I love you like I'm not thinking 'bout it
It's a natural thing
Even in my dark Dixie closet
It's easy to see
School bus bumpin' over the creek
Does anybody know the secret I keep?
But I know God and he knows me
Down here
Big church steeples piercing the sunset
And busted bicycle chains
Seeing how dark clouds open for me
Rivers of pain
Oh, lightening strike away the pain
Thunder clap away the shame
Truth is a masquerade
Down here
Down in the country
Out in the hills
Out in the country
Three-dollar bills
~ Shelby Lynne
So today, I'd been thinking of a Shelby Lynne song I heard yesterday on my car radio. The song is called "Be in the Now," and it's about mindfulness and the wisdom in living in the present instead of in memory and anticipation. I've always liked that idea, even though I am not very good at incorporating it into my own life. When I searched for the lyrics, I came upon a couple of reviews for Shelby's 2015 release I Can't Imagine, the album on which "Be in the Now" appears. Having been a fan of Shelby Lynne for many years now, I spent some time with the other songs that appear on the album. "Down Here" struck a chord, as I'd just read this morning about the new administration's decision to not include questions related to sexual orientation or gender identity on the 2020 Census. Once again, serendipity.
This latest attempt to "erase" the LGBTQ community from any government documents follows the January 2017 (day of inauguration) removal of all LGBTQ-related content from the White House website as well as the decision last week to remove questions about LGBTQ senior citizens from the National Survey of Older Americans Act Participants, which had been there since 2014. Damnit, you cannot just erase a significant segment of the population from consideration in government assessment and protection of its citizens! What the hell is wrong with this administration? Never mind. I know.
"Down Here," a brooding, bluesy number in which Shelby Lynne gets vocal assistance from Clarence Greenwood, a.k.a. Citizen Cope, doesn't preach. In fact, it doesn't even mention discrimination against sexual orientation. But if you pay attention to the lyrics, you will "get" the reference to "three-dollar bills." The complete simile would include the words "as queer as." Shelby has said that her hope is that any Southern child hearing the song would understand that he/she is not alone, despite feeling "different." In a Rolling Stone interview, she stated, "This is the thing. I believe in equal human rights. I am not a political person except in my own private time. I have no agenda except that everybody should be treated with dignity and respect, whether it's race or being homosexual or anything. I just believe everybody should be nice to everybody."
Shelby Lynne and her sister, Alison Maurer (now separated from husband Steve Earle), know heartache and they know compassion. Raised in Alabama, the young sisters witnessed their father kill their mother and then commit suicide. Shelby's music is not usually as personal as "Down Here" is, but she claims that the song wrote itself. She wanted to reach out to the victims of discrimination. "That's the whole goal with 'Down Here.' It's just saying you're not alone."
The current administration could take a lesson from Shelby Lynne. Inclusion instead of erasure. How about that?
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