Tony Award Winner Leslie Odom Jr. Sings Sara Bareilles' Ode To This Election - "Seriously"

When public radio show This American Life asked singer-songwriter Sara Bareilles to write a song envisioning the subtext of our outgoing President Barack Obama as he views this election cycle, and specifically Donald Trump's 'deplorable' behavior, Miss B delivered in spades.

Titled “Seriously”, Tony Award winner Leslie Odom Jr. for Hamilton provides the depth, acuity and appropriate irony. Watch below.

Text of the song:

Let’s start with hope
I threw it in the middle like a skipping stone
The ripples won, son of a gun
Some would not have thought so
But I stand here Commander in Chief
And I take that seriously

But along the way
A rogue ripple turned tidal wave
In reaction to what I tried to do
A rebirth of a nation’s hatred
Red, white and blue
Is black in there too?
Seriously?

One man
Rewriting the book on bad behavior
Maybe cheats the neighbors
Feels he gets what they pay for
We can’t
Pat him on the back and send him on through
No man’s ignorance will ever be his virtue

Is this the best we can be?
Seriously?

Let’s talk of fear
And why I don’t bring it in here
It’s a dangerous word, it spooks the herd
And we all bleed in the stampede
Fear makes a false friend indeed
And I take it seriously

So hear me now
Before the truth gets drowned out
By a demagogue flexing
A demagogue flexing
He’s history repeating

Angry?
Am I angry?
You ask am I angry?
And I’m at a loss for words
After all we’ve done
Every battle hard won
Every hair gone gray
In the name of this place
In a history plagued
With incredible mistakes
Still I pledge my allegiance to these
United divided States
Seriously

Let’s end with “why?”
It’s a question I
Want to ask of us as a populace
Why not take our time or the weight of this story
Seriously?