Sunday Song # 5 - "Sympathetic Mind"

Inside a classroom, we get lectures
And then we go through metal detectors
They turn the lights out and show a movie
How to identify our latest enemy

Everybody's talkin' 'bout terrorists
But I don't even know if they exist
Sometimes I think I hide a sympathetic mind

I think too much, my friends dismiss me
Say I should shut up, no one will kiss me
I wish they'd understand, they mean so much to me
I wish they'd care about the things that I can see

Everybody's talkin' 'bout terrorists
But I don't even know if they exist
Sometimes I think I hide a sympathetic mind

They search our lockers, they search our backpacks
And what they take out, they never give back
They call it safety, I don't feel safer
They make a rule book and change it later

Everybody's talkin' 'bout terrorists
But I don't even know if they exist
Sometimes I think I hide a sympathetic mind

***

So at this point this song has been finished, recorded, and released on Feats Of Strength for over a year and a half, and only this week did I finally figure out how to fix it. I'd always been troubled by the first line of the chourus, "Everyone I know is a terrorist, but I don't even know if they exist" because to me it just didn't make sense unless you really really wanted it to, and that the "they" at the end of the line could well be referring to "everyone I know" rather than "terrorist(s)". But then I realized a change that is so much simpler, so much more to the point: "Everybody's talking about terrorists, but I don't even know if they exist." Why it took two years for this to occur to me, I have no idea. There is a phrase in French that translates to "wit of the staircase," which is the clever retort you think of just as you are leaving the party or laying in bed that night, and I suppose this is sort of a case of that.

Also changed from the version appearing on Feats Of Strength is the ending of a line, "they turn the lights out" in place of "they turn out the lights" which doesn't really seem to matter at all until you hear which syllables have to be emphasized, so that the released version goes, "they turn out the lights," which, again, doesn't make any sense. This was pointed out by Jason NeSmith as he was recording us but it was too late in the process to go back and change it.

And of course this song should be sung by Becky Brooks of Cars Can Be Blue, not me. Just consider this posted version a demo. I'm currently scheming about a new super commercial pop project (inspired by reading about Motown) to be done in collaboration with Becky (I haven't discussed this with her yet), ideally creating an Avril Lavigne style mainstream mall pop album, or even better something like Lily Allen. This song would very much be a part of that project. At this point I would love so much to be involved in something that actually makes money/has an appeal to more people.

This too is the result of playing a surprise show by myself upstairs at Tasty World the other night and seeing how completely disinterested in my songs most of the people were. It reminded me of playing at DTs Down Under open-mics back in the day, just trying to sing lyrics shocking enough that people would pay attention. I guess this may be why rock bands tend to turn up so loud? To prevent the audience from talking? I went straight home afterward feeling like I had to reevaluate my whole course in life, to think up a new strategy.