The closest I will ever come to writing an actual love song. More country than folk. Pay attention to the organ counter-melody, it will show up later.

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I'd spent a week at a UN human rights conference in Vienna, Austria. It was swirling around in my mind when I decided I needed to tell my wife that I really, really love her. The title comes from a Kurt Vonnegut novel, MOTHER NIGHT, and it is the play or book the main character is either working on or fantasizes about.

NATION OF TWO
words and music by c.h.featherstone

grab my hand and we'll go
skipping from land to land
singing all the anthems as they come to us
just like refugees we will do just as we please
geneva protocols protect us
those on sidelines earning
delicious bylines writing
of the hard times that have embraced us

they might be

right about the details
but they'll never live to make the sequel
we'll deny them visas when we can
we'll sign conventions against
mass destruction weapons
we don't want that kind of trouble understand?
if we did we'd make sure
they were good and hid we'd make sure
you would not find them if you tried

onehundredfiftymillion
twohundredfiftymillion
maybe onehalfabillion
but you and I a nation of two

hold my hand and we'll go
fleeing from land to land
asylum laws change at every gate
if we are rich well then we'll
kiss the soil and end the trip but
if we're poor take the handout and please wait
a message home won't matter
we left quite a disaster
there's no one there who loves us anyway

I had a vision you and me
at the United Nations
giving the Security Council what for
what point the anger?
it just puts us in greater danger
so we secede without taking the floor
we declare our independence
with or without the violence
it shows I love you and we're here to stay

fourhundredfiftymillion
sixhundredfiftymillion
maybe threequartersbillion
but you and I a nation of two