From sea to shining sea, each one meant to be
blessed, possessed, with life and liberty
But between the premise, the promise, and reality
there exists an abyss of inequality
where idolatry, greed and other evils
drown out the dreams of We the People
blessed, possessed, with life and liberty
But between the premise, the promise, and reality
there exists an abyss of inequality
where idolatry, greed and other evils
drown out the dreams of We the People
This, this, this is the Gulf of America
This … is the Gulf of America
A thread embedded in the roots of a system
Indigenous colonization, enslavement, mass incarceration
Erasing history, defacing diversity
The willful blindness of wanna not-see-ism
Indigenous colonization, enslavement, mass incarceration
Erasing history, defacing diversity
The willful blindness of wanna not-see-ism
This, this, this is the Gulf of America
This … is the Gulf of America
The pay gap between folks in the C-suite
and minimum-wage essential employees
Farmers, servers, factory workers
shop owners on Main Street
struggling to make ends meet, going dark
as the ends grow farther and farther apart
and minimum-wage essential employees
Farmers, servers, factory workers
shop owners on Main Street
struggling to make ends meet, going dark
as the ends grow farther and farther apart
This, this, this is the Gulf of America
This … is the Gulf of America
Where oil-slick politicians and profiteers make deals, grease the wheels
Deny climate change in the face of wildfires, hurricanes
melting ice, rising seas, endangered species,
hunger, disease, environmental refugees
And where the ill face the plagues of insurance providers
deciding, denying, overriding doctors,
prolonging pain, draining savings
lining pockets with shareholder profits
Deny climate change in the face of wildfires, hurricanes
melting ice, rising seas, endangered species,
hunger, disease, environmental refugees
And where the ill face the plagues of insurance providers
deciding, denying, overriding doctors,
prolonging pain, draining savings
lining pockets with shareholder profits
This, this, this is the Gulf of America
This … is the Gulf of America
In and out it flows from the hypocrisy, misogyny
Patrolling gender identity, policing pregnancy
Rolling back rights, spiriting people away
An array of fear and violence,
in school, in the mall, on a dance floor
While the media market culture wars
to distract us from the shock of it –
Is this freedom or its opposite
Patrolling gender identity, policing pregnancy
Rolling back rights, spiriting people away
An array of fear and violence,
in school, in the mall, on a dance floor
While the media market culture wars
to distract us from the shock of it –
Is this freedom or its opposite
This, this, this is the Gulf of America
This … is the Gulf of America
This gulf: my body of water, earth, air, fire
I am blood, bones, breath, desire, inspired toward a higher power
In wonder at the mystical web weaving through our breathing
Believing we are all connected, so what I do affects you, and you me
And it’s this: the forgetting or lack of awareness,
the abyss of missing our oneness
I am blood, bones, breath, desire, inspired toward a higher power
In wonder at the mystical web weaving through our breathing
Believing we are all connected, so what I do affects you, and you me
And it’s this: the forgetting or lack of awareness,
the abyss of missing our oneness
This, this, this is the Gulf of America
This … is the Gulf of America
_____________________________________
Music, lyrics, vocals by Batya Diamond
Co-produced by Batya Diamond and Jim Parr
Engineered, all instruments played and backing vocals by Jim Parr
Image by Mariusz Prusaczyk
(c) 2025 Batya Diamond
