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Gotta Lotta Livin’ To Do

Gotta Lotta Livin’ To Do

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 I wrote “Gotta Lotta Livin’ To Do” in the midst of the HIV/AIDS crisis in the 1980’s, which was spreading like wildfire through the Gay community.My daughters Megan and Willow joined me when I went to perform at a California Men’s Gathering back then, ... and the men kept coming up to ‘thank me’ for coming to sing and bringing my daughters along. There was so much fear back then about contracting HIV from gay men. No one knew for certain yet, how this deadly virus was transmitted. People were terrified that they or one of their loved ones might get infected from just being near a gay man. Many folks avoided their gay friends and co-workers, which was tremendously painful for everyone! Eventually we learned the virus is transmitted from intimate physical contact. Because of our homophobic culture and administration, important governmental support for finding a cure was essentially non-existent at first. Here’s one of the songs I sang at that Gathering.GOTTA LOTTA LIVIN’ TO DO (D)I’ve got a friend with AIDS, D-GHe’s just like me and you D-GI’ve got a friend with AIDS, D-GWe gotta lotta livin’ to do! A-DSomedays we get sad, D-GSo here is what we do, D-G, D-GWe play together as much as we can D-GAnd I love him a lot ‘cause he’s my friend, yeah, D-GMe and my friend with AIDS, D-GGotta lotta livin’ to do! A-DV1: What is AIDS? It’s a virus bug G-D-A-DWhat can you do? Well, I give’m a hug G-D-A-DYou hug your friend? Sure, and he hugs me G-D-A-DBut aren’t you scared? Well, I used to be A, G-DI’d be scared! Well, you’d learn alot A, D-A-DWhat would I learn? What’s safe, what’s not A, G-DCould I get AIDS? That’s hard to do A, D-A-DBut some kids have it Yes, that’s true A, G-DWhere’s the AIDS? It’s in his blood G, D-A-DWhat if he bleeds? We patch him up G, D-A-DCause AIDS won’t let his blood cells fight. G-D-A-DSo I shouldn’t touch his blood? Y’got that right!! A-A7I’ve got a friend with AIDS,And someday he might dieBut someday, so will you,And someday so will ISomedays we get sad,So here is what we do,We play together as much as we canAnd I love him a lot, ‘cause he’s my friend, yeah,Me’n my friend with AIDS,We gotta lotta livin’ to do!What if he cries? We wipe his eyesYou touch his tears? There’s no need for fearsWhat about his ears? With a cotton swabYou clean his ears?! No! That’s his job!What about his spit? He swallows it!What about his hair? No virus there!His breath is fine? It smells just like mine!Does he feel ashamed? No, he’s not to blame!I’ve got a friend with AIDS,And someday he might dieBut someday, so will you,And someday so will I.I’ll tell you what I’m thinkin’ of,When we’re afraid, we just can’t loveAnd loving’s how I want to be,So I don’t let fear take over me!Here’s what we can do,We can play together as much as we canAnd I love him a lot ‘cause he’s my friend, yeah,Me and my friend with AIDS,We gotta lotta livin’ to do,Gotta lotta livin’, gotta lotta livin’,Gotta lotta livin’ to do!Written by Peter Alsop, ©1989, Moose School Music (BMI)On Peter’s ‘Pluggin’ Away’~ ‘Songs On Loss & Grief’ ~ ‘Ebenezer’s Make Over’https://www.peteralsop.comIn the late 1980’s, a wonderful woman named Elizabeth Glaser called to tell me she was a fan, and that her children, Ariel and Jake, loved my songs. I thanked her and we said good-bye with no idea that we would meet again. When she called me a few years later, she shared her ‘back story’.She had contracted HIV in a blood transfusion in 1981 while giving birth to her daughter Ariel. She and her husband, actor Paul Michael Glaser, of “Starsky and Hutch” fame, later learned that Elizabeth had unknowingly passed the virus on to Ariel through breast milk and that their son, Jake, had contracted the virus in utero. The Glasers discovered, in the course of trying to treat Ariel, that the drug companies and health agencies had no idea that HIV was prevalent among children. The only drugs on the market were for adults; nothing had been tested or approved for children.Little Ariel lost her battle with AIDS in 1988. She was 7 years old. Fearing that Jake’s life was also in danger, Elizabeth rose to action. She and her close friends, Susie Zeegen and Susan DeLaurentis formed the Pediatric Aids Foundation to raise money for pediatric HIV/AIDS research.In 1989, the Foundation held its first fundraiser and awarded its first grant for research on the immune dysfunctions in children living with HIV. Dozens more Washington trips and research grants followed, but neither the Bush nor the Reagan administrations did much of anything to help end the AIDS epidemic.I was greatly flattered when Elizabeth called to invite me to come sing at the Pediatric AIDS Fundraiser that the Disney Company was putting on at the Universal Amphitheater. Willow and I would get to meet and perform with a slew of “television and music industry celebrities”, like ...
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