Song of the Day: Church & State, words and music by Andrew Watt and Brandi Carlile, appears on “Returning to Myself,” a 2025 album that was released last October. This reflective song features Carlile’s spoken-word recitation of a selection from Thomas Jefferson’s 1802 address to the Danbury Baptists: “I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, thus building a wall of separation between Church and State.” Carlile laments the collapse of this separation and sings with hope: “We’ll find a way.” Check out the original album version, the “Sad Gay Version” from the artist’s reboot album, and Carlile’s performance of the song on “Saturday Night Live” and on “Jimmy Kimmel Live” [YouTube links].
