This song was composed and produced over a couple of days around the spring of 1990. It’s a ‘call to arms’ song of sorts. It was my effort to fight against my own tendencies toward procrastination and lethargy. As is true of many of my songs of this era, I was a bit enamored with my sequencer and let it, and the ability to multi-track my voice, get in the way of a more tidy composition.
I do like the outro and often used the approach of a harmonic or rhythmic shift for the concluding section. It throws you off a little in that it’s unexpected. But if the progression integrates well with the rest of the composition I think it can work. I copped this technique from Prince, but he was probably just borrowing from others as well.
You can hear the limitations of my synth when I bring in a new layer and there aren’t enough concurrent ‘voices’ to cover all the parts. You’ll notice little clipping sounds when the synth steals a voice from one part to assign it to another. Sometimes the technology limitations of the time generated creative, if originally unintended, consequences.
Things come and they go
And those that stay too long
Become entrenched
And taken by all as granted
It’s in our nature to seek
Comfort in all we do
And we latch upon those that give us a chance to
Don’t you just sit and wait to see
What happens if you stall and act passively
No complaints will be referred to you
If you get up and you act on what you really are supposed to
That’s a trap – deception
You’ll suffer if you sit to long
No contrast or shades
Just passive plain acceptance
It’s of us to sit and want
Whatever’s right with time
Disallow the rot, atrophy, dirt, and grime
Don’t you just sit and wait to see
What happens if you stall and act passively
No complaints will be referred to you
If you get up and you act on what you really are supposed to
Act for all
Act for all
You really, really, really, really ought to
We are responsible to search
In constant, determined ways
For other views and other sides of the frame
As we seek and see
loads of alternatives (options)
We stimulate our options, prerogatives
Things come and they go
And those that stay too long
Become entrenched
And taken by all as granted
It’s in our nature to seek
Comfort in all we do
We search for comfort in all we do
Don’t you just sit and wait to see
What happens if you stall and act passively
No complaints will be referred to you
If you get up and you act on what you really are supposed to
Act for all
Act for all
Act for all – we’ve got to
We really, really, really, really have to
