Hey Griff, what’s that song The Secret Life of Guns all about? You know that catchy, creepy tune on Felsen’s new album “Breaking Up With Loneliness”. Let me try and explain. I listen to a lot of NPR. S.L.O.G was inspired by an interview I heard with a Washington Post writer who’s piece “The Hidden Life of Guns” was about our concealed weapons laws. This was right after yet another mass shooting here in the good old U.S. of A (Tucson, January 2011--Gabriell Giffords, etc...) and I was reminded of Sara Palin’s slogan “Don’t Retreat, Reload” and the insane map of the US with bulls eyes on the politicians who some felt needed to be voted out--or eliminated one way or another. God I’m sick of it. I did what I do to cope: I went to the guitar. I knew what the first lyric was going to be (the secret life of guns) and what chord it would start on (C#-) and the song pretty much wrote itself. I was pissed--it took about 10 minutes.
The band had an early version that we were doing on stage for a few months this spring with a different chorus. People were digging the song live, but something was bugging me about it. The old chorus just wasn’t doing it for me. I knew this tune had to be on the album. Somebody had to open his/her big, fat mouth and the current batch of pretty faced songwriters churning out yet more BS love songs, blah, blah, blah don’t have the nerve to say ANYTHING! So this musically troubled little gem absolutely had to go on the album and had to be repaired despite the fact that I was pretty much out of steam (3 albums in 2 years will do that to ya). Something finally clicked the day before recording began and I was able to cobble it together.
The new vibe of the chorus dictated a real change in the way the band needed to play it (old version:tired Coldplay groove. new version:Neil Young checks himself into Wilco’s Yankee Hotel for some rehab.) I wanted it to be quiet, like non violence. I wanted the melody of the verses to be real pretty despite the fact that the lyrics say some real spooky, scary stuff while I’m trying to crawl up inside the mind of a mass murderer (what’s it like in there dude?).
Musically, you can pretty much follow the trail of bread crumbs back to the old World Party tune “Put the Message in the Box”--a tune I’ve been trying unsuccessfully to rip off for about 20 years now. (I think I finally got it right it and I can now move on.)
listen along and read the lyrics:
the secret life of guns
i know what it's like to get my hands on one
or my hands ‘round your neck
when i'm alone in bed
is it wrong she said
to dream about you dead?
i’m starting a blog cuz i'm sick of tv
i'm sick of the hosts staring back at me
telling me who i should be
so i wait patiently
maybe someday they'll see
that they're not foolin’ me
people step aside,
and keep yourself alive til I’m done.
God is on our side
you know you’d better hide and run
cuz i’ve got him in the sights of my gun
when every edit is a lie
it’s like a thought tucked inside a ghost
don’t believe everything you’re told
go ahead and act real bold
and when your heart is nice and cold
just smile and reload
people step aside,
and keep yourself alive til I’m done.
God is on our side
you know you’d better hide and run
cuz i’ve got him in the sights of my gun
The band had an early version that we were doing on stage for a few months this spring with a different chorus. People were digging the song live, but something was bugging me about it. The old chorus just wasn’t doing it for me. I knew this tune had to be on the album. Somebody had to open his/her big, fat mouth and the current batch of pretty faced songwriters churning out yet more BS love songs, blah, blah, blah don’t have the nerve to say ANYTHING! So this musically troubled little gem absolutely had to go on the album and had to be repaired despite the fact that I was pretty much out of steam (3 albums in 2 years will do that to ya). Something finally clicked the day before recording began and I was able to cobble it together.
The new vibe of the chorus dictated a real change in the way the band needed to play it (old version:tired Coldplay groove. new version:Neil Young checks himself into Wilco’s Yankee Hotel for some rehab.) I wanted it to be quiet, like non violence. I wanted the melody of the verses to be real pretty despite the fact that the lyrics say some real spooky, scary stuff while I’m trying to crawl up inside the mind of a mass murderer (what’s it like in there dude?).
Musically, you can pretty much follow the trail of bread crumbs back to the old World Party tune “Put the Message in the Box”--a tune I’ve been trying unsuccessfully to rip off for about 20 years now. (I think I finally got it right it and I can now move on.)
listen along and read the lyrics:
the secret life of guns
i know what it's like to get my hands on one
or my hands ‘round your neck
when i'm alone in bed
is it wrong she said
to dream about you dead?
i’m starting a blog cuz i'm sick of tv
i'm sick of the hosts staring back at me
telling me who i should be
so i wait patiently
maybe someday they'll see
that they're not foolin’ me
people step aside,
and keep yourself alive til I’m done.
God is on our side
you know you’d better hide and run
cuz i’ve got him in the sights of my gun
when every edit is a lie
it’s like a thought tucked inside a ghost
don’t believe everything you’re told
go ahead and act real bold
and when your heart is nice and cold
just smile and reload
people step aside,
and keep yourself alive til I’m done.
God is on our side
you know you’d better hide and run
cuz i’ve got him in the sights of my gun
