Posted on November 9, 2016 at 5:24 pm
HOPE
Music and lyric by Jason Robert Brown
Sheet music available on SheetMusicDirect.com.
I come to sing a song about hope.
I’m not inspired much right now, but even so,
I came out here to sing a song. So here I go.
I guess I think
That if I tinker long enough, one might appear.
And look! It’s here.
One verse is done.
The work’s begun.
I come to sing a song about hope.
In spite of everything ridiculous and sad,
Though I’m beyond belief depressed, confused and mad,
Well – I got dressed.
I underestimated how much that would take.
I didn’t break
Until right now.
I sing of hope
And don’t know how.
So maybe I can substitute “strength,”
Because I’m strong.
I’m strong enough.
I got through lots of things I didn’t think I could,
And so did you.
I know that’s true.
And so we sing a song about hope.
Though I can’t guarantee there’s something real behind it,
I have to try to show my daughters I can find it,
And so today –
When life is crazy and impossible to bear –
It must be there.
Fear never wins.
That’s what I hope.
See? I said “hope.”
The work begins.
New York, NY
November 9, 2016
32 comments
Thank you for this <3
Thank you, JRB. This is what we need to hear. There’s still hope even through the confusion and anger and sadness.
I love you, Jason Robert Brown. Thank you with all my heart for your beautiful work.
Very, very much love,
Betty Lynn
Thank you, dearest Jason. Thank you.
xoxo Betty Lynn
Perfect song in the wake of the election.
Thank you for this. I am listening this to repeat today. We so badly need to hear these words and the music touches our hearts. Thank you for using your gift in this way.
THANK YOU, Jason. Simply THANK YOU! this beautiful, emotional song you’ve written has given me back something I lost along the way…HOPE! A gift of unexpected power and grace from your words and music.
🙂 Thank you for this. A truly beautiful song.
Thanks Jason
Simple and heart felt song. Thank you so much Mr. Brown!
This is beautiful Jason. Thank you for trying to make sense of this very puzzling and depressing day.
Thank you, Jason. This is perfect for times like now and other times when hope is all we have. Beautiful.
With gratitude,
Lisa
Thank you for this beautiful reflection. Much needed message of hope right now and how better than through music. So appreciative of incredible artists like you.
Jason, hi, though I haven’t spoken with my daughters since the election, I sense that the results has left them feeling that their hopes have been dashed. Not a fan of either candidate, I didn’t know what to say to them, what words to use. Thanks for writing this.
Bill
I hope you will play this at SubCulture Monday night – flying down from Canada to see you…Wanna come back with us??
I walked into Javits last night for a “victory” party and walked out totally depressed, confused and mad. Hillary would love the message of this beautiful song.As she said today,she wants us to focus on building an America that’s hopeful.
Thanks Jason; hope is what we need in order to heal from this day of disappointment.
Thank you for this beautiful and heartbreaking gift.
Wow! Couldn’t have said it better myself today!
A truly perfect song. Thank you from your cousin Debbi in Pittsburgh.
Your new song speaks powerfully to me. “I’m not inspired much right now” either, but you took the trouble to make this and share it, and that’s what artists do, and God bless you for it.. “The work begins” – the work of helping, healing, lifting one another up. The work of creating hope. Thank you, Jason. This is a great gift, and it couldn’t come at a better time.
So I was at the gym earlier today and was listening to “Songs for a New World” and found that I started weeping halfway through “Hear my Song”. So you were already on my mind (and making me cry).
Then I went to Kristin Chenoweth’s show, and lo and behold, there you were and you sang this marvelous song, which apparently you had written like 9 hours earlier. And I wept again.
Thanks for this song. I hope everyone who needs to hear it does. I so appreciate that it’s not an everything will be OK song, because everything will not be OK. Not for a long time anyway, and not without working really hard. That’s why it resonates.
I hope this becomes an anthem for the next four years. One of many. Because we will need them to get through.
This is a gift. I thank you for sharing it.
Thank you for this great song.
Even though I am not in the USA, seeing all the scary things that happen in the world, the hate, the anger and all the negative things, this song gives strength to keep going on and believe that the good will conquer.
Thank you for contributing to that. Carl
Beautiful Jason – this feels like a very shitty world right now and your song is a perfect tonic for it.
So lovely and much needed at this unsettling time. Thank you, Mr. Brown.
Super cool JRB. Well done.
The crack in your voice, the simple piano part–how effective top communicate vulnerable truth. I am passing this recording on to my own daughter, whom you well know. parmer
thank you for putting it down so perfectly in this beautiful song, I’d so much want to sing it too this very moment! love and hope from Vienna
Beautiful. We really need hope now. Thank you.
Thank you.
Sorry for the delayed response. Beautiful. We must have hope. xo
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