A march of sorts. A warning? A statement of purpose?
BEAT
My parade is very small.
Unworthy of the name at all.
No marching bands with Sousa tunes,
no grand marshal, no balloons.
No rifle corps, no beauty queens.
I am a man of slender means.
This is all there is to see –
my flag, my different drum, and me.
I will not agree with you,
care what you think or what you do.
I don’t need your bad advice.
If sin is mine, I’ll pay the price.
I will not hide. I will not run.
I will not stop ‘til I have won.
Someday you will wake to find
there’s room for me and for my kind.
Sometimes life just leaves me speechless;
sometimes my mouth won’t keep shut.
Now and then, I’ve got the answers.
Sometimes I don’t know what’s what.
Some days I keep moving forward,
other days I just stand still
and keep the beat inside my heart and head,
a triumph of the will.
There’s so little you can trust.
Love whom you will, love whom you must.
The beat goes on and on and on,
and then it’s done and then I’m gone.
But look and see what I have made,
all by myself. My own parade!
I march until the kingdom come,
just me, my flag, my different drum.
@richaaaay Feb 2022
Bravo. Great little anthem you’ve created.
@rayboneor Feb 2022
This is a good one, Richard. I love the defiance in the lyric. Hell yes, just you, your flag, your drum...keep beating it! Nice catchy melody, too.
I started to sketch out a lyric yesterday about being a baton twirler in a parade, dropping it, mostly, and picking it back up :)
@artie Feb 2022
Another gem! Great beginning, middle, and end to this piece of storytelling. You evoked the image of a grand parade for me, with all the fanfare and Sousa marches, and immediately stripped it away to a single entity. The lyrics are just fantastic.