One especially interesting aspect of the folk music tradition is songs about things that are happening right now. Songs as news and as commentary. This is not something I had ever done, so I decided to try my hand at writing a (gasp!) socially conscious folk song. Don’t worry, political people, I’m not taking sides here. I think you’re all ridiculous.
I wanted to write a song about the feeling in the American air right now. The dark feeling of division, distrust, and doom blackening our national lungs. The guy on the right thinks that Biden and the libs are destroying our nation—the guy on the left thinks the Trumpers are one small step away from toppling democracy once and for all. To paraphrase Charlie Brooker, it seems to me that the news is an ass to mouth feedpipe—it’s an industry designed to affirm the viewer’s preconceptions. When traditional media fails, perhaps we can turn to the great democracy of social media for truth! I jest. Facebook’s algorithm famously favors posts that spur engagement. You know, like engage your enemy. Nothing titillates like fear and indignation; thus, the algorithm thrives.
So with traditional media and social media both promoting an atmosphere of doom, the feeling has spilled out into the real world. Now smart people on both sides of the aisle will say ridiculous things to you in casual conversation. Some conservatives actually think liberals like to kill babies, and some liberals actually think conservatives hate women. What?! Only the most zealous team player could hear these characterizations without dismissing them out of hand, yet many smart, educated people parrot these preposterous, bad faith arguments as if they thought them up themselves. Normal, well-meaning people espouse whole groups of unrelated ideas, simply because their team says so. I can think of no sane reason that knowing your position on corporate tax rates should allow me to predict with stunning accuracy your belief at what age prenatal homo sapiens acquire their humanity. Yet that is world we live in.
It seems to me that politics is the entertainment branch of industry; thus, I usually don’t get too riled up by the wild pantomime on the Hill. But the fact is that many people are more than riled up. They are ready to fight, and that is scary. I don’t want to be in the middle of a fight between two deranged armies. But now the far-fetched doesn’t seem far off. I can see from up here in my artistic cloud that both sides are silly, both sides are prepossessed by political ideas birthed from profit’s womb. Whatever your ideology is, there is someone ready to sell you a the latest, greatest, newest, souped up, hot-rodded version, with all the modern bells and whistles. Clearly the news media industry is not a public service—it’s a complex of revenue generating machines designed to keep the board members safely aboard their private yachts while the fools back on the mainland slit their neighbor’s throats in a war over pronouns and Bud Light commercials. I exaggerate for effect, but my point is that THE WORLD IS CRAZY RIGHT NOW, and I don’t see an easy way out of this mess.
All this was running through my head as I wrote my folk song, “I Hope I’m Wrong.” Of course, I very well might be wrong. The nation’s political wildfire might just burn itself out—and from the ashes will bloom a spirit of respect, compromise, and understanding. (What a quaint idea!) “But it sure feels like it won’t be long till something breaks and all is lost.” And that’s what this song is about. That feeling.
I’ve written much more than I intended and less eloquently than I hoped. The song says more than I could ever communicate with mere words. If you’ve read this far, you could have listened to my song three times by now, so I better shut up and let you enjoy. Be nice to each other on this Independence Day. Hug someone from across the political aisle. Listen to them without rolling your eyes, without being mean. They are not your enemies, they are your brothers and sisters. Love them like you should. Lift us out of this mess.
Yours from America,
Ben
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released July 3, 2023
Performed & Produced by Ben Bostick.