February Album Writing Month - FAWM.ORG

Willing (*24407)

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Liner Notes:

A song that's a bit about the ethics of a philosopher named John Rawls http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Rawls who has this idea that if we were able to pick out how a society is before we come into the world then we would choose a world of pure equality because we wouldn't want to be in the shoes of the poor and weak. The song ask the question "Would I be willing to be any one of us?" That's been a bit of a mantra for me lately. Unfortunately the answer is always no. It's just a good thing to keep in mind. I added to Rawl's idea by saying that instead of having this empathetic response before you enter the world, a person would have it during and I thought up scenarios that would effectively put a person in another's shoes.

I've written this into the book I'm working on... There is a classroom in an alternate world out there where people are learning about all the other alternate worlds, and learning from their mistakes. They are striving to be a utopia in this classroom world. They will know that they've achieved utopia whenever everyone is willing to be anyone else. They've got some interesting ways to test out whether everyone would be willing to be everyone else. Stay tuned.

This is my second FAWM song this year.

Lyrics:

The soul is pulling outward
it's been sliding for some time
but the soul is pulling back on itself
it's a tug-of-war between all sides
it's the slips and slopes and fingers slide
it's the mudpit rope and loosing side
it's the things we just can't hold inside

The eyes are looking inward
trying to be seen
the eyes are leaving traces here
these clues for you for you to see
to take and use to see me
I send to you these subtle things
from my little room to yours to see

But the ways we see are different
when through the others eyes
the ways of being are never the same
it's zero sum game
it's a zero plus one game
it's a 1 and 1 make both our names
it's a we can see both the same

Would I be willing to be any one of us
Would I be willing to be any one of us
What if we were able to see out the eyes of all of us
Should we be able to see out the eyes of all of us?

Would I be willing to be any one of us
Would I be willing to be any one of us
Could I be able to be not inside of me
Should I be able to be not inside of me?

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vomvorton 2 months ago

This one is massive! Again I like the percussive stuff that's going on. Interesting background to this one too.
max 2 months ago

I would be willing to be able to make a song like this one, that's fosho. Great job.
mrblitz000 3 months ago

it's great to hear from you again! very interesting lyrical concept. you have an 'accessible' way of presenting philosophy. 'signature sound.'
groundhog591 3 months ago

This song had me wanting to hear it all before the vocals even began. Then when the vocals began, it just made me want to hear it over and over again. Great job. Looking forward to hearing more of your stuff.
tybarbary 3 months ago

Absolutely love this concept!
balancelost 3 months ago

You have this knack for very memorable vocal melodies. It's cool how you've taken a nice but basic folk tune and layered some really bombastic percussion over it. This reminds me of Youth Lagoon who I am currently obsessed with. Winner. Very much looking forward to more.
bradbrubaker 3 months ago

The opening line has me imagining the soul experiencing a big bang effect.
aveline 3 months ago

That's a really neat idea behind the song, and you express it really way in the lyrics.
sailaway 3 months ago

This has a good sound to it. I like your voice style with it a lot.
candle 3 months ago

I've read a little bit of Rawl's ideas. Unfortunately (for Rawls) I'm a little more Nietzschian in my outlook. I guess you could say I'm an Existential Individualist with a Nihilist bent LOL.

But Philosophy aside, this is a wonderful song. I love the harmonies. It almost has an Arcade Fire type feel to to it - something I really enjoyed.

See You In The Shadows…