We're All Human Beings (Piano & Voice)
About this track
Fifteen years ago, I wrote “We’re All Human Beings” in response to the Mavi Marmara flotilla and the violence surrounding the blockade of Gaza. I never imagined that all these years later, the song would feel more necessary than ever. This version strips everything away. One voice. One piano. Nothing else. No drums. No bass. No guitars. No horns. No production tricks. Just a man at a piano asking a simple question: When did another human being’s life become worth less than our own? We're All Human Beings. This is the quiet version. The uncomfortable version. The version where there is nowhere for the listener—or the singer—to hide. Music for a More Human World. — Johnny Punish LYRICS We must be careful what we normalize When the television tells us who to hate When a child becomes a number And a bomb becomes a debate When the headlines choose the language And the cameras choose the frame When killing has a reason And compassion gets the blame But we're all human beings We're all human beings We're all human beings We're all human beings From the Mavi Marmara To the ships that sail again Still carrying medicine and courage Still asking, "Where are our friends?" They can stop another vessel They can turn another boat around But they can't stop the question From echoing all around We're all human beings We're all human beings We're all human beings We're all human beings A mother searches through the rubble For a face she used to know A father holds a photograph Where his little girl should go Hospitals become targets Hunger becomes a weapon And somewhere in a war room Another order gets remembered While Washington keeps talking And the weapons keep arriving Politicians count the votes While ordinary people die They say, "This is complicated" As if that makes it right But morality ain't complicated When you're staring at a child's eyes We're all human beings We're all human beings We're all human beings We're all human beings Don't tell me some lives matter More because of where they're born Don't tell me one dead child Is somehow less of a mourn Don't dress up occupation In the language of defense Don't call starvation security And silence common sense Because hatred is contagious And propaganda is a drug It teaches us to look away It teaches us not to love And every time we choose a side Before we see the human face We lose a little of ourselves And give violence more space We're all human beings We're all human beings We're all human beings We're all human beings So let the trumpets cry for Gaza Let the saxophone testify Let the bassline walk through rubble Let the drummer ask us why Let the piano play for children Who never got to grow Let every note become a witness To the things we need to know And if another ship comes sailing With its cargo full of light Don't ask me who's aboard it Ask me if they're doing right Because freedom has no border And mercy has no flag And every human being deserves A life they don't have to beg for We're all human beings We're all human beings We're all human beings We're all human beings We're not Israelis first We're not Palestinians first We're not Americans first We're not Arabs first We're not Christians We're not Muslims We're not Jews We're not soldiers We're not nations We're not flags We're human beings. And somewhere underneath the rubble Underneath the fear and lies There's a world that still remembers That a human life is a human life We're all human beings We're all human beings We're all human beings We're all human beings All human beings. ------------------------------ Written and Performed by Johnny Punish Produced by Punish Studios