Story
March 19, 2008- “Epic Failure“‘s reign as my longest work was a short one, as this song clocks in at a fit and trim 7 minutes and 41 seconds. I wrote the lyrics back in 2005, when Jack Thompson was getting mainstream attention (And before he proved that he was rapidly losing his mind), and parts of the music have been kicking around even longer than that. I suppose this is one of my attempts to be politically conscious in a somewhat more serious way than, say, “Swerve!” As you can probably figure out, I still very much enjoy video games on the rare occasions I get to play them, and thus it annoys me when people try to paint video games as The Next Evil Thing (Joining rock music, heavy metal, and Television, not necessarily in that order, in the lineage of “new media that have held the distinction”). Composition-wise, this is probably the song I’m most proud of to this point, even if execution-wise it’s not there yet (I don’t quite hit several of the highest notes vocally, I need to figure out how to un-muddle the bass solo from everything else, and the levels in general will need lots of adjusting). Also, this is another “Began recording it before I got the drum machine” song, so you get the MIDI drums again for this mix. Lastly, “7-11” is not a reference to the convenience store chain, but rather to some of the time signatures I bounce around throughout the song, including 7/4, 11/4, and 5/4.
Lyrics
In our lives
Ones with degrees
Seek to oppress
What they don’t see
All they know
A narrow scope
Their worldview
Now falls apart
In their modern day crusade
They are blinded to the truth
They see a life that isn’t there
In the black hole of litigation
Grasp on their reality
Spirals down into the ground
Living in their fantasy
Brainwashed children all around
Evil that their meddling brings
Cure is worse than the disease
Living only in their heads
They have morals to appease, yeah
Playing their own twisted games
With the people they protect
Zeal overtakes their thought
Paranoia Resurrects
Crying, asking to be heard
Righting nonexistent wrongs
Their charade for all to see
Will not stand for very long, no
Psychopathic lawyers off to litigate
Clawing at the minds of those who legislate
Vultures, senseless, swooping down on documents
Hoping judges strike a blow to common sense
Some say that it was inevitable
Some say their fears leave them blind
Most know statistics will decimate claims
Of a violent youth movement, conceived from the games
That they seek to destroy with a passion insane
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[…] I started recording a new song over the weekend. Currently I have drums (Using the drum machine this time, which I am getting better at operating) and bass done, and want to get the rest done as quickly as reasonably possible (Though I don’t have a firm date for that yet, I’m helped somewhat by the fact that this new song is shorter than either “Epic Failure” or “7-11“). […]
[…] been following my music, you’ll recognize parts of this speech were used in “7-11“. My issue specifically with this is the statement that “violent video games increase […]
[…] going back and re-arranging what will ultimately become the final version of “7-11“, I was struck at how the compressor that was a part of some of the guitar sound also served […]