Ball of Wax 49 Songs: Eric Anders – “Big World Abide”

Just as we were releasing our “Songs of Resistance” volume (to benefit NW Immigrant Rights Project), California singer-songwriter Eric Anders was putting the finishing touches on Eleven Nine, his collection of artfully crafted anti-Trump songs (to benefit Lambda Legal). “Big World Abide” is one of those songs, though it actually has its origins in our previous presidential nightmare – it was originally written in the dark days of G.W. Bush’s second term. Eric and producer Matthew Brown (him again?) reworked the tune with the help of some crackerjack Seattle musicians for this dark, swampy rendition, which beautifully evokes the bleak unease that has permeated these past several months for most of us. Lyrically it’s a bit less on the nose than the approach many of us took on Volume 47, but that can be an effective strategy: Your Fox-watching uncle might run to turn off the stereo as soon as he heard the first few words of, say, “Racist Thief,” but keep nodding his head obliviously as Eric’s clear baritone croons, “These believers they terrorize / You might hope our lies evolve / It seems, hardly at all.” We’re happy to have Eric among our ranks, fighting the good fight.