Speaking with Billy Valentine’s Voice, Songwriter Gary Nicholson Thanks George Floyd
“It’s hard to just sit around and write another boy-girl love song when you’re seeing everything we’ve loved and revered about our country being compromised by an incompetent game show host,” songwriter Gary Nicholson says in explaining his new song, “Thank You George Floyd.”
Once he’d written the words and music, Nicholson recruited singer Billy Valentine and a four-piece band - guitar, bass, drums and keys - to deliver them.
You lit a spark in the whole world’s heart/to shine a light in the dark/thank you George/thank you George Floyd, Valentine sings in a voice desperate enough to serve the song, although it always feels strange to thank someone - be it a citizen or soldier - for being killed.
Paired with a blues-soul arrangement and a video featuring Valentine singing and scenes from the tributes to Floyd and other black people who’ve died at the hands of police, “Thank You George Floyd,” is an immediate reaction to government-sanctioned violence a la “Ohio” after the Kent State massacre that namechecks other victims including Michael Brown, Trayvon Martin, Breonna Taylor and others.
Whether people will be singing this song 50 years on - also a la “Ohio” - remains to be seen. But for now, sing it loud. And say his name.
“The best thing that could come from this song is for those who are active in efforts to overcome police brutality and support the Black Lives Matter movement to make use of this song as an anthem for the cause,” Nicholson said.
7/22/20
