Catastrophe ... by Burrows And Company

I wrote the song Catastrophe in 2017 in reference to Donald Trump’s first inauguration. Not only is every word in the lyric of the song true for that time but they are even more so the case today. Some people have told me that the Democrats failed in the last election but that is not correct at all. It was in fact the American people who failed and they did so rather badly. By re-electing a man who demonstrated utter contempt for them and their democracy the last time they elected him President, when he lied about having an election stolen from him in 2020 … in fact someone did try to steal that election – it was Donald Trump … by directing a mob of his supporters to violently storm their seat of government and thereby try to prevent the peaceful transition of power from one president to the next, for the first time in their history. For the most part, because they didn’t like the price of gas or milk and eggs, believed numerous myths about the economic failures of the previous president Joe Biden and thought those issues mattered more than protecting and preserving their democracy … which is in serious jeopardy at the moment. As Mitt Romney recently pointed out, as a result, Americans deserve whatever consequences come their way for having done that … unfortunately we Canadians … and all the rest of the world … do not.


I decided to release this song again in response to Trump’s totally unjustified imposition of substantial tariffs on our country that have nothing whatsoever to do with their stated purpose … a fictitious emergency of fentanyl crossing our border into the U.S.A. … and are in fact a blatant violation of American obligations under our legal negotiated free trade agreement with that country. Apparently, the signature of The President of the United States on that document is meaningless and cannot be relied upon in any way … something we and the rest of the world should take notice of and remember going forward. As stated by our Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in his wonderful speech in response recently, these tariffs have, in reality, been implemented as part of an ongoing disrespectful effort on the part of President Trump to crush our economy in order to bludgeon Canada into becoming his “cherished 51st state” … and in protest of the failure of the American people and Congress to call out and rein in their unhinged President.

Meanwhile here in Canada, the true north strong and free, let us stand together, let us be strong and let us stand up to this outrageous bully. Let us stop wasting money that we will need to be there for each other … it’s the Canadian way … and our resources, fixing a border that isn’t broken. Let us stop trying to respond to every capricious and fictitious claim made about Canada by Donald Trump in an effort to appease him … that will only embolden our adversary. Let us look for new friends and allies around the world that will treat us with courtesy, dignity and respect. It will be a tough row to hoe, but our wonderful country is worth the struggle. Together, we will prevail … and we shall overcome.

---

A Hard Rain’s A Gonna Fall

We recorded this early Bob Dylan classic for three reasons … That it is a wonderful and powerful song. That we had mentioned and referred to the tune in our song Catastrophe. But also because, although Dylan wrote the song long before Trump’s appearance on the political scene in the USA … and so his song obviously does not refer to Donald Trump directly in any way … some of the images created in the lyrics seem to resonate in relation to what is going on at the moment. Worthy of note, we altered the time signature in the tune in our arrangement in the tune from 3/4 time that he used when he played it, to 4/4 time.

Here’s our recording of A Hard Rain’s A Gonna Fall: