As many of my readers may remember, back in April of last year I made a post releasing my content free for anyone to use however they like. It sprang from someone on Twitter telling me that they wanted one of my tweets on a bumper sticker. I was like “Man, I don’t have time for any of that,” but then I thought, “Maybe someone else will?” That one single post birthed some of the most natural and easy collaborations I have ever been blessed to be a part of, many without my knowledge or input. Life has become this strange and exhilarating peregrination where I never know what delightful morsel is going to show up next.
A few weeks ago, an Irish singer-songwriter called Michael Brunnock messaged me on my Facebook page with a song that he had created from a poem I published a while back called “A Blessing for Anyone”. He was tentative at first, as anyone would be, hoping that I would like his creation.
Guys, you have to hear this song. The first time I heard it, it moved me to tears. The second time I saw it, this time with the video, it had an even more extraordinary emotional effect.
Now it turns out this Michael Brunnock guy is a kind of a big deal. He’s a musicians’ musician who has collab’d with a lot of my personal favorite musicians like Talking Heads’ David Byrne for the movie This Must Be The Place, opened for the Irish institution The Frames, played with their enigmatic front man Glen Hansard, and with Brendan Perry from Dead Can Dance. Like many of this in this new movement he is much more at home in the role of humble servant to the muse than being a flashy self-promoter, which is what makes him a wonderful musician, but is also why you’ve probably never heard of him.
I think that’s about to change in a big way. Please share this around as much as you can. I always say that those who control the narrative, control the world, and our popular culture is the genesis of where that narrative springs from. We need to seize the means of creating culture, take it out of the hands of the social engineers who have us all stanning for billionaires at the expense of the planet, and start making beautiful, inspiring, healthy memes to feed our hearts and souls with. This is one such effort to do so.
If you love and it and you’d like to hear more, check out his website, follow him on Spotify, Facebook, and maybe even consider being one of Michael’s first patrons on Patreon. I have a feeling that that’s an investment that will yield big bragging dividends in the very near future.
But whatever you do, take a moment, get yourself somewhere quiet, sit yourself down, and open your heart to this song. I swear to God it changes you, in a really good way.
A note to the songwriter: Thank you, Michael. Thank you for everything you’ve done in your life this far to make it possible to bring this song to fruition. I am on-my-knees grateful for your talent, skills and courage to keep going in a world that is hostile to gentleness and beauty. In the scorched-earthed carnage of the last few weeks of white-noise narrative confusion, where all the old narratives have fallen away, a space has opened up where no stories exist yet. I can see your song sprouting its little head up above the fresh soil. I pledge to help nurture and protect it.
Artists of the world, it’s time to create.
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Thanks for reading! The best way to get around the internet censors and make sure you see the stuff I publish is to subscribe to the mailing list for my website, which will get you an email notification for everything I publish. My work is entirely reader-supported, so if you enjoyed this piece please consider sharing it around, liking me on Facebook, following my antics on Twitter, checking out my podcast on either Youtube, soundcloud, Apple podcasts or Spotify, following me on Steemit, throwing some money into my hat on Patreon or Paypal, purchasing some of my sweet merchandise, buying my new book Rogue Nation: Psychonautical Adventures With Caitlin Johnstone, or my previous book Woke: A Field Guide for Utopia Preppers. For more info on who I am, where I stand, and what I’m trying to do with this platform, click here. Everyone, racist platforms excluded, has my permission to republish or use any part of this work (or anything else I’ve written) in any way they like free of charge.
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36 responses to ““A Blessing For Anyone” – Amazing New Song By Michael Brunnock Based On A Poem By Caitlin Johnstone”
Magic
‘Brendan PERRY’ ,DeadCanDance
“May all of your illusions be shattered beyond your ability to reassemble them.”
Natalie Merchant – Giving Up Everything –> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mx5Iq0LTYw0
1/22/2020 World War III==>>DISCLAIMER: The following essay is entirely the work satirist and self-appointed political pundit, CJ Hopkins, and does not reflect the views and opinions of the Consent Factory, Inc., its staff, or any of its agents, subsidiaries, or assigns.
https://www.opednews.com/articles/World-War-III-by-CJ-Hopkins-World-War-I_World-War-III_World-War-Ii-200122-611.html
On this most sacred day ….
Listening to this, it is quite scary how Dr. King could give the same speech today, only needing to update the names and places.
Moves me to tears, beautiful, thank you!!!!
A bit off topic, but this monologue from the series finale of Mr. Robot a few weeks ago reminded me of things Caitlin wrote so much, I had to wonder if her influence bounced around the world to Mr. Robot, or something.
It’s a little bit of a spoiler, but I don’t think very much of one:
“This whole time I thought changing the world
was something you did,
an act you performed,
something you fought for.
I don’t know if that’s true anymore.
What if changing the world was just about being here,
by showing up no matter how many times
we get told we don’t belong,
by staying true even when we’re shamed into being false,
by believing in ourselves even when we’re told
we’re too different?
And if we all held onto that,
if we refuse to budge and fall in line,
if we stood our ground for long enough,
just maybe…
the world can’t help but change around us.”
Cool!
Also, Brendan Perry is among my favorite vocalists. Here’s one of my favorites with him singing “Rakim” with Dead Can Dance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kq59rEVWQNI
May your song ever be sung (ht/Bob Dylan)
May you strive for perfection forever. (And always come this close.)
Superb! Thanks to both of you. Today’s my birthday. THE best present.
Fantastic song, artist, and poem! Unlike one of the recent commenters, I love the refrain at the end.
Very moving until the last refrain which ruined it for me…”May the earth feel your love” What BS is that!
What BS? Love is the answer to all the madness in the world. True love of the earth and all its inhabitants.
I love guerilla art’s noncoercive subtle tactics of penetrating the heart. Make love to those who hate you, or are deaf to your facts and logic. It’s kinda like advertising, finding ways to enter beneath the shield.
Absolutely amazing! Exactly what the world needs right now!
Beautiful song. A treat to listen to. I’m about to do so again. Congratulations Caitlin and MIchael.
Cool! I love it. He really delivers your words.
Very impressed, love it.
Just one negative – what’s with the close-up of the face which goes from just above the eyebrows to the halfway point on the chin? I’m not complaining about the face, in fact I think he’s rather handsome, but if we are to see it how about seeing the whole thing. This close-up eyebrows- to-chin technique is common (almost standard) in documentaries and I can never see the point.
Anyway, as I said, great work and please forgive my irrelevant nit-picking.
This is quite something, I dont’ get chills from just anything. He is amazingly talented, and it takes talent like that to make such a beautiful work of your amazing words. Congrats, Caitlin, and thank you.
“That one single post birthed some of the most natural and easy collaborations I have ever been blessed to be a part of, many without my knowledge or input. Life has become this strange and exhilarating peregrination where I never know what delightful morsel is going to show up next.”
This is a big deal.
It is well known that the Irish soul is drawn to poetry and music as it is the case with this gentleman Mr Brunnock.
I have always thought their Roman Catholic background had something to do with that.
Great poetry, great music! It is the second time I listen to the song and I will listen to it again for sure!
It’s the same with the Scots, and being a Scots/Irish hybrid myself I agree that we have produced some of the most beautiful, haunting music and poetry. But I don’t believe it has to do with religion, it’s our Gaelic cultural heritage. Other Celts are available but they just don’t cut the mustard in this respect.
What a beautiful song. I’ve already begun sharing it. I’m also going to check out more of his music. Great sensitive voice with a lot of passion. Caitlin you are becoming a big inspiration for people who are waking up to the truth. ☮️
I hear a tinge of Johnny Cash in there. He really is talented, I love his voice.
Beautiful!
Amen to that song!
What a gift, Caitlin! From your heart to all of us, and from Michael’s heart right back at you. Even better the second time.
Sweet! And quite Beautiful!
I remember that piece. It struck me at the time. But I am not a poet. Can barely even manage to read it properly. That’s a problem with being born a poor white boy with no rythym. 🙂 So, the music is beautiful.
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Art and music are wonderful ways to communicate with people. To me, the political essay is a frontal assault. To those who are willing to open the gates and let it in, it can be a powerful way to communicate. But, for those who are not so willing to open the gates, a frontal assault breaks upon their walls, and often makes them raise those walls even higher. Thus, often, the best way to reach them is to do a flanking maneuver and come from another direction. Art is a good way to do that. And art’s subcategory of music can be a powerful way to reach people.
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I’ve seen in my lifetime several important waves of new music arise, not from the dreams of profits from the record companies, but from the bars and coffee shops and other places where people gather and a new form of music arises. The original Rock-n-Roll of the 50’s, as well as the psychedelic explosion of the 60’s both fit that bill. As do the Punk era (with the Talking Heads) and Hip-Hop. And possibly more since I got old. I’m sure the establishment is better at trying to keep a lid on nowadays, but with the internet we can do our own thing. And if you look at especially the Psychedelic era of the 60’s, the Punk era and the Hip-Hop era, all of those new forms of music became the cores of new social movements.
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My favorite musicians were the guys in blue jeans and t-shirts who just walked out on stage without pretense and began to play. 🙂 Never did go for the troops of hired dancers and the sequined costumes. If the concert is good, you can just watch the people around you dance, making dancers on the stage a bit redundant. Just listen to the music play. 🙂
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Thank you, Tim and Caitlin, and now Michael!!!!!
And, speaking of musicians people have probably never heard of, here’s a guy I used to know when we went to the same protests. His music is free online, but he can always use some support as well.
David Rovics.
https://soundcloud.com/davidrovics
(warning, he’s a prolific, politically orientated song-writer, and there is some 30 years worth of music up there, so don’t try to listen to it all in one sitting! Please pace yourself!)
I’m an old musician myself and I really admire and appreciate the collaboration! https://strangertimes.net/my-dad-was-a-cold-war-guinea-pig-the-charlie-anglin-story/
I would’ve loved to have collaborated with Michael Brunnock!
nope…..all on deaf ears….click my name for why…
I am willing to look at lyrics and chord tab
As to the lyrics, Tim and Caitlin have included a link to the original poem. Here it is again to make it easy to find.
“A Blessing for Anyone”
https://medium.com/@caityjohnstone/a-blessing-for-anyone-30f5dcb0203f
thx
Oh yeah!
you up for a fight? it involves the hijacking and abuse of intellectual property
arrgh, matey!
🙂
An advantage of creating your own art is that you own the intellectual property rights. There are whole sites full of music from bands who say their fans can freely trade and pass around copies of music (as long as they don’t profit from it). http://bt.etree.org/ is one example. No fighting required. 🙂
Not everyone lives in a capitalistic mindset.