04 Falling Satellites

So we marched and screamed / But they stopped listening / Our fires gleamed / Now your brow is glistening / Sweat like blood falls down from you...

"Falling Satellites" was the first single from Fracture. It was released the weekend in June, LGBTQ Pride Month. As I reflected on the song and the process of writing it, I imagined what it might have been like at the Stonewall Inn on June 28, 1969, and Christopher Street on June 28, 1970. I remembered where I was on June 26, 2015, when Obergefell v. Hodges was announced. I recalled the friends I was with when we rallied against Article 12 in Cincinnati back in the early 2000s, for same-gender partner benefits at work, workplace inclusion for my trans siblings, and an end to anti-trans violence. I also celebrated Black LGBTQ+ Americans, from Bayard Rustin to Lori Lightfoot, whose contributions inspire me to live my calling.

With each new year, a new generation joins the fray, powered by the progress made before it, still pushing. Just keep pushing. A personal reflection on Pride and justice, "Falling Satellites" is a song for anyone who has fought – or is fighting – to live, to love, to be loved, and to be remembered.

How do you want to be remembered?

BACK TO THE FRACTURE EXCITAL

Falling Satellites

Well, take enough time to catch your breath

Then fall in the crowd—there’s not much left

Gunshots and glass and smoke and heat

The god in the church across the street

The point we crossed the borderline

Our creature comforts left behind

The sweet taste of change hangs in the air

And I’ll admit I’m unprepared

We’ll be home by twilight

When we’ve gone what will they write?

Are we shooting stars or falling satellites?

Seven live rounds of drunken spades

The annual farce of our parade

Cut short the night we heard the beast

Had taken the girl we called Maurice

The point we crossed the borderline

Our creature comforts left behind

With bottle bomb cocktails in our hands

Assured they’d cave to our demands

So we marched and screamed

But they stopped listening

Our fires gleamed

Now your brow is glistening

Sweat like blood falls down from you

But what else were we going to do?

We were in love

With everything they told us to

To never speak of

So we smoked them all in ’22

In love

We’ll be home by twilight

When we’ve gone what will they write?

Are we shooting stars or falling satellites?

When we’ve gone what will they write?

Are we shooting stars or falling satellites?

Written and performed by Ionne

Published by Brand Label Music (ASCAP)

04 Falling Satellites

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