First Thing Tomorrow Intro - Live

In 2016, I was confident, cocky even, that Hilary Clinton would win the election
That spring, I had gone on tour in Europe
And everywhere I went, people wanted to know what is up with... We'll just call him "Voldemort"
"It's never going to happen," I would say, until I started to get annoyed at the question
It pained me to have the Europeans think we were so gullible

And when I got home, I did phone banking and hosted parties for Hilary
And I was thrilled that we were finally going to have our first woman president
The night of the election, we hosted a party
25 of our closest friends parked themselves in front of our TV to watch the results
Now, I have never completely understood the electoral college
But some of my friends know all about it
And it was one of these friends who first figured it out
I believe it was Iowa that was called for Voldemort?

Suddenly, I looked down
And my politically astute friend was sitting with silent tears streaming down her face
At this point, most of us were still partying, drinking wine, chatting, and not paying attention
And then suddenly, another person, got up and ran outside slamming the door
Slowly, we all peeled off into recognition of defeat
Some crying, some raging, some running away to be alone with their wounds

I was one of the last to give up the ghost
"There must be some mistake," I thought
I was terrified of the idea that one with so little respect for women was going to be our leader
What kind of message did it send, having a known "grabber" in the White House?
Were we women suddenly going to be assaulted in the streets while society stood by doing nothing?
When I finally came around, only my husband and one of my best friends remained
My bestie had taken a position out in our yard, where she was calling her family on the east coast
Where it was now about 1 a.m. and colorfully cussing them out for being Voldemort supporters
I made her a bed, we had one last drink, and stared at each other in bewilderment

The next day we took a walk
This particular friend and I have always been able to cheer each other up, but not this day
We walked with pounding heads and stomachaches
Each trying to be the brave one, like little kids whistling in the dark

That day started a bender for me
I didn't care
Voldemort was president, and there wasn't a dang thing I could do about it
I refrained from naming him and started happy hour earlier and earlier
I watched the news like a person watching a car accident, and drank more

Then in 2018, I started writing a new album
And in a co-writing session
We wanted to write a funny song about some poor soul trying to drink away their president
The song came out great, but was uncomfortably parallel to what was going on in my own life
The song made onto the record, and every time I sang it I would inwardly cringe

Eventually, I had to take the advice we had written into the song
I began to do activism again, and it made me feel a little bit better
The more I spoke my mind, the less I needed to make my days resemble a Lost Weekends
It was a relief, and I am proud to have participated, in a small way, in getting rid of Voldemort