Change Your Behavior

Hey, remember when I said that I’d learned that it was normally better to be mercurial and opaque when it comes to lyrics? Not to hit people over the head with the obvious hammer? Yeah. I kind of ignored that for this one.

It should be no surprise to anyone who knows me that fall pretty squarely into the libertarian camp when it comes to political leanings. I’m not a purist – I recognize that structure is needed – but I think the government is best that governs least. Actually, I recently found a fantastic quote that captures where I am pretty perfectly:

My political opinions lean more and more to Anarchy (philosophically understood, meaning the abolition of control not whiskered men with bombs) … The most improper job of any many, even saints (who at any rate were at least unwilling to take it on), is bossing other men. Not one in a million is fit for it, and least of all those who seek the opportunity …
J.R.R. Tolkien

Heinlein said many similar things, but I’m particularly fond of this one: “Anyone who is willing to run for office should be disqualified from holding it.”

Change Your Behavior Ray Toler 3:48

If I kept going, this would turn into a 4-part, 3,000 word essay that would ensure nobody ever came back to my blog. So let’s just say that I’m in the minority when it comes to political ideology, even though if you quiz people on specific issues instead of platforms or parties or branding, they largely agree with me. They just never vote that way because the only people on the planet better than marketers at making you desperate to buy something you don’t need are politicians.

Don’t Blame Me, I Voted For…

Over the summer we were hanging out with our neighbors and I mentioned a dream I’d had for years but never bothered to act on. Then Mary and I took a trip to Texas to visit family and when we returned, our neighbors had made these signs and put them in our respective yards, quite literally making my dreams come true.

Vote Kang! Vote Kodos! It's a two party system… you have to vote for one of us! — 3rd party candidates? You’re just throwing your vote away.

Sorry. I’m getting a little emotional. They’re just so… perfect.

The saddest thing about those signs is that they’re referencing a joke, made on The Simpsons, in 1996. That joke is 29 years old. The joke has been around for 61.7% of my life. When the disguise is unmasked and people see that the candidates are actually giant, tentacled aliens intent on conquering the planet, they are obviously upset. To which the aliens say, “Well, what are you going to do? It’s a two-party system. You have to vote for one of us.”

And the entire country keeps missing the point. After humanity is enslaved, one smug voter says to another in the slave line, “Don’t blame me, I voted for Kodos.”

But there’s an even more important line. After being told they have to vote for one of the aliens, someone in the crowd says, “Well I believe I’ll vote for a third-party candidate,” to which the aliens derisively answer, “Oh go ahead. Throw your vote away.”

Uh… You Gonna Talk About the Track?

Sorry. Ok. As mentioned in the last post, I actually started on this one yesterday afternoon. I was riffing with the bendy bass line and then put the opening beat to it. I had a feeling lyrics might show up, so I put it in song structure and opened up Scrivener.¹

Part of my ideology touched on above is that everyone is entitled to their own opinion, no matter how stupid, ill-informed, or objectively mistaken it might be². As a result, I do my best to not respond to online posts or get dragged into politics. One of the most effective things our political class has figured out over the last 100 years³ is that the best way to stay in power is to keep the peasants fighting with each other.

Remember that footage of Trump and Obama conversing and chuckling at the Carter funeral? Everyone lost their frickin’ minds. How could Trump be nice to that communist carpetbagger‽ How could Obama stoop to talking to that orange troll‽ How dare they consort with the enemy‽ But all these people going ape-shit didn’t get the real message that I’ve known since I was a teenager and that is best summarized by George Carlin: “It’s a big club, and you ain’t in it.”⁴

Uh… The Song?

Right. Sorry. Ok, so with the main groove looping in the background I started writing lyrics. The more I listened to the groove, the more I realized that this wasn’t going to have a melody. It’s a lot more like tracks like Annie Christian,⁵ Makeup,⁶ Adventures in Failure,⁷ and Losing my Edge.⁸ Somewhere in a nebulous cloud comprised of rap, spoken-word poetry, and off-kilter stream-of-consciousness ramblings. It’s clearly influenced by the verbal styles of James Murphy and MC 900 Foot Jesus, but the groove is a lot more early Prince-ish.

“Elements of the past and the future combining to make something not quite as good as either…”
The Mighty Boosh

This is a track that I could easily overcook. And trust me, I tried. But after adding a second drum rhythm and putting an occasional delay on the verse vocals, I really couldn’t find anything more to add. I think there’s one more synth or effect to add, but there’s no time. Keep moving.

Lyrics

It’s the worst time ever, or so I hear
Seems like they’ve been saying that every year
No you can’t say nothing even if it’s true
Depending on if the mouth or ears are red or blue

The planet is dying
Unless the politicians are lying
And these days they’re not even trying
To hide it but you gotta abide it
Unless you’re willing
To change your behavior

Doublespeak and doublethink
I double think I need a double drink
Or is that not permitted because you want to control
My heart, my mind, my wallet, my actions, my body, or my soul

The children are dying
Unless the politicians are lying
And these days they’re not even trying
To hide it but you gotta abide it
Unless you’re willing
To change your behavior

Pass a law and get a check and then
Deny, deny, deny that the system is rigged not wrecked
But they’re only doing what you paid to put on the tin
Because you keep choosing only the one you think can win

The economy’s dying
Unless the politicians are lying
And these days they’re not even trying
To hide it but you gotta abide it
Unless you’re willing
To change your behavior

We got scorpions among us frogs
So why do you all keep taking them across the bog


Copyright © Ray E. Toler, Jr. All rights reserved.
www.raytoler.com

Colophon

Instruments & Samples

Hive2, XO

Effects, Mixing, & Mastering

Kraftur, Gullfoss, Farbfilter, H3000 Factory, Valhalla Delay

Notes

1
My awesome writing environment! I highly recommend it over something like Word if you’re actually trying to write something instead of just make it look pretty.
2
From my superior point of view, of course
3
Probably way more than that, but it’s really been effectively weaponized since the advent of 24-hour news and social media.
4
Hmmm… that sounds like a decent song title…
5
Prince (1981)
6
Vanity 6 / Prince (1982)
7
MC 900 Foot Jesus (1991)
8
LCD Soundsystem (2002), which was itself inspired by Killing Joke’s Change (1980)