Best Non-Traditional Holiday Song Ever: Wily Bo Walker – “For The Children”
Moon Over Indigo, the album by Willy Bo Walker is available on iTunes.
by Walter Price
In the tradition of not being all that traditional, blues rocker Wily Bo Walker has a Christmas-like track, “For The Children”. What does “Christmas-like” really mean? Well, to explain it best, in a 2016 YouTube post, Walker broke it down like this, “I have decided to release a song for Christmas – ‘For the Children’. More accurately, I have released a single to mark the end of this particular year.
“A ‘New Year Blues’ if you like; not one mired in mawkish sentimentality but one which kind of reflects how I feel after this particular year of populist promenading by politicians, seemingly endless warring factions, yet more worldwide corruption and a year in which we have seen so many creative souls lost
“Yes, I wrote this song for my children but I hope the song’s message will resonate with you Here’s to a brand new year, may it be a better one for all.”
Although Mr. Walker posted that statement about a previous year, how perfectly it still reflects the very year we’ve just been through.
AND WHO’LL BE THERE TO CATCH OUR DREAMS AS THEY FALL
WHO’LL BE THERE FOR THE CHILDREN
WHEN THEIR NIGHTMARES CALL?
COS TIME IS SLIPPING THROUGH OUR FINGERS
LIKE A STORM IN THE DESERT SAND
WHO CAN PLACE OUR CHILDREN’S FUTURE
IN THE PALM OF SOME FOOLS HAND?
IF ONLY I COULD GET SOME ANSWERS
I WOULD LET THEM ALL IN ON THE PLAN
SO WHEN THEIR NIGHTMARES CALL
THEY CAN UNDERSTAND
The song itself has sonic hints of Tom Waits, Scorpions, and Alabama 3 nicely blended into a bluesy number that is parts haunting, a loving warning, and an ode to hope for the people the songwriter holds dear, his children. But the deeper messages will certainly reverberate with us all.
You can find the track on Wily Bo Walker’s 2015 release, “Moon Over Indigo”.
MOON OVER INDIGO
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