“I am human, I am love and my heart beats with my blood/Love will always win, underneath the skin, everybody’s got a pulse,” artist Melissa Etheridge sings in her tribute to the 49 people who died in the Orlando nightclub shooting.
Etheridge says she was so moved by the tragedy that she was compelled to write a rock ballad for all those grieving the lives lost in the attack.
The Grammy Award winner and self-proclaimed LGBT member said in an interview Saturday with CNN’s Fredricka Whitfield that she felt a need to respond to the massacre through music.
“Music has always given us a place to put our emotions,” she said.
Etheridge released the powerful song, titled “Pulse” after the Orlando nightclub, within 24 hours after the shooting.
It prompted an overflow of compassion. The track has been well received by fans attending the singer’s concerts as part of her United States tour.
Etheridge said her Twitter and Facebook accounts have been flooded with an “outpour of love” after releasing the song.
The track will soon be available for purchase with all proceeds being donated to an LGBT charity, Rolling Stones reported.
“Pulse” opens with the lyrics: “Everybody’s got a pain inside, imaginary wounds they fight to hide/How can I hate them, when everybody’s got a pulse?”
She addresses Omar Mateen, the 29-year-old shooter: “Who you gonna hate now/When there’s no one left but you/Who you gonna gun down/If you can’t kill the truth/That it’s inside of us/Inside our blood/Inside our pulse.
Etheridge expressed the hope that the world will become more embracing of human differences.
“Our day-to-day struggle is to understand diversity. We all coexist. Diversity is what makes our country strong,” she said. “Out of blood and ashes we can bring out our inner strength.”
