Take the High Road

We’ve got two trains leaving                        G
Reckon where they’re bound                      G7  G7+5
This one’s going up                                         C
And that one’s going down                            C#°
Come on, let the sun rise In your eyes.      G  B7 E7
Come on, take the high road.                      Am7 -A7 –– D7  

You can ride that locomotive
You can ride that caboose
But you better get on board
Oh, how can you refuse
Come on, let the sun rise In your eyes.        G  B7 E7
Come on, take the high road.                        A7  D7  G   

 BRIDGE
If living on the dark side made you afraid of light     B7
Or if you’ve just forgotten how to do what’s right      E7
Put away your labels,  It’s a wake-up call                    A7  A+5
There’s room at the table, just don’t  take it all             D7 

You won’t find it with weapons
You won’t find it with gold
Find it at all if you
Stay out in the cold
Oh, come on, let the sun rise In your eyes. G  B7 E7
Come on, take the high road. A7  D7  G           

Fiddle solo

Repeat Bridge, Verse 3

Oh, come on, let the sun rise In your eyes.      G  B7 E7
Come on, take the high road.                              A7  D7  G F E7
Come on, take the high road.                              A7  D7  G

©Doug Hendren 2021

What’s it about? This song is an invitation for Americans to step out of the morass of division and disinformation that has poisoned our families and our politics in recent years. The Pew Research Center in 2019 found that over half of Americans regularly get news from social media, and around one-third get their news from Facebook.

Social media platforms, are designed to amplify partisan animosity. They have no standards for factual information, operating on algorithms designed to maximize profit by attracting and holding the users’ attention. Angry material gets attention, regardless of whether it is true or false. These platforms exploit our weaknesses and promote hate, for profit.

Highly polarized, winner-take-all politics does not serve Americans well. It leads to dysfunctional government, unable to deal effectively with the real challenges we face. Without collective effort, we will drift into complete climate disruption, which is unthinkably costly. It’s time to put our collective American ingenuity back to work. Come on, take the high road!