Today’s song, Answer Me, was the first song I wrote for the Whispering Hour, and the first time I had the spark of the idea to write the group of songs. I started writing it on the way home from watching V for Vendetta at the cinema. For some reason the combination of female jazz singers and revolution struck me pretty deeply at the time. The song started out feeling pretty general to me, but the more time goes on, the more I realize that it’s actually about something, outside of the Whispering Hour, and outside of my usual story songs.
I hate how we divide ourselves up. Us and Them, Democrat and Republican, black and white, gay and straight. We’re people. We pretty much all just want to be happy, and get on with our lives, but it feels like politicians and media and just, small groups of people get off somehow on making us forget that we’re all people, and drawing these silly boxes around everything. We’re defined by our disagreements, rather than anything that makes us similar.
It bothers me on a level so deep that sometimes I don’t even notice it, but it’s there, this lurking tension when I read the news or talk to people about anything beyond the weather. I’m not an activist. I keep vaguely current with the world, but I don’t tend to talk about my views much, but it turns out that this song… really… says it decently well.
Recording wise I was a bit lazy today. There was no song yesterday due to sickness, and I’m still not feeling quite in it today. Layering, slightly different filters, and some vocal playing while I was singing is about the extent of it.
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