Most often, it’s nice when something catches. It’s like if you tell a story at a party and everybody engages and they clearly enjoy it. Writing a song that catches people is like that. An audience perks to it and cheers after.
There is the rare occasion that something feels more pertinent over time. That can be great. Maybe a thing takes a long time to catch on or it quietly naturally spreads due to one person sharing it with another and then another.
Worst of all you sarcastically or exaggeratedly refer to something that comes to pass.
I smoked when I wrote this song, and they had made it illegal to smoke in bars. A club owner I knew who smoked was fond of recalling that Hitler outlawed smoking everywhere when he came to power.
So I wrote, The 4th Reich and You.
It’s packed with sarcastic zingers, I call out the lead guitar player by name at the end of the chorus before what is a great solo. He also gets the last word, of course.
Well you failed the secret hand shake
And you're standing in the corner.
In your camoflage pancake
pack of matches and a gun.
“Anybody got a cigarette?”
The party moves away.
Wonder why you ain't dancin’ yet
I'd be hard pressed to say.
You've got no weight to push around
But you can ring them bells
Just left of standing on the sound
I guess it's just as well
Babe where's your cowboy hat and what happened to your haircut
Baby what happened to your haircut
Baby what happened to your haircut Randal Davis
What happened to your hair
Foot soldiers and guns
And the smoking ban
Descenters say here it comes
4th Reich says, Yes I can
It's all a freewill give in
Jack booted thugs
Say hello to clean living
And say goodbye to your drugs
Repeat chorus
If you track American politics from the fifties to now it swings a little. Then it takes on a direction. The sixties heralded a change toward socially conscious humanistic ideals and policies. The seventies brought some of them to bare. We started to use the metric system, nationalizing health care got on the table, middle east peace talks were had and handshakes made. Then there was Regan and trickle down economics. The conservative Christians were pitted against the peacenik open minded ones, and they breed faster so…
Here we are.
Foot soldiers and guns and the smoking ban. Descenters say, Here it comes. Fourth Reich says, Yes I can.
Get together a team. Fight your way to the polls. Vote against tyranny. Vote with your money too. Be crafty and careful. The rules are for people who don't know how to make friends and it’s only illegal if you get caught. Consider what governance means to a long future. Be a good person.
There is still plenty.
And if you buy the Gone record, I’ll vote however you want me to.
Thanks for listening.
https://samknutson.bandcamp.com/album/gone
