Music and Lyrics by David Fowler
Arranged and performed by Echo Movement
Behind the Song
This song is the direct result of journalism school. More fairly, it was the result of closely studying media, public perception, the power of words, credibility, mass hysteria, media ownership and the obligation to occupy a 24/7 newscast.
This is not the right place to extensively explain Echo's thoughts on politics, corporations, international relations, religion and media. But I can't explain the song without giving some loosely-gathered band views.
There is an inextricable web of all these elements that boils down to one lousy thing: power. It's weird because we can't see power, but we know when someone has it. They exhibit irrational behavior characteristic of primates in mating season, and despite all human logic, somehow they're able to execute fully selfish decisions. The over-powered most often become self-consuming primates- not human at all, which is too bad, because humility and guilt are programs that only humans can run.
Here's the kicker: all the business that happens among politics, religion, and the corporate world (particularly its influence on politicians) is caught on film, honored with closed-circuit discussion and presented as the truth. It calls itself the news and we mistakenly call it by the same horrid name.
News today is a perversion of The Fourth Estate (ref. Thomas Carlyle). In our opinion, Rupert Murdoch, Roger Ailes and all the swine at NewsCorp (Fox News) have forged the template for corruption and should be tried for misleading the public. If The Daily Show (a comedy show) did not constantly call the media out on their blatant lies and irrational commentary, we would most likely be flying a confederate flag over the White House and would be engaged in World War III (or dead as a result). This is not an exaggeration; this is a surface-level opinion bordering on fact.
So I wrote this song. Most people dismiss this kind of talk as paranoia or the liberal agenda. It's not...but, hey...maybe somethings wrong with me. As a man of logic and reason, I have to consider that I may have this all wrong and the hard-right politicians and religious nutballs have it right. NASCAR, Mountain Dew, Drill-Baby-Drill, Jesus Loves You (vote for me).
Do your own research. If you do it online, please CHECK YOUR RESOURCE. Make sure whoever wrote what you're reading is a credible journalist with actual citations. Check for objective perspectives (that they're not just taking a one-sided perspective). And remember, there's always more than two sides to a story.
Good luck. Back to the music...
Cool Facts
"Talking heads" is a common expression for people on television, particularly newscasters. It is also a random shout-out to an amazing band that truly understood and expressed the feelings in this song (just in a different way).
The guitar solo was performed by Mike Mourounas, a long-time friend of ours and guitarist for the NJ cover band Moondoggies.
This song is a bit more musically complex, produced slightly deeper, and tonally more aggressively than other tracks on In The Ocean. It's all musical expression of the lyrical content. Even though the music came before all the words, we knew it was going to be a heavy topic.
Key Phrase
"If I follow who's ahead, I won't feel lost, but purposely misled."
Music and Lyrics (chords over lyrics)
[intro: G F#m B A G F#m Em]
Bm F#m G A
Thoughts pour from my head
Bm F#m G A
I hear the people laugh at what I said
Bm F#m G A
And if I follow who's ahead
Bm F#m G A
I won't feel lost, but purposely misled
G F#m7 Bm
Maybe somethings wrong with me
G F#m7 Bm
Maybe somethings wrong with me
G D
When the world looks upside-down
Em Bmaj
But my feet are on the ground
Bm F#m Em
Maybe somethings wrong with me
Hear the evening news
Another scandal proves we've been abused
Talking heads confuse
So casually push me on their views
Maybe somethings wrong with me
Maybe somethings wrong with me
You're staring like I'm crazy
I look back like I might be
Maybe somethings wrong with me
Look around my world
Oh what a mess into we've all been hurled
And every time I find my logic fail
I'll blame it on my mind
Maybe somethings wrong with me
Maybe somethings wrong with me
G F#m
When the world looks upside-down
G A
But my feet are on the ground
Bm F#m Em
Maybe somethings wrong with me
musically, this song is one of my favorites. its nice reading the insight - and being a person who works in the newspaper industry - i can empathize with dave here.
ReplyDeletewithout going into a political diatribe - i offer my opinion as well. i think its genuinely shameful the way that corporations such as FOX distribute their "information". its fear-mongering plain and simple; and i often find myself totally baffled at the rate of the people's absorption of such factless, biased data.
its easy to say "things should be THIS way, not THAT way.." but i wonder, why is it so difficult for people to share different views of the world with civility and justice? why must we resort to playing dirty or saturating each other's minds with half-truths and fabrications? wouldn't it suit the greater good if our leaders, our media, not to mention our fellow man, shared information with each other truthfully?
and to reiterate dave's point about programs like the daily show or even the tongue-in-cheek colbert report (though it leans to the right, it often helps to point out the misgivings of that particular faction too) -- these things are good! i wouldn't even be opposed to another show that made jest of the left.
ultimately, its songs like these, its music like this, no matter the genre, that really do serve a higher purpose. you expose your audience to your mindset through music and whether they agree with you or not, its a creative, peaceful means of achieving a common thread in humanity: brotherhood.
Teach a man to fish right?