Uploaded March 2015 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
Lyrics, MP3 and other goodies here:
joshwoodward.com/song/TooManyValleys
joshwoodward.com for 200+ more free songs!
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All of my music is 100% to download, and to use in your videos (Creative Commons - Attribution).
Special thanks to my ultra-generous Patreon supporters: Stephanus Surjaputra, J.C., Clémence Liberge, Jon, Richard Palmer (https://y.st/), Torben Deumert, Alex Grant, and Peter Hultqvist!
Too many valleys, not enough mountains
Too many drains, and not enough fountains
Cynicism's dark abysm swallows all the light that passes by
I will choose the path of lightness
Even when I’m blinded, sightless
Cuz I’d rather be adrift at sea, than the safety of a jail with no key
Too many words, and not enough feeling
Too many lost balloons on the ceiling
If they had their way, they’d float away
But now they’re stuck up there till they run out of air
And I will choose the path of flying
Even when it’s terrifying
When your head is high up in the sky
They'll try to clip your wings so you can’t fly
It’s easy to be helpless, you’ll never fall with two feet on the ground
If you don’t wish for anything, when you get nothing, you won’t feel let down
But I will choose to bear abuse and risk to lose it all
Cuz I want to feel alive
Too many valleys, not enough mountains
Too many drains, and not enough fountains
Too many valleys, not enough mountains
Too many drains, and not enough fountains
Lyrics, MP3 and other goodies here:
joshwoodward.com/song/TooManyValleys
joshwoodward.com for 200+ more free songs!
facebook.com/joshwoodwardmusic
twitter.com/joshwoodward
instagram.com/joshwoodwardmusic
All of my music is 100% to download, and to use in your videos (Creative Commons - Attribution).
Special thanks to my ultra-generous Patreon supporters: Stephanus Surjaputra, J.C., Clémence Liberge, Jon, Richard Palmer (https://y.st/), Torben Deumert, Alex Grant, and Peter Hultqvist!
Too many valleys, not enough mountains
Too many drains, and not enough fountains
Cynicism's dark abysm swallows all the light that passes by
I will choose the path of lightness
Even when I’m blinded, sightless
Cuz I’d rather be adrift at sea, than the safety of a jail with no key
Too many words, and not enough feeling
Too many lost balloons on the ceiling
If they had their way, they’d float away
But now they’re stuck up there till they run out of air
And I will choose the path of flying
Even when it’s terrifying
When your head is high up in the sky
They'll try to clip your wings so you can’t fly
It’s easy to be helpless, you’ll never fall with two feet on the ground
If you don’t wish for anything, when you get nothing, you won’t feel let down
But I will choose to bear abuse and risk to lose it all
Cuz I want to feel alive
Too many valleys, not enough mountains
Too many drains, and not enough fountains
Too many valleys, not enough mountains
Too many drains, and not enough fountains

![Josh Woodward: Nice White Liberals (Lyric Video)
I live in a nice middle-class neighborhood in Ann Arbor, one of the most liberal towns in America. Its an amazing place, with big city amenities and a small-town feel. My neighborhood is also entirely white. Which makes sense, because Washtenaw County is the 8th most economically segregated metro area in the entire country, and after centuries of systemic racism, many in the BIPOC population simply cant afford to live here.
My neighbors are Nice White Liberals. Theres a sea of yard signs dotting the landscape, talking about how immigrants are welcome here, Black Lives Matter, and that kindness is everything. I believe most of them sincerely mean that. But then, those same neighbors loudly oppose new housing developments or zoning changes to allow for denser housing. They often frame it as wanting to preserve the neighborhood character or to keep our small-town feel. Its all very understandable, I like my neighborhood and the small-town feel as well.
The problem is, a *lot* of people want to live here, and weve spent decades resisting new housing. This has driven prices into the stratosphere, and anyone who cant afford it has a long commute on clogged highways or slow buses. Many other cities are facing the same issues, some to an insane extent like the San Francisco Bay Area where I used to live, with blue-collar workers often forced to commute for hours each day.
Increased density would ease so many of these problems, but expanding single-family zoning to allow for small apartment buildings doesnt play well with many Nice White Liberals, nor does subsidized housing, unless its in somebody elses backyard. Most of them arent actively racists, but this mindset serves to perpetuate the systemic racism inherent in the status quo.
Its not enough to not be racist - we need to strive to be anti-racist. We need to move past performative yard signs and to start demanding action, neighborhood character be damned.
Heres a catchy little toe-tapper for you.
Lyrics, MP3 and other goodies here: https://www.joshwoodward.com/song/NiceWhiteLiberals
http://www.joshwoodward.com/ for 200+ more free songs!
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All of my music is 100% to download, and to use in your videos (Creative Commons - Attribution).
Video courtesy Prelinger Archives.
In This House We Believe
Says the yard sign tucked beneath the cherry tree
And the white picket fence
In a cul-de-sac where children play with friends
All, the nice white liberals
Taking walks on the nice white liberal street
Harry smiles, and a says to Jane,
I dont see color, everyones the same
While Jose, is mowing his grass
He commuted for an hour to earn his scraps
All the nice white liberals
Taking walks on the nice white liberal street
They say intentions paved the road to hell
But I can say we all mean well
Cause Im a nice white liberal myself
Shane and Brooke, went by on the path
Shes got a Black Lives Matter emblem on her mask
She says, I feel their pain, with all my heart,
Yeah, the poor need homes, just not in my backyard
[Chorus] Josh Woodward: Nice White Liberals (Lyric Video)](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/zxkwBSQQvr0/mqdefault.jpg)