Both/And

By Bennett Konesni

Song begins at 1:33.

Mia shared this on Daily Antidote of Song! starting at 7:14.
A big day for a little song...

Lyrics

Well is it black or white?
Is it day or night?
Is the dawn the day's beginning or evening's end?
Is it unjust or fair?
Is it land or air?
Is the delta the old river or the new sea?
And the more I think about it all I find, it's both, both/and

So are you blue or red?
Are you alive or dead?
Is the winter the end of fall or the beginning of spring?
Are you asleep or awake?
And will you give or take?
Is life a box of chocolates or a can of worms?
And the more I think about it all I find, it's both, both/and

Are you in or are you out?
Will you whisper or shout?
Is a rest an empty space or a silent note?
And as you live and die
Will you laugh or cry?
Will you sing a celebration, or a dirge?
And the more I think about it all I find, it's both, both/and

Backstory

There are several songs that I sing straight ahead (no echo) on stage, and call-and-response (echo-back!) as in these two videos. This is one of those songs that I treat both ways. Take your pick!

I started writing this while researching and learning songs for working with livestock in Mongolia in 2006. Amazing tradition, and it was a time of big open spaces and lots of time to think. It was the kind of time you think about the nature of boxes, categories, and reality itself. This is the song that emerged. I originally sang "The more I think about these things I find, it's both, both/and" and "these things" was too sibillant, though I liked the internal rhymescheme with "think - these - things" it is true I have a bit of a lisp. It also falls into the trap of thinking that a thing is "a thing", one of "these things". "It all" matches the concept of the song and sidesteps my lisp. So "It all" is how it goes these days.

Jeff Lewis, David Lewis and I recorded it on the Free Seedlings album after I got back from the Watson Fellowship. I think that came out in 2008. One day I'll upload that track here when I can get my old harddrive running again.

Then Tom Fowler picked it up and started singing it with The Hot Suppers.

When Covid struck, Mia Bertelli and I adapted it call and response style for the garlic patch and for Maine Fiddle Camp.

She sang it for "The Daily Antidote of Song" which was an incredible honor- I happened to be driving along and so I listened to it through my radio, live, streaming on the internet that day. Felt like the closest I'll ever get to the Billboard top 100.

Feel free to sing it call/response as is in the videos above, or straight ahead.

Enjoy!
BK