Grandma's Gun - Erica Kruse - NPR Tiny Desk Contest 2026

Hello, my name is Erica Kruse, and I am an unsigned artist from northern Kentucky. This is a song I recently wrote. While I am sitting behind a desk in the video, I also use the lamp desk in the background as a desk. I hope this qualifies, as it is even tinier than the desk I am sitting at. Lyrics Grandma's got a gun And the gun is loaded Stuck to the river where the sun is floating Someone out there, someone right here Is listening to the world fade and disappear And the call of the hummingbird is open Sitting and watching in deep devotion Watch the song fade, but not the emotion To the sky she sings to repeat the motion How can a man hear the sky from here? How can a man hold power from here? Watch his face fall, watch the joy disappear From recalling and counting the turning of the years Grandma's got a gun Don’t know how to use it She saw it on TV He taught her how to shoot it Watch the foxes kill During hunting season Hearing the blood spill Grants him his treason In the hands of a man Who can’t feel emotion Hands on the ark to feign fake devotion Repeat, repeat, and repeat the motion How can you stand to watch the sky from here? How can you stand to watch the people from here? Watch their faces fall, watch their joy disappear As they watch the days repeat with the turning of their gears Oh I believe I am who you tell me to be Say do I see Oh say do I see the dream Of industry Of rolling fields And artificial factories Watch life fade from the eyes Of a newborn baby taught not to cry Capture the image as long as you can Put your hand over your heart when they tell you how to stand Grandma's got a gun And the gun is loaded Stuck to the river where the sun is floating Someone out there, someone right here Is listening to the world fade and disappear