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“Keep Changing The World” by Mikeschair

27 Jul

When I heard this song on Way-FM Denver, my ears perked up. I think this song bothers me because it’s both so vague to not be about anything “something here is wrong,” and self-condemning “But we just move along to take care of our own.”

It actually reminds me of a song by Flight of the Conchords: Think about it. Both videos with lyrics are below:

YouTube Preview Image

Keep Changing The World by MIKESCHAIR lyrics:

Something here is wrong
There are children without homes
But we just move along to take care of our own
There’s so much suffering just outside our door
A cry so deafening
We just can’t ignore

To all the people who are fighting for the broken
All the people who keep holding on to love
All the people who are reaching for the lonely
Keep changing the world

Take a look around
Before the sun goes out
What’s lost can still be found
It’s not too late now
It only takes one spark to make the fire burn
So reach inside your heart and let this be the start

Chorus

I know you see the suffering
How they gone recover when people just look over like they don’t even notice them
Everyone whose focusing on ending all this hopelessness
You can change the world by changing who the world is hoping in

I see the sun coming up
It’s a brighter day
Let’s show the world that love is a better way
So lend a hand join the fight
‘Cause time is ticking away
Keep changing the world

I see you changing the world
Step up!

YouTube Preview Image
Think About It by Flight of the Conchords lyrics:

There’s children on the street using guns and knives
Taking drugs and each other’s lives
Killing each other with knives and forks
Calling each other names like ‘dork’

There’s people on the street getting diseases from monkeys
Yeah, that’s what I said – they’re getting diseases from monkeys
Now there’s junkies with monkey disease
Who’s touching these monkeys, please
Leave these poor sick monkeys alone
They’ve got problems enough as it is.

Man’s lying on the street
Some punk’s chopped off his head
I’m the only one who stops
To see if he’s dead
Mmm…
Turns out he’s dead.
And that’s why I’m singing

What…what is wrong with the world today?
What is wrong with the world today?
(Jemaine mumbles)
What…what is wrong with the world today?
You gotta think about it
Think think about it.

Good cops been framed and put into a can.
All the money that we’re making is going to the man.
What man?
Which man?
Who’s the man?
When’s a man a man?
What makes a man a man?
Am I a man?
Yes. Technically I am.

They’re turning kids into slaves just to make cheaper sneakers.
But hat’s the real cost?
‘Cause the sneakers don’t seem that much cheaper.
Why are we still paying so much for sneakers
When you got them made by little slave kids
What are your overheads?

Well, at the end of your life, you’re lucky if die,
Sometimes I wonder why we even try.
I saw a man lying on the street half dead
With knives and forks sticking out of his leg.
And he said,
“Ow-ow-ow-ow-ow-ow-ow-ow
Can somebody get that knife and fork out of my leg, please?
Can somebody please remove these cutleries from my knees?”

And then we break it down.
This is where we break it down
Ooh
This is where we break it down
Aah
This is where we do the whoa-o-o-o
Break it down
This is where we build it up now
We build it up now
We build it up now
We build it up now
We build it up now
Build it up
And then we stop

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4 Comments

Posted in Media, Music, personal, Spirituality

 

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  • nathan

    Pop songs have never really been a beacon of critical thinking for social-political issues. I wouldn’t waste too much time thinking about this one.

    In truth, most music, due to the inherently abstract nature of music and poetry, tend to relate more to our emotions. This is why you get vague songs about social issues – no matter what side of the aisle their singing from; believe me, you can find some pretty idiotic conservative songs in the country section of your music store. People feel threatened or bad about something and so they connect with a song that gives them some catharsis about those feelings.

    With the line “There are children without homes”, I suppose this song is about adoption.

  • seth

    yes it actually was about adoption. more specifically foster care. when i wrote it with mike grayson, i was thinking about my parents who have opened their home up to “children without homes”.

    i completely understand that the song probably isn’t everyone’s cup o’ tea. but i thought it might help to know it was actually written about something real. you might not know it if you don’t write songs, but it can be really hard NOT to be vague in a three and a half minute song. sorry.

    also… i would probably take offense to the “think about it” reference, but since i love that song so much… i really don’t mind 🙂

    • Hi Seth,

      Thanks for taking the time to read my post and to comment. I don’t write songs, and as you can tell from the length of most of my blog posts, I’m not accustomed to confining my thoughts to just a few minutes, including chorus repetition. Knowing that it is written about foster care and adoption, I appreciate where you are coming from with it, as I’ve both fostered and adopted. Due to the limits of how short songs need to be, I figure this is the type of song that would communicate really well in the context of talking to people about the issue. Without knowing that background, I wasn’t able to tell if this was about adoption or sharing your Jello with awkward social kids at school (reaching for the lonely).

      I had a hard time with the self-condemnation at the beginning of the song: “But we just move along to take care of our own.” As I heard it, the ‘we’ was talking about Christians, because I heard your song on a Christian station. I don’t see Christians as being the ones who just move along to take care of their own. Certainly many Christians are nominal (in name only), but Christians have arguably been the greatest force for good throughout history and here in America today – creating schools, hospitals, orphanages. Here in Colorado the number of foster kids waiting for adoption has been plummeting – we’re adopting them, thanks in large part to churches and para-church organizations.

      At the same time, where my family lives in the midwest, I don’t remember anyone growing up taking in foster kids, and only knew one or two adopted kids. Maybe the self-judgment is more accurate depending on one’s context.

      I’m not a song writer, but I’m asking myself how I’d write a song to promote foster care and/or adoption. I’d probably go with a story telling song like Big Tent Revival’s Two Sets of Joneses, but songs of that type are often really depressing.

      Sorry if I came off as offensive. If you need any feedback on future songs from someone who can be ruthless and then compare the song to a satirical piece from New Zealand, this is where to find me :).

      According to Wikipedia you aren’t with mikeschair anymore. What are you up to now?

    • Jon, I agree, the self-beration here is very typical of well-intentioned Christians influenced by fuzzy thinking. Actually though, this one isn’t so bad as “change the world” songs go. I can certainly get on board with adoption. It’s when Derek Webb goes off on one of his rants that I really reach for the earplugs…

      But if you want a song about adoption that’s just better-written, try Steven Curtis Chapman’s “When Love Takes You In.”