I generally gravitate to the music first before the lyrics. But as a writer, I still marvel at well-spun verses and choruses. This month, I’m joining the music Twitter community in #31DaySongLyricChallenge

Day 26

Those singles – “Stand or Fall” and “Red Skies” – from The Fixx’s debut album are like a blast from the past. They weren’t close to charting in the Top 40, but I discovered them via MTV and later rediscovered them on my local alt rock station WDRE/WLIR, which had a heavy dose of new wave anthems. What was great about “Stand or Fall” besides its razor sharp guitar hooks and ominous synth riffs is that the lyrics had substance. It wasn’t another teenage romance song helplessly stuck inside some John Hughes universe. With its political rant, it ran on conviction, not hormones.

“Is this the value of our existence? Should we proclaim with such persistence? Our destiny relies on conscience. Red or blue, what's the difference? Stand or fall, state your peace tonight.”