2020 Lullaby

The stars— and the moon               F#m  G#dim
December to June                             Dmaj7   D7sus4
We’ll be with you soon, my love.    Bm7  E7  A   D7b9        

The moon and the stars
Wherever you are
We’ll be with you soon, my love.     Bm7  E7  Amaj7-9  A7

Going places                                  D E
Show our faces,                            Amaj7  A#dim
Friends’ embraces,                      Bm7  E7
Smiling again.                               A    D7b9

The light will appear                    F#m   G#dim
The end of the year                     Dmaj7    D7sus4
And I wish you good cheer        Bm7  E
tonight                                           A  Amaj7-9  A7

So unkind, those
Seasons confined
Locked out of school.
Frozen in time. A                         D7b9

The sun will return                      F#m   G#dim
So rest your concern                    Dmaj7    D7sus4
And be of good cheer tonight.   Bm7  E    A   D7b9

INSTRUMENTAL

Goin’ places,
We’ll show our faces,
See our friends
Smiling again.                             D7b9

The light will appear                  F#m   G#dim
The end of the year                     Dmaj7    D7sus4
And I wish you good cheer        Bm7  E
tonight                                          A  Amaj7-9  A7
CODA (flute)              F#m  B7   E   /    Bm7  E7   A —   Amaj7-9  A

©Doug Hendren 2020
Nancy Beall on flute

2020 was a very hard year. It’s challenge enough to endanger the global population with a lethal new virus. It’s far worse when the basic public health measures are manipulated into a political issue, creating public angst, ill will and greatly increasing our death toll from this formidable pathogen.

Happy new year to everyone. May the coming year be kinder than the past one! My wish is that our dangerously divided nation learn patience, and practice talking to one another!

Addendum, January 2026: The US death toll from Covid-19 has been over 1.25 million Americans, nearly three times more than our losses in World War II. It is the highest death rate of all our wealthy peer nations, and roughly four times the world average. This is attributable to the politically motivated distrust of American public health science, our CDC, and our highly sophisticated vaccine technology. The responsibility for this loss of American life rests squarely on the Trump administration’s influence, despite the strong financial support for early vaccine development.

Tragically, under the second Trump administration, this general suspicion of American public health promoted by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has gone further, rolling back childhood vaccination schedules that have proven their worth and safety over several decades. Already, by the end on 2025 we have seen multiple measles outbreaks in the United States. What’s next? Polio? Putting ideology above common sense and public health is absurd, and will lead to more completely avoidable loss of American lives.

Despite these stark political divisions, most Americans still want the same things from the CDC. Public health should not be used as a political football.