Story Behind the Song
I came home early one afternoon, flipped on the TV while I was loading some laundry, and saw the Columbine High School tragedy unfolding before my eyes. The kids who had run out of the building - terrified - repeatedly said, "This kind of thing doesn't happen around here. It happens somewhere else." It seemed like the news was getting more dreadful each day. We were bombing Kosovo every night at the time. Then about two weeks after Columbine, a tornado ripped through my old neighborhood in Cincinnati, coming within about a quarter mile of my old home. That sort of thing never happens here...
I wanted to find some answer to the hatred and anger I saw building around me. In the days following the attack on the World Trade Center (not too many blocks from where I now work), the song seemed even more relevant. This sort of thing happens here...
Lyrics
Did you catch the news today?
A couple idiots with guns blew some kids away
In some other town - not very near
That sort of thing never happens here
You pull a stunt like that on one of my sons
You'll be looking down the barrels of a couple guns
Anyhow, I don't really care
What happens over there
'Cause it's not in my town, not in my life
Not my kids and not my wife
That devastation's in another place
That look of pain is on somebody else's face
Not in my house, not on my land
They can all kill each other - I don't give a damn
Set those guns ablaze - hell if I mind
Just as long as they keep it on the other side of the line
Did you catch the news today?
A couple planes with bombs blew a town away
In a far off land where idiots dwell
As far as I'm concerned, they can all go to hell
We should nuke 'em down to rubble and do it up right
Maybe then I'll finally get some sleep at night
Anyhow, I don't really care
What happens over there
As long as it's not in my town, not in my life
Not my kids and not my wife
That devastation's in another place
That look of pain is on some other color face
Not in my house, not on my land
They can all kill each other - I don't give a damn
Set those towns ablaze - hell if I mind
Just as long as they keep it on the other side of the line
Did you catch the news today?
The wind spun in a rage and blew my house away
Killed my kids - crushed my wife
Now there's only rubble where I once had a life
At night the looters came onto my land
There was a massive black man with a spade in his hand
And when he came to attack, I couldn't even rise
Then he held out his hand and looked deep in my eyes
He said, "We caught you on the news today
So we packed up the car and drove most of the day
We want to know what we can do
To help pull you through
The way I see it -
This is my town, this is my life
Those were my kids and that was my wife
What happened here to bring you such sorrow
Could be knocking on my door by this time tomorrow
That was my house, this is my land
What else could I do but lend a hand?
We'll get to work - if you don't mind
Sometimes you've just got to go across that line"
Did you catch the news today?
A flood of love washed a line away
© 1999 Ross D. Martin, MD, MHA
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