The song was written by the folk singer and songwriter Zoe Mulford. It appeared on her 2017 album Small Brown Birds.[3] Mulford's recording was extensively played on independent folk radio shows.[3]
It was covered by Joan Baez on her 2018 album Whistle Down the Wind. Baez said that after she heard Mulford's recording of the song on the radio she " ... just pulled over" as it was "so expressive of my thoughts and feelings, which are pretty fucking gloomy, but [Mulford] did it in such a beautiful way that's as dark as it is beautiful".[1] Baez recalled that "for the first two weeks of trying to figure it out on the guitar, I kept crying".[1]
The filmmaker and painter Jeff Scher directed a music video for Baez's performance of the song.[1] Scher used pastels and watercolour to depict the victims of the shooting as well as the church and Obama.[1]
The Kronos Quartet covered the song with singer Melkit on their 2020 album Long Time Passing, dedicated to the music of Pete Seeger.[4]
