Stories Behind The Songs: “All Burns Down”
June 29th, 2009no comments
We can only fight the fire with fire so long, baby
‘Til it all burns down, ’til it all burns down
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Soul music has always been heavy with socially conscious and political songs, and I’ve always admired artists like Sly & the Family Stone, Donny Hathaway, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, and even Arrested Development for their ability to deliver thought provoking commentaries on the world around them, all laid on top of a great groove. That’s what we set out to do with this song. Really, I think the undertaking of this tune turned a new leaf for FE, and I can even see now how writing lyrics has taken a different direction since this tune was written, especially with songs that we’ve written after the release of The Cycle We’re Living In.
The groove for this song is very similar to I’ve Got To Be Down, the lead track on Robin Thicke’s record, The Evolution of Robin Thicke. This was very intentional. At the time, FE was listening to that record a ton, and something about that groove smacked heavily of that old school Marvin Gaye, What’s Goin On?-type vibe. We started jamming on a similar groove at a soundcheck at a venue in Greenville, SC called The Carpenter’s Cellar. It was clear this was going to be a politically driven song, but for the longest time there were very few lyrical ideas – just some melody and chords, so the song sat in our iTunes labeled “Cellar Groove.” As it took shape, we were also intentional about making sure this didn’t simply become an anti-war song, but delivered something a little more close to home. The thoughts of reacting to violence and injustice in the world are so often connected to global issues, but as we discussed the concept we kept coming back to the headlines of the day, which at the time were school and courthouse shootings, and violence within households. We wanted to address that as much as any thoughts of Iraq or the Sudan and remind our listeners and ourselves that we are all not only affected by injustice, but we all have a responsibility to respond to it.
The message of the song is simple. It encourages us as members of society to look for alternative ways to respond to acts of injustice. We often see two possible reactions: 1.) fight back, or 2.) do nothing and get crushed. This song challenges us that maybe there is a third way, a better way. A way that promotes peace instead of fighting violence with more violence. The mental picture was strong with me: if we fight fire with fire, we end up with twice as much fire and everything will go down in flames (which is, as my beloved voice instructor used to say, “like a pissing contest: no one wins and everybody gets wet”) . And all in the name of fighting for justice? There’s got to be a better way. But we didn’t answer that question. The focus of the song was not to hand you the answer as much as it was to make you think and consider how you interact with the ugliness of the world around you and promote peace and justice.
Once written, we sort of got stuck with taking this song to the next level. It seemed to be an arrangement thing, and some parts really needed to be worked out. This was a job for the best of the best, so we called up a good friend, Jorge Casas and presented him with the opportunity to help us finish the song, arrange it and eventually join us in the studio to produce the track on the album. For years Jorge has been the band leader and bass player for Miami Sound Machine, and is a genius with this kind of work. We figured if Gloria Estefan, Santana and Carole King thought we was good enough to hire, he might be up for the task. He sat in on some rehearsals, dove right in and did his magic (and added some latin percussion) and brought the whole song to life. It was a pleasure getting to work with such a seasoned veteran and respected musician (not to mention the Grammy’s), and needless to say, working out this tune became a highlight of the making of this record.
