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How Did We Get Here?

from There Is More Light by Arran Fagan

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I wrote this song in the middle of a heatwave in Portland. My apartment doesn't have air conditioning, so all of the windows were open. I was listening to a parade of cars honking in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter demonstration taking place on Lombard street. The song is about white guilt and how it can be regressive and unproductive and yet a large demographic population of America was feeling this way. The song lyrically is shrouded by darkness but at the end I tried to bring a sense of hope with the line, “searching for light in the depths of the clouds.” No matter how complex, difficult, or dark, something seems, there is always some form of light that is worth searching for. The album is about the little fragments of light that keep us going even when surrounded by darkness or fog and I felt that the song tied the entire album up in only three verses.

The lyrics came in a matter of minutes. I tried to record it with microphones and it didn’t feel right. It took until the summer of 2020 when I decided to open my windows and record it on my phone, traffic and all.

lyrics

Are we doomed to repeat this
or destined to redeem it?
Will the fire burn out before I tire and lie sleeping?

Well I must have been dreaming
Not to know of the reasons
Blinded by my own fear and self-deceiving

Darling, can you face it?
All these years now lay wasted
Idling while we thought we were chasing

How did we get here?
Running our mouths
Running’s just falling when you can't fight the ground
Controlling convictions
Punishing doubt
Searching for light in the depths of the clouds

credits

from There Is More Light, released November 4, 2022
Arran Fagan - Acoustic Guitar & Vocals

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Arran Fagan Portland, Oregon

Singing songs of sadness and having a great time doing it.

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  • May 4
    Strum
    Portland, OR

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