Dan Shore is an opera composer and the author of Freedom Ride, an opera set in New Orleans in 1961. The opera tells a story of the Freedom Riders, young civil rights activists who risked their lives to desegregate interstate travel. The opera premiered in February 2020 with Chicago Opera Theater, directed by Tazewell Thompson, conducted by Lidiya Yankovskaya, and starring soprano Dara Rahming. The opera was inspired by Dan’s and Dara’s work over several years directing the opera program at Xavier University in New Orleans. (Full disclosure: I’m Dan’s sister.)
Presently Dan teaches at the Boston Conservatory at Berklee; he is also a pianist at the Boston Ballet School and interim Music Director at the Church of the Pilgrims in Washington, DC. In recent months Dan has been using his musical skills to compose political satires protesting the Trump administration’s policies. Here are some links—enjoy!
“I Did Not See”
“First they came for the students/ like that one Palestinian dude./ He wasn’t born in this country/ and frankly, I thought he was rude./ Next they came for the gangsters,/ and again I thought that was fine./ And that one guy who looked kind of innocent?/ I’m sure he crossed some sort of line./ But now they’re taking citizens and folks that look like me./ The warning signs had all been there/ I simply did not see./ I did not see, I did not see, I did not see/ that it was so wrong./ I did not see, I did not see,/ now I’m singing the not-see song./ I did not see, I did not see, I did not see ‘til it was too late./ I did not see, I did not see,/ now I live in a “not-see”. . . /I would like to clarify /the words I’ve used so far./ When I say that I did not see/ I don’t mean 30s Germany/I mean A-M-E-R-I-C-A/ That is where we are./I did not see, I did not see, I did not see, it would come so soon. . . .”
“You’re Not My Boyfriend Anymore”
“I’ll miss the romance, the ketamine thrill, I’ll miss your fingers on my one big beautiful bill, you got more votes for me than anyone had before, but—you’re not my boyfriend anymore. . .”
“The Tariff Song”
“Oh you can’t pass a tariff on a penguin, on a penguin, that’s the bird that wears a tux. . .”
“Make America Great Again”
“They plotted a coup/ they published their plans/ they told you to hate everyone who was trans./ Now they’re throwing your neighbors in big unmarked vans./ Make America great again./ Make America great. . .”
You can follow subsequent additions on Dan’s Youtube channel—he encourages the suggestion of new topics: https://www.youtube.com/user/danshoremusic.
Marci Shore is Chair in European Intellectual History at the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy at the University of Toronto. She is the author, most recently, of The Ukrainian Night: An Intimate History of Revolution.
"I Did Not See"--A Bit of Weimar Cabaret Revisited