Tag Archives: The Queen’s Gambit

New Singles from Sapient Rain Coming to Streaming Services

I throw up a little in my mouth every time I watch Pete Hegseth and Donald “Biff Tannen” Trump pumping their fists and boasting (like teenage boys bathed in testosterone) about America’s war with Iran.

I’m infuriated by a Congress of mostly male members sitting on their hands and refusing to hold the Trump administration accountable for continually violating the Constitution and throwing our country and the world into chaos.

More than any time in our history, we need strong and ethical women leaders in government, industry, and education to help turn the tables on the toxic masculinity hurtling humanity towards a dark void of unending violence and oppression.

For the last several months, I’ve been using Suno, an AI Music Engine, to showcase lyrics and poems I’ve written and published to my personal blog, Bending the Needle – Truth Hurts.

I’m releasing several singles next week on Spotify, iTunes, and YouTube Music. The singles share a theme of women struggling against the unrelenting pressure of a patriarchal society.

I’m including public links to these new songs on Suno as a preview of their upcoming releases on streaming services.

The Queen’s Gambit

I wrote the lyrics to this song after re-watching “The Queen’s Gambit”, a limited series on Netflix about a troubled female chess prodigy fighting her way to the pinnacle of a profession dominated by men – finding redemption on sixty-four squares of sanctuary.

The Queens Gambit on Suno.

Trapped Inside the Bell Jar

Trapped Inside the Bell Jar is about the poet Sylvia Plath’s struggle with mental illness, patriarchy, and a cheating husband, and how she used emotional pain and public shame to fuel a posthumous rise to literary greatness.

Trapped Inside the Bell Jar on Suno.

New Bobby and Joan (Rap Version)

Originally, I used Suno to select a New Wave musical framework to showcase my poem, The Ballad of New Bobby and Joan.

This rap version tells the story of two fed-up musicians at the top of their game, protesting the greed, authoritarianism, and corruption in American politics today.

New Bobby and Joan (Rap Version) on Suno.

A Message from Michelle

A Message from Michelle is both a tribute and a plea to the former first lady to continue to speak out strongly against the hateful and dangerously authoritarian Trump regime. I know it’s a lot to ask of Michelle Obama, who was crystal clear on what America would become under a Trump presidency.

A Message from Michelle on Suno.

Fury and Flow

Fury and Flow is a fun take on the adventures of Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz as she tries to overcome the obstacles that keep her from getting back to her Kansas Kin.

Fury and Flow on Suno

If you haven’t had a chance yet, please check out my book, My Paper, My Words: Rantings from a Progressive Boomer and Peeved Parent, from Amazon. And if you feel moved to write a review of the book, on Amazon, or anywhere else, I’d be honored.

My Paper, My Words is a collection of essays, stories, and poems that reflect the challenges of a middle-class husband and father trying to navigate a rapidly changing political, religious, and technological landscape of post-911 America.

Getting Creative with The Queen’s Gambit on a Snowy Afternoon

I watched the Netflix series “The Queen’s Gambit” several years ago, and I enjoyed it thoroughly.

On a cold and sleety yesterday, I sat with my Rover client Gracie (a sweet Golden Retriever Border Collie mix) and binge-watched the red-headed Kentucky orphan Beth Harmon’s rise from the dreary corridors of the Methuen Home for Girls to the chandelier-lit halls of a grand, prestigious Soviet-era building to defeat Russian Chess Master and nemesis, Vasily Borgov.

If you haven’t seen “The Queen’s Gambit“, I can’t recommend it enough.

Anyway, I woke up this morning inspired by the series and composed a poem about Beth Harmon, then set the words to music using the AI Music Engine Suno.

I used Suno to create two versions, a Kentucky Bluegrass version (Beth Harmon hails from Kentucky) and a more modern version that I heard in my head.

The Queen’s Gambit Lyrics

Beltik’s sorrow
can’t be hidden
as Harmon says
You’re done
Mister Shaibel
Gave Beth his bible
It became
her knife and gun

She sees the game
inside her head
Queens dance
upon the ceiling
On greens and whites
she dreams in bed
her painted walls
are peeling

Harmon toys
with men and boys
dazed by what they see
intellect cuts
through the noise
and brings them
to their knees

With Gibson sips
upon her lips
her Librium emerges
breaks through the clouds
and Russian crowds
from Borgov she diverges

Sixty-four squares
of sanctuary
where logic seeks control
kings and knights
queens and pawns
white ivory, black coal

Harmon toys
with men and boys
dazed by what they see
intellect cuts
through the noise
and brings them
to their knees

She sees the game
inside her head
Queens dance
upon the ceiling
On greens and whites
she dreams in bed
her painted walls
are peeling

Harmon knows
the space that grows
separates her
from her rivals
in ragged clothes
the orphaned girl
across from Mr. Shaibel

If you haven’t had a chance yet, please check out my book, My Paper, My Words: Rantings from a Progressive Boomer and Peeved Parent, from Amazon. And if you feel moved to write a review of the book, on Amazon, or anywhere else, I’d be honored.

My Paper, My Words is a collection of essays, stories, and poems that reflect the challenges of a middle-class husband and father trying to navigate a rapidly changing political, religious, and technological landscape of post-911 America.