In appreciation of the Foo Fighters’ latest album, I recorded a finger-picking cover of the title track, “Concrete and Gold”:
Think that song isgood?? Wait until you read about the rest of the album below…
In The Earbuds – Concrete and Gold by Foo Fighters
The Foo Fighters can’t seem to stop making music. They’ve dug deep into their classic rock inspiration well for their, forging another batch of strong songs. “Run” is an earnest, meandering, and powerful song that goes between quiet ballad in ¾ time to a pounding metal force. “Make It Right” has the Foos dabbling in 70s classic rock funk. “Sky Is a Neighborhood” throws some soul in the classic raw rock mix for a powerful result. Alison Mosshart of The Kills provides vocals on this song as well as the rhythmically off-kilter punk track “La Dee Da.” “Happy Ever After” is an acoustic CCR-style ballad while “Sunday Rain” sounds like a lost Beatles track from their later years, featuring drummer Taylor Hawkins on lead vocals. The album closes with the title track, and as Dave Grohl described it, it’s sort of Pink Floyd meets Black Sabbath – drifting, ethereal verses fused with a heavy, glass-shattering chorus. The chorus is enhanced even more by a choir of myriad Shawn Stockmans, of Boyz 2 Men fame.
There are a few bands I think of where it’s tough for them to make a bad album, and Foo Fighters is certainly on that list. Concrete and Gold is up there with their best.
Not only was it a great setlist, but the band was so casual and comfortable, you could tell they were having a great time, too. They threw in some extending jamming along with some covers, which included a humorous mashup of John Lennon’s “Imagine” with Van Halen’s “Jump.” I can’t believe Dave can still speak, because he tortured his vocal cords all night – but it’s worth the sacrifice in my opinion.
[By the way, I have a NEW SONG out! If you like rock, I think you’ll like it. And like most normal people, you would probably like a free song. To do so, subscribe to Matt’s Museletter below and get more great articles like this one.]
When one sets out to compile a list like the Top Ten Libertarian Rock Bands, one is faced with a few challenges:
Rock purists will object and say, “Hey, they’re not libertarian!” because most rock purists balk at libertarian ideas.
Libertarian purists will object and say, “Hey, they’re not libertarian!” because they refuse to touch with a ten-foot pole anything that could remotely violate the non-aggression principle.
There simply aren’t many outspoken libertarians in mainstream rock today.
My response is that sometimes people are libertarian by accident. Wasn’t rock n’ roll born in an anti-establishment, anti-authority environment? Even many leftist rock bands (i.e., nearly all rock bands) produce a lot of individual songs that could be libertarian-sympathetic, whether they are anti-war or anti-authority.
With that said, these are the top 10 libertarian rock bands, in no particular order.
1. Rush
The classic case of a libertarian band is Rush, whose influence and popularity is hard to overstate. Rush are prog-rock royalty. It’s hard to believe that their immense, progressive sound and musical virtuosity is produced by a mere three men.
Not only has Rush’s 40 year career made them a highly venerated rock band in general, but the main lyricist and octopus drummer, Neil Peart, was often inspired by the great classical liberal novelist, philosopher, and left-wing punching bag Ayn Rand. That fact is apparent on several Rush songs such as The Trees (an allegory of smaller trees complaining about larger trees simply for being larger and hogging all the light), A Farewell to Kings (fairly self-explanatory), 2112 (an epic story of a dystopian future of absolute rule), Anthem (the same title as a Rand novella), and the hit Tom Sawyer (paints a picture of a rugged, Randian individualist).
2. Muse
The British-born Muse is one of the freshest, most popular art rock bands making music today. They share several things with Rush: the same band member count, a mono-syllabic quadruple character name, as well as an affinity for “progressive” song-writing. In addition, Muse adds a healthy dose of piano, synthesizer, pop-style melodies, and Black Sabbath-esque metal/hard rock guitar riffs.
Muse lyrics tend to be highly skeptical and critical of the established powers. Lead singer Matthew Bellamy likes Henry George (a sort of Marxist on land-ownership, but libertarian on everything else) and “left-libertarianism”.
Looking at their music catalog, a non-aggression principle fan could find plenty with which to identify. The 2006 album “Black Holes and Revelations” opens with a not-so-subtle attack on a political figure entitled Take a Bow. Others like Exo-Politics, Assassin, and Knights of Cydonia have subversive/individual liberty themes.
The political rebellion increases on subsequent albums the Resistance and the 2nd Law (see the Uprising, Resistance, and Supremacy).
When we finally come to the album Drones in 2015, the civil disobedience is at fever pitch. The album’s theme “drones” applies not only to the controversial unmanned aircraft used by the US military, but also to the idea that the average citizen or soldier could become an unthinking shell, doing whatever they’re told. See songs like Reapers and Psycho.
In 2022, Muse is putting out new music, and it seems that after the COVID pandemic, they are as ornery as ever, on songs like Compliance, and Will of the People.
3. The Kinks
You may be thinking, The Kinks? The “You Really Got Me” band from the 60s? That’s right, the Kinks. It’s a little known fact that “You Really Got Me” is a subtle ode to overzealous police arrests. While that is actually not true at all, there is a lot more to the Kinks than their biggest hit.
Much of the Kinks’ catalog is in fact dedicated to decrying the initiation of force, the welfare state, clandestine spying, or other big government woes. There is perhaps no better example of this than “20th Century Man” on the 1971 album Muswell Hillbillies. Front-man and songwriter Ray Davies sings:
I was born in a welfare state fueled by bureaucracy
Controlled by civil servants and people dressed in grey
Got no privacy, got no liberty
‘Cause the 20th century people took it all away from me
And this was 1971. Oh Ray, if you could see us now. Actually, he can. He is still living and still making music. Hm, funny. Anyway, there are some other libertarian gems on Muswell Hillbillies such as Acute Schizophrenia Paranoia Blues, where Ray’s paranoia causes him to worry greatly – about things that are kinda true; and Here Come the People In Grey, a tribute to intrusive government workers.
Some other standout tracks from the Kinks on this subject would be:
Brainwashed, sung to a retired World War I vet who has grown dependent on and trusting of the powers that be
Some Mother’s Son, a beautiful, tragic ballad about men dying in war
Live Life, an exhortation to keep cool and do your own thing in spite of political upheaval and media sensationalism
Got To Be Free, an expression of longing to, well, be free
4. BackWordz
Though BackWordz is the newest band on this list, they are probably also the most outspoken and plainly libertarian. Their mission is a sort of libertarian evangelization through the vehicle of Linkin Park-esque metal drenched in hip hop. They are no joke, as their debut album “Veracity” charted at number 2 on the Billboard Heatseekers chart. This is remarkable for a couple reasons. The first is the fact they are an independent artist with no major label backing. Another reason is that they are not the typical anger-infused, chest-beating hard rock band – as a sampling of their song titles shows:
Individualism, railing against collectivism and affirming the right of secession
Self-Ownership, criticizing the idea that the State can save us
Praxeology, a term developed by libertarian super-hero Ludwig von Mises, is the study of human action – has any rock band ever had Ludwig von Mises as the subject of a song?
Statism says: “I’m on a life mission to abolish all the government”
One of the most radical bands to come out in a while, I look forward to seeing where BackWordz goes. In 2022, they are on the verge of releasing new material. Their front-man, Eric July, is a podcaster and political commentator on the Blaze. They have potential to hugely expand their audience with their high-quality production and song-writing. Let the songs get a listener’s blood pumping first and once the lyrics start the sink in, perhaps some minds can be changed.
5. Alice Cooper
Alice Cooper is the father (not mother) of shock rock. As his band was developing in the late 60s, Alice says:
…it was quite obvious that rock was full of idols and heroes, but there were no villains. I couldn’t find a villain in the bunch. I thought, ‘If nobody wants to play Captain Hook, I do!’
Not only did Alice Cooper cause parents with conservative values heartburn about his affinity for rebellion, horror film lore, and a creepy stage show, he might well also cause statists alarm.
I hate politics with a passion…I know people incorporate politics into rock n’ roll – and I think that the antithesis of rock n’ roll is politics. That would be like me singing the Dow Jones report.
“If you’re listening to a rock star in order to get your information on who to vote for, you’re a bigger moron than they are. Why are we rock stars? Because we’re morons. We sleep all day, we play music at night and very rarely do we sit around reading the Washington Journal.”
(Note: it’s a separate question whether or not the Washington Journal contains good ideas.) Not only does he want his music free of politics, but he has several gems that outright attack and lampoon politicians and the whole process. His latest album “Paranormal” especially has some politically skeptical tracks, something any libertarian could appreciate. Some standout songs would be:
Elected, about a pompous spotlight-phile running for office
Rats, could be how the elites and rulers see the populace
Lock Me Up, a taunt to those who don’t like what Alice has to say: “You can take my head and cut it off but you ain’t gonna change my mind”
Freedom, an anti-authority anthem for freedom of expression
Private Public Breakdown, about a politician who has lost his grip of reality (soooo, all politicians; Alice possibly has Donald Trump in mind)
6. The Interrupters
Remember the late 90s? The Mighty Mighty Bosstones were skanking all over the radio, welfare reform had been achieved, and the President of the US declared that the era of big government was over. Congress actually passed a “balanced” budget. The correlation between ska/punk and smaller government is undeniable. Now, that connection has reemerged in the form of the female-fronted punk band, the Interrupters.
There is a very real chance that the Interrupters have a Ron Paul sticker somewhere on their gear, because their front woman, Aimee Allen, actually wrote Ron Paul’s presidential campaign song. As you’d expect from someone with such good taste in candidates, many of the Interrupters songs center on the ideas of liberty.
Not only are the lyrics libertarian-friendly, but the songs are just plain good songs. Chuck Berry style guitar leads overlay no-frills punk rock songwriting with rich vocal harmonies. The melodies and progressions are so catchy, the only way your foot won’t be tapping along is if it is tied down by some oppressive police state. Some of my favorites are:
Liberty, a pretty straightforward lament about the rights we are losing
Babylon, uses biblical imagery, encouraging listeners to “rebel against the kings of Babylon” – even mentions money-printing to the delight of Austrians everywhere
Can’t Be Trusted, celebrating the reasons for us not to trust the authorities
Outrage, about the tendency of people nowadays to be constantly outraged about something, anything
7. Megadeth
One of the “Big Four” in thrash metal, Megadeth are heavy metal titans who have been head-banging since 1983. Heavy metal is a genre whose imagery is rife with libertarian sympathies: oppressive tyrants, bloody warfare, rebellion against the ruling powers, and on and on. Megadeth takes the prize for anti-state themes in their songs, in spite of frontman and former Rick Santorum endorser Dave Mustaine being politically nonsensical sometimes. (They also take the prize for “Band Name Most Likely Created By A Middle Schooler.”) If we can look past the Santorum misstep, Dave comes sort of close to embracing libertarianism: “I probably [am] a lot more along the lines of what a Libertarian is”.
The title track of “Peace Sells…But Who’s Buying?” is a metal classic, and although it comes short of chucking the whole state apparatus, it raises some pertinent questions:
What do you mean I couldn’t be the president of the United States of America? Tell me something. It’s still “We the people” RIGHT?
Holy Wars decries wars of religion in which “brother kills brother.” Symphony of Destruction chillingly warns of giving a dictator absolute control:
Take a mortal man, put him in control. Watch him become a god, watch peoples’ heads-a-roll.
Dave and co. have really nailed it, though, on their most recent Grammy-winning album, Dystopia. Track after track describe a tyrannical government coupled with a decaying society. In addition, it’s right up there with Megadeth’s best albums. The title track is about what you’d think, and includes the line “What you don’t know, the legend goes, can’t hurt you. If you only want to live and die in a cage.” Perhaps my favorite is The Emperor, a snarling punk outcry against the man in charge, pointing out what should be obvious (no clothes).
8. NOFX
Finding a punk band that appreciates private property is tough. There are many who are great on criticizing the U.S. war machine (Anti-Flag, Bad Religion) or presidents with the last name Bush (Green Day). These are noble things to be sure. Sadly, there just are not any major punk bands that haven’t drunk the socialist Kool Aid (red Kool Aid, presumably). NOFX is not too different in that respect. However, they are right on several key issues: foreign policy (see We March To The Beat Of Indifferent Drum), freedom of expression (see Separation of Church and Skate), and freedom of speech (see Freedumb). What sets NOFX over the top is their tribute to actual real libertarianism, The Plan. In it they sing:
Call us libertarian, cause we do as we please Don’t need fear, or force, or farce to know morality Morals aren’t a substance you can shove in someone’s ear They’re basically a byproduct of, a mind thinking clear
Having come up in the 90s, it’s also refreshing that they don’t appear to buy into today’s identity politics. Their songs are littered with rude, locker room humor, and they poke fun at all sorts of different demographics. While this may cause some to take offense, at least NOFX do not advocate locking people in prison just for speaking. Indeed, if the Social Justice Warriors ever take over (Lord, please no), expect to see NOFX albums at the top of the burn pile.
9. Thrice
Thrice has wandered the back alleys between the “metalcore”, “post-hardcore”, and “indie rock” sub-genres since 1998, and still going strong at the time of this writing. In a Thrice song, you can’t be sure if you might hear screaming, beautiful singing, acoustic guitar, keyboards, or face melting metal licks. Themes of personal brokenness, relational challenges, theology, social evils, and distrust of the status quo fill lyricist/frontman Dustin Kensrue’s lyrics. Kensrue doesn’t seem to embrace a particular political ideology, but admits “I would align with a fair amount of Libertarian stuff at times.“
You may be able to guess this from songs like “Blood on the Sand“, a condemnation of the US wars in the Middle East or “Under a Killing Moon“, a song about totalitarian leadership in search of “witches to burn.” “Doublespeak” examines the tendency of people to not want to know the truth about “who pulls the strings.” “Black Honey” shows the folly and futility of wars in the Middle East, comparing the US government to someone slapping a swarm of bees and wondering why they get stung. “The Earth Will Shake” is an awesome, skull-pounding chain-gang spiritual about prisoners longing for freedom – and if the earthquake doesn’t topple the prison walls, this song will.
10. Bob Dylan
It would probably be folly to label Bob Dylan “libertarian,” as he is generally impossible to label. Dylan has unquestionably shaped popular music since the 60s. A few years after he started playing folk, he exchanged his acoustic guitar for an electric guitar and started accompanying his beautiful, poetic, cryptic lyrics with rock music. Outrage from many of his folk fans followed. However, having heard this new sound, it occurred to the Beatles and every other rock band at the time that their songs didn’t have to all be about puppy love. Dylan has taken so many forked roads in his career that no one (and perhaps not even he) can guess where he will go next.
Maybe it’s that whole “I do what I want” attitude that contributes to the streaks of liberty found in many of his songs. Though his protest songs from the 60s are usually associated with the left, which was doing most of the protesting, libertarians can still latch on to:
With God on Our Side, exposes the inconsistency of how cultures justify war, and who we choose for enemies and allies
Blowin’ in the Wind, his classic, hit song that asks questions like “How many roads must a man walk down before you call him a man?” and “How many deaths will it take ’til he knows that too many people have died?”
Rainy Day Women #12 & 35, a lament about how people often want to “stone you” for minding your own business and doing your own thing
Man of Peace, a scathing blast at politicians and people in power: “Sometimes Satan comes as a man of peace.”
I Shall Be Released, a beautiful folk/gospel ballad of a prisoner looking forward in hope to his freedom
Honorable Mentions
It’s a good thing that not all of the contenders would fit in a group of 10 – we need more libertarian artists! So here are some honorable mentions:
LEAH, an independent artist who plays fantasy/celtic influenced metal. She has a few songs that hint at her own personal beliefs, which are libertarian.
Tatiana Moroz is a singer/songwriter with a beautiful voice who worked with the Ron Paul presidential campaigns and is active in the cryptocurrency community.
Jordan Page is a singer/songwriter who campaigned with Ron Paul. A hard rock sound and solid, liberty-themed lyrics.
Anti-Flag is a politically radical punk band – great on anti-war and government oppression themes, but not so great on private property. Check out “Die For Your Government” or “911 For Peace.”
Thrash metal is back, and Havok brings the liberty message along with copious amounts of hair banging around. Give a listen to “Give Me Liberty…Or Give Me Death.”
My ego is not so great that I would dream of being near the top 10, but if you’d like to check out my own libertarian music, my song “In December” could be a good start.
Much thanks to all who tuned in and to all who might take a gander at the above videos!
In the Eardrums and Eyeballs: U2 Experience + Innocence Tour
I had the pleasure of seeing U2 for the first time back on June 18 in Washington DC at the Capital One Arena. I thought I would wait until the band members were almost 60 and had been making music for nearly 40 years. But man, it was worth the wait. Touring off their latest album, a strong one, it was everything a concert goer might have hoped for and more: stunning special effects, fantastic performances, and a great setlist.
The concert rig included a standard looking stage connected to a smaller “B” stage by a long “catwalk.” Suspended above and perpendicular to the catwalk was a double-pane projection screen, showing images to the audience on either side of the walk. A few of the songs were performed by the band on the B stage in a closer-knit fashion than the main stage. Then the concertgoers could realize the B stage itself lit to life as “screen,” displaying images and patterns underneath the band.
The performances were spot on: Bono’s voice was as strong as ever, the Edge ruled on his collection of axes, Adam Clayton coolly meandered through his bass lines, and Larry pounded his drum set mercilessly. The sound mix was great and included some studio overdubs to fill out the sound, but not in a contrived way. The band still rocked on the stripped-down songs sans overdubs.
They played with some of the arrangements of their songs, like a more skeletal version of Sunday, Bloody Sunday, where Larry Mullins played only a snare drum, walking around the catwalk in a sort of ominous marching fashion. The performance of their new song, “You’re the Best Thing About Me,” was acoustic, and quite nice, along with “Staring at the Sun.” Having just toured on a celebration of “The Joshua Tree,” where they played the album beginning to end, they played no songs from it. That made me sad, but that only meant there was more room for other great songs, like “City of Blinding Lights” and “Until the End of The World”.
The rumors I’ve heard about U2 concerts are true. Go see them if you get the chance.
Music friends, I am pleased to announce that I have a FREE Facebook concert coming up on Tuesday, June 26th at 8:00pm EST! Please see the event details here, and put in your vote for the set list! I hope to “see” you there!
A quintessential album from the 90s. No discussion of 90’s alternative music could be complete if it doesn’t include Weezer’s self-titled mono-colored debut album from 1994. Front man and lead songwriter Rivers Cuomo swirled together his loves for Kiss, Slayer, Nirvana’s Nevermind (1991), and apparently the Cars (producer Ric Ocasek’s band) to write these hard rocking gems with great pop hooks.
The single “Buddy Holly” sounds like a poseur using hip hop lingo with a 50’s bebop feel to tell the tale of a young man bemoaning how his girl is getting “dissed.” Here is my humble tribute:
The debut single “Undone (The Sweater Song)” uses grunge to chronicle a relationship unravelling – and Cuomo later admitted that he accidentally ripped off Metallica’s “Sanitarium”. The heavy-chorused “Say It Ain’t So” gets real, talking about the destruction of alcoholism in the family. One of my favorites, “Holiday,” has that classic 3/4 time doo-wop beat underneath an anthemic chorus and sings about getting away from it all, complete with a Jack Kerouac reference. “In the Garage” describes a late-adolescent inner sanctum where he can find refuge from teenage ills.
The influence this album had on a generation of shoe-gazing awkward teenagers (including those that would go on to form emo bands) is inestimable. Please do yourself a favor and get a copy of the Blue album. From there you can move on to the other colors of the Weezer rainbow: Green, Red, and White.
Rarely has there been an album title that better describes the contents. Matthew Sweet’s 100% Fun is a classic 90s guitar pop album, brimming over with head-bobbing catchiness.
There is something sublime to me about the lead track and radio hit, “Sick of Myself” – something about the catchy melody, bare-bones garage rock, and the grungy power chords perfectly aligns to make it one of my favorite songs ever. I can’t really explain it. The manic, zany guitar soloing causes facial ignition. The ending is really a pseudo-ending – just when you think it’s over (and maybe the band in the studio really thought it was over), Sweet starts it back up again. And again.
Producer Brendan O’Brien brought some alternative rock heaviness to the album, especially on songs like Super Baby, Giving It Back, and Lost My Mind. While Sweet loves to rock, he primarily wants to craft personal, emotive songs, and this is apparent on the calmer ballads I Almost Forgot and Fog Moon. Sure, there’s a time to vent our angst and frustration with life as on O’Brien’s other producing work from that era: Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Rage Against the Machine, etc. Thanks, though, to Matthew Sweet for having some fun. In the middle of the alternative/grunge age of despair, he found a moment of brightness.
I just posted a soft acoustic cover version of the classic Pumpkins tune “Bullet with Butterfly Wings”:
When I first heard that song and then the ambitious double-album in which it dwelt, I formed a special connection right away with the fantastical, aggressive-at-times, tender-at-times, vintage-esque, and cathartic music of Smashing Pumpkins. “Bullet” fulfilled the loud, pounding guitars, drums, and yelling I craved from the deep depths of my grunge years. But then songs like “Tonight, Tonight”, “1979”, “Thirty-Three”, “We Only Come Out at Night”, and the title instrumental brought me back from the edge of the “it has to be loud or it’s boring” stage I was in. It was okay to have the distortion pedal switched off sometimes. It wasn’t just quiet vs. loud, either – the Pumpkins experimented with all sorts of different genres, instruments, and textures. One of the best rock albums of the 90s in my opinion.
This is why I was pretty happy to find out there is a Smashing Pumpkins reunion tour this year paying special attention to their older material. It’s the closest thing to a time machine I suppose.
While I continue work on the “studio” version, I am pleased to present for your listening and viewing delight, an acoustic demo of “Shirley, You Must Be Joking”
I’m not sure if the lyrics will change by the time I get to finishing the proper recording. Let me know what you think!
Lyrics
She says borrowing will make her rich
Her goal is to dig and refill this ditch
Credit cards, lottery tickets, and loans
She’s mortgaged her very bones
She goes deadpan, and plays the straight-man
She’ll make you cry ‘til you laugh
She begs the question and I’m begging for answers
She doesn’t know it’s a gaff
Shirley, you must be joking (x2)
She’d drown that puppy if they say she should
She says it is for the greater good
They tease her with hope just for fun
Owned by all and known by none
She doesn’t hate or discriminate
She’s buying Stalin and Bin Laden cokes
She sounds goonish, and she looks cartoonish
Like a pig shouting “That’s all folks!”
Shirley, you must be joking
Shirley, you must be joking
I’m laughing so much I’m choking
Shirley, you must be joking
If the thieves let you steal from everyone too
They’ll let everyone steal from you
You’re not a car in someone else’s train
A cell in someone else’s brain
Shirley, you must be joking
Shirley, you must be joking
I’m laughing so much I’m choking
Shirley, you must be joking
Occasionally, I like to listen through an artist’s catalog in chronological order, and I just came back to this 11 year old final album by Jack and Meg. I forgot (or maybe never knew) about the charm of it. The production is crisper, cleaner, and bit more polished than their other albums. Like the hardness of some of the rocking songs (title track, “Little Cream Soda”) the lyrical opacity and goofiness are also dialed up to 11. The folk/Americana elements are strong, too on standout tracks like “300 MPH Torrential Outpour Blues”, “Prickly Thorn But Sweetly Worn”, and “Effect and Cause”. Jack’s affinity for child-like schmaltz is evident on the fun, bouncing “Rag and Bone” and the over-the-top Latin pomp of “Conquest”. While some of it gets a little zany for my tastes, I do appreciate a little silliness in my music.
Icky Thump may not be the White Strips’ claim to fame, but it was a good way to go out.
Quotable
It’s safe to say somebody out there’s Got a problem with Almost anything you’ll do Well, next time they stab you Don’t fight back Just play the victim, Instead of playing the fool
-300 MPH Torrential Outpour Blues, the White Stripes
With his smooth, deep, and powerful crooning voice, R&B/Soul singer Rag’n’Bone Man sounds like he could be an American southern Black gospel singer – when in reality he is a heavily-tattooed white British man. It seems fitting that his lead single from his album of the same name, “Human,” is a plea for mercy from those who may judge by appearances and hold him to unreasonable expectations: “I’m only human after all, you’re only human after all, don’t put your blame on me.” The music video for the song shows Raggy (a nickname I’ve just given him) morphing into different shades of the huge palette that is humanity – male, female, young, old, and a wide array of ethnicities. Maybe the song is a call for us to stop putting blame on people simply because of how they look or what they believe, since “we’re only human, after all.” It is an earnest call to
Take a look in the mirror What do you see? Do you see it clearer Or are you deceived In what you believe?
The song “Human” is only one gem in a treasure chest of songs expressing heart-break, brokenness, longing, and hope in the voice of blues and soul.
In “Skin,” Raggy sings “We came so close and it was almost love…”
In “Grace,” he says “At the death of every darkness there’s a morning, Though we all try
We all try, We’re all one step from grace.”
In “Ego”, he goes on the offensive: “I hate to burst your bubble, but somebody’s got to…Ego – bang, bang, baby, down you fall, ain’t you mister know-it-all”
In a world of pop music where so much time is devoted to songs about partying, altering your consciousness with some substance, and seducing a mate, it’s so refreshing to hear an honest, booming voice facing the brokenness of life head-on with hopeful honesty – not just finding unhealthy distractions to cope with it.
[By the way, I have a 
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