My partner Todd Swenson and I believe that affordable health care is a good thing. (We also believe everyone should learn to play music, but that’s another discussion.) Todd and I have been listening to the endless debate about the health care crisis. At one point we even fell asleep listening to it, but we snored so loud that we woke ourselves up again, only to discover that they were still debating about health care. That was when we decided it was time to take action. After all, it’s easy to talk—talk is cheap! So we decided to sing. You can hear the results at SamBarryTV on YouTube, where we have added a new video of the two of us performing the Jimmy Reed song “Honest I Do.”

We are pretty sure that if he was still alive Jimmy Reed would be in favor of affordable health care. We think there are hints of this position in Reed’s lyrics. Today Todd and I would like to ask each and every American to call his or her Congressperson and sing their own rendition of “Honest I Do” into the telephone, and to keep doing this over and over and over again until Congress resolves the health care crisis in a sensible, non-partisan manner. If “Honest I Do” falls short, we can sing another Jimmy Reed song, like “Take Out Some Insurance,” which is, really, a more appropriate choice. We, the people, have the power to solve this problem, just like we did in “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.” There is nothing that can stop us, if only we can stay awake through all the speeches.