-Music Monday-

This meme was created by Drew @ The Tattooed Book Geek. You pick a song that you really like and share it on Monday. I love this meme and look forward to sharing a new song every week! Hope you enjoy. 🖤

This Week’s Pick:

Bruce Hornsby and the Range

“The Way It Is”

I chose this song today because it’s special to me. It’s an important song concerning the Civil Rights Movement, racial injustice in America, and one that I’ve loved since the first time I heard it.

I’ve been playing piano since I was a little child and this is a song that even as a teen I always wanted to perfect on the piano. When I came of age, my mom took me to a casino (even though I had no interest in gambling) and on the way out, there was a band playing along with a piano player. The song they were performing was “The Way It Is” by Bruce Hornsby and I was instantly captivated. This guy was whaling out the song just like I always dreamed of playing it. We stood there waiting until the song was over and actually interacted with the band a little bit. It was amazing! It inspired me to go out and purchase more sheet music and to push myself harder. All in all, I found the atmosphere to be pretty amazing and it ended up being an awesome experience–one that I won’t ever forget.

 

 

Music, at its essence, is what gives us memories. And the longer a song has existed in our lives, the more memories we have of it. –

-Stevie Wonder

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Lyrics:

Standing in line, marking time
Waiting for the welfare dime
‘Cause they can’t buy a job
The man in the silk suit hurries by
As he catches the poor old ladies’ eyes
Just for fun he says, “get a job”

That’s just the way it is
Some things will never change
That’s just the way it is
Ah, but don’t you believe them

Said, hey little boy you can’t go where the others go
‘Cause you don’t look like they do
Said, hey old man how can you stand
To think that way
Did you really think about it
Before you made the rules?
He said, “son

That’s just the way it is
Some things will never change
That’s just the way it is
Ah, but don’t you believe them”

Oh yeah
well, they passed a law in ’64
To give those who ain’t got a little more
But it only goes so far
Because the law don’t change another’s mind
When all it sees at the hiring time
Is the line on the color bar, no, no

That’s just the way it is
And some things will never change
That’s just the way it is
That’s just the way it is, it is, it is, it is

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You can find this on the album The Way It Is

(Just click to be directed to Amazon)

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Tupac’s version came out in 1998 a few years after his death. This one titled “Changes” features Talent and was originally written in 1992. I love this version and thought I’d share it as well.

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Thanks for checking out Music Monday! I hope you all have a wonderful week. 🖤🤘