Anthony D'Amato's latest album, Cold Snap, was released in 2016.
I wrote 'If You're Gonna Build A Wall' last summer during the primaries. I was home from tour with a broken finger, and every time I turned on the TV or opened my computer, I was bombarded by the 24-hour news cycle. The dark and divisive rhetoric coming out of the Trump campaign was the initial spark, but the song touches on race and class and privilege in America right now, too. History doesn't look kindly on those who build themselves up by scapegoating, excluding, and demonizing the less powerful. If you're going to do that, you'd better be prepared for the consequences.
I've been walking the borderline Let me tell you the reasons why This side's heaven and that side's hell This side poisoned that side's well This side's rich and that side's poor ' Cos that side's fighting in this side's war This side's healthy and that side's sick From stacking iron, stone, and brick But oh if you're gonna build a wall You'd better be ready for the day it falls This side's fertile and that side's bare Chalk it up to luck and prayer This side's bright and that side's dark The police know which side to guard And oh if you're gonna build a wall You'd better be ready for the day it falls Oh if you're gonna build a wall You'd better be ready for the day it falls This side's white and that side's black This side's built on that side's back