19 Miles to Baghdad
I started writing "19 Miles To
Baghdad" in 2003, the day our
soldiers were 19 Miles To Baghdad.
I was on tour, promoting my first major label release. As I drove across the country, I watched the story unfold and I saw the truth revealed in the fields of America's heart.
I returned from tour and asked my record lebel to release the song. They said, "there was no place for it in the culture." This was the 4th experience of censorship that I experienced while I was a recording artist signed to a Major Label.
Despite the label's lack of interest, 19 Miles was produced, (as a favor), by my friend Peter Collins. The recording was engineered by Ray Kennedy in Nashville, TN. Shortly after I pushed to release the song, I was asked to leave the label. It was a confusing and painful time for me. I am thankful to now be free.
In 2004, after I left the label, I independently released "19 Miles To Baghdad" online. I called it an Anti-Apathy Song. With the help of Tom James and Jessie Costello, two dedicated "fans", I gave the song away as a free download on the internet.
I met Baba in 2005 and we sang the song as we toured the country, with help from another dedicated "fan", Laura Parris.
Two years after I had left WB, thanks to Jim Musselman and Appleseed Records, Baba and I finally released "I Pledge Allegiance To Myself" (the title track was one of four censored songs). The album featured "19 Miles To Baghdad."
Now, four years after the song was written, thanks to "Democracy Now!", "something good has begun". "19 Miles To Baghdad" is the little song that could. Amy Goodman and the Democracy Now family has made that possible. It has been heard by the world. Thank you "Democracy Now!" for finally giving the song "a place in the culture."
Please register here to download the song for free. We will not share your e-mail address with others and we will send you updates, tour info and downloads as we continue traveling the holy road. (www.holyroadtours.org).
Please take the dollar you would have spent on the song and give it to "Democracy Now!"
In trust and solidarity, Lizzie West
Something good has begun.
"If you don't create your reality, your reality will create you."
Register now to access free downloads of "19 Miles to Baghdad", "This Land is Our Land", and "Little Boxes".
