Time To Be Great

Album: The Day The Earth Stood Still (2021)
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Songfacts®:

  • Like the rest of the world, Willie Nile was trying to make sense of life and personal responsibility during the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to many of the songs on his album The Day The Earth Stood Still, including this funk-edged track. The singer-songwriter told Songfacts in 2021 of the tune: "Watching TV, dealing with this whole past year of madness and nightmare, I thought, What do we do as people? What do you do in a situation like this? And I thought, You know what, we pick ourselves up and try to do the best we can. We try to be great. You be great, I'll be great, and let's just try to help each other, pick each other up. Something upbeat, you know: Shed a little light in this darkness."
  • The Day The Earth Stood Still, named after a 1951 sci-fi movie, is the 14th studio album from the Buffalo-born rocker, who debuted with a self-titled release in 1980. His music legacy is greatly appreciated on his home turf. After the release of his previous album, 2020's New York At Night, Elmore Magazine boasted, "Jersey has Bruce Springsteen, but New York has Willie Nile."

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