Chords for Michael Heart - Interview - Part 2 (of 2)

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During the war in Gaza in January 2009, [Cm] _ I wrote a humanitarian song [Ab] in support of the
Palestinian civilian victims.
_ [Cm]
And the song's called We Will Not Go Down.
_ [Ab] And it's a song that I never intended to write, you know, never [G] planned on it.
It just sort of [Fm] happened, you know, it was really an emotional outlet for me as a result
of observing, you know, the horrible stuff that was going on there.
_ And I wrote the song and recorded it really quickly.
It all happened within [G] 24 hours.
And when I was done recording it, I realized pretty quickly that I had come up with something
pretty powerful [A] that needed to be shared.
[Eb] So I put together a really low budget, low [Cm] quality photo slideshow, you know, just on
the Mac computer, and showing some of the images of the casualties, you know, victims
of the war.
And I put it up on YouTube.
[D] _ And the response was _ overwhelming, to say the [Dbm] least.
They came [Abm] with their tanks and their [Dbm] planes, with [Abm] ravaging fiery flames.
[Gb] And nothing [E] remains, [B] just a voice rising up in [Eb] the smoky haze.
We will [E] not go [B] down [Abm] in the night without [Gb] a fight.
_ You can burn up our mosques and [B] our homes and our schools, [Abm] but our spirit will never [Gb] die.
_ We will not go down in Gaza [Abm] tonight.
[Eb] _ _ [Ab] _
_ [Abm] _ The song is strictly [B] humanitarian in nature.
It has absolutely [Gb] nothing to do with religion, [D] as some people [Abm] mistakenly thought.
It's about human rights, really.
_ [E] Human rights that have [Eb] been stripped away from the Palestinians for [Abm] 60 plus years, you
know, while the rest of the world [Ab] simply looks away.
_ _ It was just my way [Dbm] of [Abm] speaking up about this [Gb] terrible injustice, really.
You know, some people march in protest, _ and some people write letters [D] to the powers that
be in protest.
[B] I wrote a song, you know, a song that seems to have hit a [Ab] global nerve and resonated really
deeply all around the world.
[E] _ And it's not [Abm] so much the sheer volume of correspondence that I received about the [Gb] song that affected
me, [Abm] so much as the content of that [Gb] correspondence.
[F] I mean, I [Eb] received thousands and thousands of emails from people from all walks of life,
you know, _ ranging from eight-year-old kids to _ [E] PhDs, you know, [Bb] doctors, surgeons, _ attorneys
and professors.
_ Of course, [Eb] I received a lot of messages from Palestinian [E] exiles who had [Eb] been kicked out
of their homes and their land, you know, in 1948 and not allowed to come back. _ _
Just a lot of messages from people of all religions and cultures.
I received messages from Jewish people [Gb] who had Holocaust survivors as relatives.
_ [Gb] And they all shared the same vision, you know, they had the same understanding how terribly
wrong and inhumane this was, you know, the treatment of the Palestinians. _
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[Dbm] _ _ _ [B] _ _ _ _ [Gb] _
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I received one email [B] from a man that particularly [G] stood out for me.
He was a Palestinian man who also happened to be an astrophysicist at NASA here in the U [F].S.
But he had a home in Gaza and he had [D] family in Gaza. _
And, you know, he wrote me to thank me for the song and to share his story with [Eb] me.
His [E] house in Gaza was bombed, you know, when an F-16 fighter jet bombed his house [C] during the war.
_ And his 11-year-old son was killed in that explosion.
[Cm] _ And I was just flabbergasted by that message, you know, it's like, what [Ab] do you say to something like that?
[Cm] You know, how do you respond to a message like that?
You know, this is not just your average, hey man, I really like your song message, you know.
[Ab] You know, this is life [D] and death. _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ [Cm] There are obviously opposing views about this conflict.
I mean, that's the essence of conflict, really.
But [Eb] when it comes to getting some form of validation from my point of view about the
conflict, and I see all these demonstrations all around the world, you know, everywhere
from London, England to Sydney, Australia.
And some of these demonstrations, people actually sent me videos, you know, they were chanting
the song that I wrote, you know, in these demonstrations.
_ [G] And [F] I see reputable organizations like [E] Amnesty International and the Red Cross, you know,
expressing their outrage.
_ And not to mention countless UN resolutions, you know, over the past few decades, supporting
the Palestinian people. _
You know, I like to think I'm in pretty good company.
_ [Gbm] _ And regardless [D] of that, you know, in the end, the truth is the truth.
And I think the song really speaks the truth.
And _ unfortunately, it's a really [A] ugly and painful [Cm] truth, but it has to be revealed,
you know, just the same. _ _ _ _
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For this song, once again, I was just really moved by this disaster and wanted to [Eb] do something,
you know, [Ab] just to show some support.
I actually co-wrote this song with an English writer named Mark [Bb] Holding, [D] who's a [Eb] really
good writer and a good friend of [Eb] mine.
And just wanted to do something, you know, just to show [E] some support.
So I came up with this song called [Ab] Help _ Is [Bb] On The _ _ _ _
_ _ _ [Ab] _ _ Way.
[Eb] _
_ _ _ [Bb] _ _ _ _ [Gm] _
_ _ _ [Ab] _ _ _ For _ _ _ [Bb] this song, I took the opportunity [C] of singing [F] some French ad-libs towards the end of the song.
You know, [E] just to kind of try and connect with the [D] people of Haiti a little more.
So [F] that was good to do.
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_ _ _ [Am] _ _ _ _ [Bb] _
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_ _ _ _ C'est plus que si je t'aime
_ _ _ What's [C] next for me?
_ [Gbm] Just more music, I guess.
I [F] plan to write and [E] record and release more songs, you know, when they come to me.
_ The music business is not what it used to be.
You know, the opportunities of getting your music across have become more and more [Eb] limited.
_ [Dm] And the major record labels, or what's left of them, have [Db] become just ridiculously selective
about what kind of artists they're going to back up, you know, and support.
Because it takes an awful lot of resources to really break an artist onto the scene.
_ [D] _ _ [F]
So if I attract the right [D] company or the right person who [F] likes what I do
and wants to work with me, then I would welcome that, of course.
You know, that'd be great.
But if [Eb] not, you know, I'll still be making music, you know.
It's what I do.
[Ebm] _
_ [Ab] _ Life goes [Ab] on _
Yeah
Whether you do right or wrong
_ [Db]
Life _ goes on
_ So you gotta [Ab] stay strong
Believe me
Life goes on
You know
You can quell