used a short slide so I could still play other riffs too, and that's how I wrote this song.
When I first wrote it, I mused that with these cutbacks in health care, "some folks are bound to die." Just a few months later, my best friend in Florida passed away with stage 4 cancer, and the effects of chemo.
He called me and said: "They cut my insurance. I can't get care!" And a week later, he was gone. And this was AFTER he spent $380,000 on treatment. I told him I would become an activist for health care. Being of a Republican mindset, he said: "Really?" I said: "Yes!"
This is a direct attack on our health and well being. We need to be educating ourselves and our neighbors in alternative health care and holistic medicine, and helping each other, as we used to in the old days.
I just lost a buddy, who was way tougher than I am. This is no joke! We need to stand up for what's right, and start by doing it ourselves.