FAWM: "Not Everyone Wearing Brown Would Burn the Reichstag Down"

Not Everyone Wearing Brown Would Burn the Reichstag Down

6 days ago by @freshspotlessyouth · @billwhite51

Not Everyone Wearing Brown Would Burn the Reichstag Down

freshspotlessyouth +1

00:00

Liner Notes

#protest #quietism Bill and I traded a few ideas, and then Bill cut them up and stuck them together thusly. I think we could round this into a more coherent song--and I could certainly record my part better--but in the spirit of FAWM, here it is.

My first thought was to keep repeating the lines about marching, circling around the idea of how weird parades are. Bill changed the chords and added the business about smoking weed, etc. I, then, took some of Bill's musical ideas and rewrote my song to hint at how the quotidian and the truly alarming can exist side by side, both in 1939 and today. Take what you will from it

Auslese and Troken are wine terms; lebensraum is not. Lili Marleen was a German love song popular with soldiers on both sides of the conflict.

Lyrics

I marched in a parade Dappled, dumb, and strange It’s like the time we were smoking weed in the park Somebody yelled cops and we all ran away And now you're all so afraid There will be a raid on your parade But you are being played I think i mentioned it’s just a parade

1939 Was a pretty good year for wine With the clusters thinned The grapes ripened on the vine It was hot by day And cool at night Producers up and down the Rhine Made such flinty, rich, golden-hued delights Auslese, Trocken, Lebensraum So much good wine So much gone wrong Oh please, Lili Marleen, pluck a rose and make a world for us alone

Oh, god, I need to calm down Not everyone wearing brown will burn the Reichstag down I really need to calm down

Maybe it’s just a parade Dappled, dumb and strange With people wearing funny hats And marching while their neighbors wave Maybe it’s just a parade? A good time, for goodness sake! Sometimes you’re in ‘39 Sometimes you’re in a space of grace

I really need to calm down Not everyone wearing brown will burn the Reichstag down But do I need to calm down? Or do I need to buckle up and do what’s needing done right now?

I marched in a parade Dappled, dumb, and strange We both know that's not the kind of place for grace I think I mentioned it was a parade Of some kind at any rate And we both know that's not the kind of place for grace I marched in a parade Dappled, dumb, and strange I marched in a parade

Comments

@ericalbert 3d

The title brought me here. What a fascinating combination of approaches, both emanating bad vibes, with the softness accentuating the menace. "So much good wine / So much gone wrong" is a great use of parallelism. "Sometimes you’re in ‘39 / Sometimes you’re in a space of grace" captures the range of possibilities beautifully and scarily. I can see hopeful ways to interpret "Or do I need to buckle up and do what’s needing done right now" but my way is frankly too scary for me.

@billwhite51 3d

mistakenly deleted comment from jerry pettit ....I just watched NUREMBERG yesterday, and so I was in a WW2-themed song mood anyway...especially what with living in the Good 'Ol USA. Interesting collaborative process on this one, guys. Loved it! ❤️

@deleted 3d

(deleted)

@ttg105 5d

Two of my favorite FAWMers together ... nice. Heavy topic! I like the contrast between your smooth vocals and Bill's rougher voice. Something very unsettling about the lyrics, particularly "Maybe it’s just a parade?" Ambitious songwriting!

@spikedirection 5d

Bill’s bits are like the ghost of some poor schmo, conned into joining the SA, then killed on the first day in Poland, he doesn’t see where it all ended up, but he got to march in a nice parade. Ray’s character is more of a Martin Niemoller, going along with the decline until it’s too late and the leopards come to eat his face. This is poetic, thoughtful and engaging. Great collab lads!

@carleybaer 5d

“So much good wine/ so much gone wrong” is a great line, and I also really liked the title, which is how I ended up here in the first place. This is a fascinating study of how even in times of existential panic, the mind can busy itself with minutiae of all kinds, before flitting back to lucidity and dread. Really cool song!

@nancycunning 5d

It’s so tempting to identify with history’s heroes and to cast anyone who disagrees as a villain. More and more as I get older an important thing is for not too many people to agree about anything. I hear this song through that lens. (Which is maybe like saying the secret to global happiness is to disagree, then looking around for people who agree with that) I like the way you each remain yourselves inside this collaboration. You each feel so credible, but you’re also different enough that it makes me notice I can’t just match you both - Camouflage won’t work, I need to figure out for myself what I believe and plot my own quotidian paths.

@coolparadisoMod 5d

sounds like a real collab! This covers so much ground. its an amazing piece in so many ways - its truly enthralling

@gwynjones 5d

Not a subject matter for most songwriters but brave, interesting and thought provoking and with what's going on at the moment, very pertinent...

@jongoldie 6d

Eerily current. Thanks for the lyrics and music. (I'm gonna go and quietly drink my wine). Cheers

@mahtowin 6d

Interesting ideas! I didn‘t understand the Lebenstraum hint? The chorus Not everyone wearing brown will burn the Reichstag down I really need to calm down Sounds to me like some people here telling me to calm down cause it will not be so bad as under the Führer. I use to answer: it will be worse!