This started out, in 1995, as an attempt to explore the question of the motivations of the (as of then, unknown) persons responsible for the bomb in Oklahoma City-- in particular, the kind of premeditation that would include the killing of so many children. The song developed a mind of its own, however, and went in a somewhat different direction about halfway through-- you'll probably be able to tell just about where that happened. In the end, I suppose the main question it asks is this: If premeditation is one of the main elements in determining how serious an act of killing is, what does that say about us, when it comes to executions? On a different note, I wrote the line in the first verse using the phrase "a hole in the heart" in 1995. It was a strange-- almost eerie-- feeling, during the trial two years later, to hear several of the family members of the victims use exactly those same words in describing how they felt.
VERSE 1:
In the middle of the heartland, in the middle of the day,
A hundred sixty-eight innocent lives were blown away.
A giant hole in the ground, far too deep to be filled;
A giant hole in the hearts of the loved ones of those who were
killed.
CHORUS 1:
How could you have so much hate? How could you kill so many kids?
The time, the place -- how could you not know exactly what you
did?
All those tiny bodies lying on those cold morgue shelves ...
How could you have so much hate -- unless you hate
yourselves?
VERSE 2:
And so you say it was about Waco? Or maybe Idaho?
About government agents going farther than you think that they
should go?
So you were going to make a statement? Going to take an eye for
an eye?
Going to teach them all a lesson -- by deciding who lives and
who dies?
CHORUS 1
VERSE 3:
Now we've arrested some suspects, we've convicted them and tried
them;
And now that they're convicted, lots of people want to fry them;
Want to take some more revenge, want to show them that we're
strong;
Want to strap them down and kill them -- just to show them
killing's wrong.
CHORUS 2:
How could we have so much hate? It won't bring back a single kid.
The time, the place -- how will we not know exactly what we did?
Just to add a few more bodies to those cold morgue shelves ...
How could we have so much hate -- unless we hate
ourselves?
VERSE 4:
So how would you define a coward? Well, I guess one thing you
could say:
It's the kind of person who could kill someone who could not get
away;
Like someone who'd bomb a bunch of kids who'd never done him
harm;
Like someone who'd strap a prisoner down, and stick a needle in
his arm.
CHORUS 2
Questions? Comments? Please send e-mail to jbearden@ieee.org
Material Copyright © 1998-2003 by Jim Bearden