Put a woman in charge

Many years ago, on the recommendation of my friend and graduate advisor Randy, I bought an album of blues music by a fellow named Keb Mo. I cannot seem to put my hands on it now but it was probably either his debut album, “Keb Mo,” released in 1994 or his second album, “Just Like You,” which was released in 1996 and won the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Blues Album the following year. I have a faint recollection of going to see Keb Mo perform at The Bottom Line in lower Manhattan, and I found a picture of him on line from a performance there in September of 1996. I must admit I had lost track of him but it seems he has released at least 16 albums over the past 25 years or so, including three more that won Grammy Awards for Best Contemporary Blues Album in 1998, 2004, and 2017.

Keb Mo came back to my attention because I just saw that he and Roseanne Cash have released a new song, “Put a Woman in Charge,” an appropriate message in light of the significant numbers of women who have run successful political campaigns this year.

	House	Senate	Governors
Total Members	435	100	50
Women Before election	84	23	6
Women After election	96-100+	24	9+

      +numbers not final       

[Verse 1: Keb' Mo’]
Way back when
In the beginning of time
Man made the fire then the wheel
Went from a horse to an automobile

He said, “the world is mine”
He took the oceans and the sky
He set the borders - built the walls
He won't stop till he owns it all

And here we are
Standing on the brink of disaster
Enough is enough is enough is enough
I know the answer

[Chorus: Keb' Mo’ and Backing Vocalists]
Put a woman in charge
Put a woman in charge
Put the women in charge
Put the women in charge
Put a woman in charge
Put a woman in charge
Put the women in charge
Put the women in charge

[Verse 2: Keb' Mo']
The time has come
We've got to turn this world around
Call the mothers
Call the daughters
We need the sisters of mercy now

She'll be a hero
Not a fool
She's got the power
To change the rules
She's got something
That men don't have
She is kind and she understands

[Bridge 1: Keb’ Mo’ and Rosanne Cash]
So let the ladies
Do what they were born to do
Raise the vibration
And make a better place for me and you

[Chorus: Keb' Mo’ and Rosanne Cash]
Put a woman in charge
Put a woman in charge
Put the women in charge
Put the women in charge
Put a woman in charge
Put a woman in charge
Put the women in charge
Put the women in charge

[Bridge 2: Keb' Mo' and Rosanne Cash]
Hallelujah
Hallelujah
We're gonna feel the magic
When the girls take over
It’s gonna be fantastic

[Chorus: Keb' Mo' and Rosanne Cash]
Put a woman in charge
Put the women in charge
Put a woman in charge
Put the women in charge

Put a woman in charge
Put a woman in charge
Put the women in charge
Put the women in charge
Put a woman in charge
Put a woman in charge
Put the women in charge
Put the women in charge

Put a woman in charge
Put a woman in charge
Put the women in charge
Put the women in charge
Put a woman in charge
Put a woman in charge
Put the women in charge
Put the women in charge

Love,

Rebecca