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Happy Independence Day, Everybody!
Here's a link to a new solo version of my tune, "Scars of Independence".
The song was inspired by the 1774 single shot, muzzleloading, flintlock rifle. Exploring the history of that weapon led to the emergence of a fictitious character I began to write about. My daughter, Lizzie, upon hearing my first few verses, immediately suggested I was writing about a ghost. And the subsequent discovery that a young man named Asahel Porter died at Lexington Green made the hair stand up on my arms while directing me back to my earliest verses of the song. The parallels between my fictitious character and the life, location, and surviving family members of Asahel Porter were probably just coincidence. Who knows? That real or coincidental connection makes this song easy to lean into every time I sing it. And when I play, “Scars…”, I often wonder how these times compare with the time in which the song is set.
I hear people say every day that the digital age has made the dissemination of factual information more difficult and perilous than it ever was. I don’t disagree. But people have always used whatever they had at their disposal to control public opinion, and it certainly was no different in 1776. “Patriots and British Loyalists alike used rumors, forged documents, and exaggerated newspaper stories to sway public opinion and control the narrative.” (1)
It's also helpful to look at some core financial demographics of the citizens back in that time for a little comparative analysis. It is very interesting to me that the gross domestic product (GDP) of America in 1776 is estimated to have been between $200 – 500 million. In today’s money, that equates to roughly $8 billion to $20 billion. If you spread all the money made in America in 1776 evenly among every person, the annual income would have been about $70 to $100 per person in 1776 dollars. (2)
I wonder how the young American nation of 1776 would have received a President who made $52 million in 1776 dollars ($2 billion today) for their first year in office? Based on what they fought so hard and sacrificed so much to attain, I don’t think that sort of excess would have been received well at all.
Peace and prosperity to all!
-Willy
1 https://www.americanrevolutioninstitute.org/video/misinformation-nation-foreign-news-and-the-politics-of-truth-in-revolutionary-america/
2 https://www.officialdata.org/us/inflation/1776
This song was co-written with the artistic wonder that is Tom Pirozzoli Music & Art and first appeared on the album, The Ravine, released September, 2023.
Video by Marc Serra. Audio recorded by Dan Foley & Bud McClellan. Mixed by Bud McClellan.
https://youtu.be/Sc-nroMIntM
Here's a link to a new solo version of my tune, "Scars of Independence".
The song was inspired by the 1774 single shot, muzzleloading, flintlock rifle. Exploring the history of that weapon led to the emergence of a fictitious character I began to write about. My daughter, Lizzie, upon hearing my first few verses, immediately suggested I was writing about a ghost. And the subsequent discovery that a young man named Asahel Porter died at Lexington Green made the hair stand up on my arms while directing me back to my earliest verses of the song. The parallels between my fictitious character and the life, location, and surviving family members of Asahel Porter were probably just coincidence. Who knows? That real or coincidental connection makes this song easy to lean into every time I sing it. And when I play, “Scars…”, I often wonder how these times compare with the time in which the song is set.
I hear people say every day that the digital age has made the dissemination of factual information more difficult and perilous than it ever was. I don’t disagree. But people have always used whatever they had at their disposal to control public opinion, and it certainly was no different in 1776. “Patriots and British Loyalists alike used rumors, forged documents, and exaggerated newspaper stories to sway public opinion and control the narrative.” (1)
It's also helpful to look at some core financial demographics of the citizens back in that time for a little comparative analysis. It is very interesting to me that the gross domestic product (GDP) of America in 1776 is estimated to have been between $200 – 500 million. In today’s money, that equates to roughly $8 billion to $20 billion. If you spread all the money made in America in 1776 evenly among every person, the annual income would have been about $70 to $100 per person in 1776 dollars. (2)
I wonder how the young American nation of 1776 would have received a President who made $52 million in 1776 dollars ($2 billion today) for their first year in office? Based on what they fought so hard and sacrificed so much to attain, I don’t think that sort of excess would have been received well at all.
Peace and prosperity to all!
-Willy
1 https://www.americanrevolutioninstitute.org/video/misinformation-nation-foreign-news-and-the-politics-of-truth-in-revolutionary-america/
2 https://www.officialdata.org/us/inflation/1776
This song was co-written with the artistic wonder that is Tom Pirozzoli Music & Art and first appeared on the album, The Ravine, released September, 2023.
Video by Marc Serra. Audio recorded by Dan Foley & Bud McClellan. Mixed by Bud McClellan.
https://youtu.be/Sc-nroMIntM
Scars of Independence
Words & Music by Willy Porter & Tom Pirozzoli. ©P 2023 Terra Perfum...
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