F Posterity, issue 7: "Advice To A Young Jedi"

Monday morning I woke up with the phrase "complicit by complacence" in my head. I don't really know where it came from, but it sounded like a good Rage Against the Machine kind of chorus. Googling it found nothing, though the related phrase "complacency is complicity" has 31 hits, which, in the galaxy of Google, is still nothing.

It didn't take much time to find a home for it. I was toying with the thought of writing some good angry guitar lixx to drive it home, when I realized I already had a song.

I've been writing this song for three years. If I look in my sketchbooks, I wrote the first lyrics in April 2003, and disliked all of them. All the lines on the page are crossed out. Then there's another page like this in another sketchbook from a year or two later. Looking at it, it's obvious why the song still refused to live.

Compositions like this perplex. You take a few serious shots at writing it and still have some kinda junk you'd never want to sing, much less listen back to. That's frustrating. It then sits on a schedule of "unfinished" material, the stuff you play a little of, then curl up in the fetal position to watch daytime television. Even if it's prime time.

After I woke up with this thought in my head, I wrote the rest of the song in the last two days, finishing this morning. I've probably sung it through five times now.

I haven't written a rant like this in awhile. This is protest antifolk.

Advice to a Young Jedi
(complicit x complacence)

The sleep in your eyes is the tired reprise of the siren song
The only mandate of the self-help tape is to sing along
Just notice, the tongue of the lotus wags to the ones in the high, high hopes of
Selling the swell of a pendulum swing into being

Complicit by complacence
There ain't nothing you can do to change them
But death is hesitation and confidence is patience

What a tragedy - the message had to be surround sound
Last night the case of commemorative plates came crashing down
With all the wisdom and all the whimsy mixed up with a quarter cup of Disney
One has to wonder when the liar says he is, isn't he?

Complicit by complacence
There ain't nothing you can do to change them
But death is hesitation and confidence is patience

So fight, fight, fight, fight, fight, fight, fight until you breach the peace
And ride, ride, ride, ride, ride, ride right until you reach the seas
Love 'em all ways, love 'em every, no fear, no meanness, no envy
This is last call from the long haul of the all but extinct

Complicit by complacence
There ain't nothing you can do to change them
But death is hesitation and confidence is patience

Complacence is complicity
Rigor mortis domesticity
Earned inertia and static electricity

ps - props to anyone who can place the advice I cribbed in the last verse.

Download mp3s below by right-clicking on the links.

F Posterity, 2006
52. F Posterity (Getzschman) - May 16, 2007
51. Crazy (Burton/Callaway/Reverberi/Reverberi) - May 9, 2007
50. Persistence of Regret (Getzschman/Ryan/Sahm) - May 2, 2007
49. Breakin' Plates (Getzschman/Ruthsatz) - April 26, 2007
48. Trio for Vocal, Metronome, Wurlitzer (Getzschman) - April 18, 2007
47. She Hates It When I'm Right (Getzschman) - April 11, 2007
46. Beat It (Jackson) - April 4, 2007
45. Mass Ave Strut (Getzschman) - March 28, 2007
44. Let's Fall Asleep Like This (Getzschman) - March 21, 2007
43. 2010 Ain't What They Said It Would Be (Getzschman) - March 14, 2007
42. Three Red Stars (Getzschman) - March 7, 2007
41. Birdhouse In Your Soul (Flansburgh/Linnell) - February 28, 2007
40. Everybody Thinks They're Self-Aware (Getzschman) - February 21, 2007
39. Hysterical Woman (Getzschman) - February 14, 2007
38. Hollaback Savior (Getzschman) - February 7, 2007
37. White Collar (old Philly dollar) (Getzschman) - January 31, 2007
36. Bottle of Blues (B. Hansen) - January 24, 2007
35. Ask Somebody (Getzschman) - January 17, 2007
34. All Time High Score (Getzschman) - January 10, 2007
33. Bury Me In My Jetpack (Getzschman) - January 3, 2007
32. Eggnogg Is The Liquor Of This Household (Getzschman) - December 27, 2006
31. Like Spinning Plates (T.Yorke/J.Greenwood) - December 20, 2006
30. Jack or Jesus (Getzschman/Peterson) - December 13, 2006
29. Runes (Getzschman) - December 6, 2006
28. We Leave Just Like We Come (Getzschman) - November 29, 2006
27. Shampoo! (Getzschman) - November 22, 2006
26. Tomorrow Is A Long Time (Dylan) - November 15, 2006
25. Was That Seriously Your Plan? (Getzschman) - November 8, 2006
24. Understated Explosions (Getzschman) - November 1, 2006
23. Everything Sounds Better On Vinyl (Getzschman) - October 25, 2006
22. Take Heart (Getzschman) - October 18, 2006
21. Pigs (L. Freese, S. Reyes, L. Muggerud) - October 11, 2006
20. Upstart Casualties (Getzschman) - October 4, 2006
19. Troubling (Getzschman) - Sept 27, 2006
18. Tales of Woe (Getzschman/Getzschman/Booth) - Sept 20, 2006
17. Manual Labor Pains (Getzschman) - Sept 13, 2006
16. The District Sleeps Alone Tonight (Gibbard/Tamborello) - September 6, 2006
15. Postmodern Burlesque Review (Getzschman) - August 30, 2006
14. Neverending Love Affair (Getzschman) - August 23, 2006
13. Living On Credit (Getzschman) - August 16, 2006
12. Broke As A Muhfuh (Getzschman) - August 9, 20006
11. Josie (Becker/Fagan) - August 2, 2006
10. Cold Day at the Races (Getzschman) - July 26, 2006
9. Calaveras (Getzschman) - July 19, 2006
8. Narcissist Blues (Getzschman) - July 12, 2006
7. Advice to a Young Jedi (Getzschman) - July 5, 2006
6. God Only Knows (Wilson/Asher) - June 28, 2006
5. Miracle Hubcap (Getzschman) - June 21, 2006
4. A Paycheck Is All I Ask (Getzschman) - June 14, 2006
3. Halfway (Getzschman) - June 7, 2006
2. Summer Crazy (Getzschman) - May 31, 2006
1. Sunday Street (Van Ronk) - May 26, 2006