I Don’t Know Why You Still Love Him

A Protest Song for the 2020 Election

Story Behind the Song

I have a friend who was writing lyrics to old songs as a way to vent her anxiety about our current political situation. She shared the lyrics on Facebook a while back — maybe 2 months ago. That inspired me to write this one. I had written this song in 2015 as a broken-hearted love song, (I Told A Man I Loved Him) which I never shared except at a songwriting workshop at the Hawaii Songwriting Festival. I used the same melody for this song, so I didn’t have to work out a new tune, and the words came easily.

I had taken classical guitar lessons in college many moons ago. Once when I was low on money, and out of frustration for my skills, I sold my guitar. I finally replaced it when I was in Baja Mexico in 2000, where I bought a small guitar (size of a big ukulele) for about $30. I’d been practicing noncommittally over the years. In the pandemic, I decided to re-learn guitar. so I took a class from Great Courses, then signed up for a free 3-month trial from Fender.

When I wrote this song, it was with the intention to share it as part of the movement to vote Trump out. But I just could not get to the point of mastery and time was running out, so I made the decision — mistakes and all — just post it. So today, I…