From the recording Trapeze
Step Right Up (4:25) Decisive, earnest, salient folk-rock song. The New York Times
Magazine’s annual issue of The Lives They Lived, usually features artists, athletes,
inventors, etc. In 2022 this issue featured the all-too-brief lives of children whose lives
were taken away by gun violence, This song was written about three of them.
Lyrics
Step Right Up McDonnell ©2023
Levonte-e couldn’t read yet
He was only 5 years old
Held the Bible to his heart
A shepherd of the fold
His grandpa called him ‘Preacher’
He had a big, wide open future
He went down to the park
Where young men were playing ball
Humming “I’ll Fly Away”
And “Sweet Jesus, Hear My Call”
On the risers found a pistol
“Hey, is this your gun, mister?”
Step right up, take a bow, you’re the next what might have been
Step right up, take a bow, you’re the next what might have been
Angellyh, sweet 16
The biggest night of her life
The coming blizzard can’t destroy
All that her parents sacrificed
“Nobody’s gonna come, ma
Between Covid and the drugs, ma….”
“If you know our people, Angie
You know they will be here”
And the ballroom fills with people
She’s dressed in pink and happy tears
But good fortune rarely knocks
In the projects of South Bronx
Step right up, take a bow, you’re the next what might have been
Step right up, take a bow, you’re the next what might have been
When will we ever learn
When will we ever learn
Paola’s parents moved from Tonga
To a town outside Salt Lake
He’s always turned up to eleven
You couldn’t make him hit the brakes
All he wanted when he got older
Was play football with bigger shoulders
From a big, happy family
His cup was filled up to the brim
He played hard, he took the bait
From any challenge offered him
Talking smack was his downfall
Like trying to stop a fireball
Step right up, take a bow…..
When will we ever learn…