Tribe

[AnneS]

I came up with this the other day, struggling (as many are) with the deep divisions erupting between and among people these days, even people who normally don't need to "go there." Empathy seems to fail me at times, but this song came along to help me stay on track a little bit in that department. We seem predisposed--hard-wired--to belong to a tribe, and maybe that need supersedes all else when we feel threatened. And it sure seems like a lot of people feel threatened these days.

 

I dunno about all of that, but here's a song for you.

 

The recording is not very good, I know. But it will have to do for now. (Like Buck, I, too, have other things I need to get on to.) I can't wait to get in to the studio with it, though; that's a fact..

 

Oh! And this trivia: I think it's the first song I've written in a minor key. (Don't let's all get started on THAT again... !!) Hope you like..

 

Tribe

 

 

 

Tribe

Anne Stieber © 2016

 

I hear drumbeats across the water, running footsteps around the bend

Coming at us, getting closer--best get ready for the end.

Grab your hounds and your provisions, take up your guns, secure your land.

Don't let no one tell you different; they ain't blood, don't understand.

 

See this cross I wear on Sundays? They want to tear it from my neck

Disappear it like that good flag, people showing no respect.

We have always been a family, and we take care of our own

God and Country keep us safe in a world where we're alone.

 

I understand you've been a good friend; I never bothered to ask why

But right and wrong have come between us, now we don't see eye to eye.

So I will hole up with my people, take up our guns, protect our land

I'm not hearing what you're saying, 'cause you ain't blood, don't understand.

 

This has always been my family; it's the only one I've known.

God and Country keep it simple in this world, where I'm alone.

In this world, where I'm alone.

In this world, I am alone.

 

 

 

[vacamartin]

Love IT !!!

 

 

"I understand you've been a good friend; I never bothered to ask why

But right and wrong have come between us, now we don't see eye to eye."

[Buc McMaster]

Good subject, Anne! Easy to pick up the point you're making here. What is your recording setup? Is that a single guitar track?

 

(pm sent!)

[Murph]

Very nice.

 

It's a good balance between self preservation, family and securing your own border.

 

I like it.

[kwalker201]

Really nice, I think the lyrics are awesome in this Anne

[telemaster03]

Enjoyed that very much!

[MorrisrownSal]

Anne,

 

I was questioning whether to weigh in, but decided to.

 

If I understand the lyrics correctly, they depict a populace that feels divided. Folks come done on either side of the 50% line, and as it gets more passionate (especially in a year like this), eventually a line is drawn - the one about circling your wagons on a way of life or opinion that has been held for a century (or decades). I sense that maybe, from your lyrics, you are a fine person (wearing a cross on your neck) and new alternative lifestyles, political correctness,... what not... threaten that, so that at the end of the day you come down on the side of the line that your folks have occupied for years and years.

 

Do I have that kind of right?

 

If I do... then read on.

 

I think you are a tremendous songwriter, and I wish I had your skill. I also bet I would love nothing more that having coffee with you.. and hanging out... (as well as with many others on this fine forum whose political leanings might be similar to mine or not). I bet all of us have much more in common than not - especially around music.

 

I am so very torn with this election, and I get very emotional about it .... usually privately.

 

I believe in respect for all and being nice to all without exception. Golden Rule and all that. And I am Christian, although I dont think we own that ideology.

 

But here is where I feel uncomfortable. I think yours, mine, anyone's right to believe in their religion or way of life is a right.... so long as it doesn't subvert others. If I had your skill (i dont), I'd write a song where the divide is crossed at the end and embraced, rather than circling the wagons on the familiar side. That would be uplifting for me, and make me feel that we all have a path forward. Your song, if I understand it, leaves me feeling like we all are giving up... and stepping back.

 

I hope that makes sense. I write this with trepidation, and fear of offending you. I offer it up respectfully.

 

For the record I am not voting for either big party candidate.

[Buc McMaster]

I hear what you're saying there, Sal. There is no reconciliation in the lyric. Considering that perspective in light of recent events (and history) in America, it's pretty much correct. There is plenty of lip service paid to coming together and burying the hatchet, but it ain't happening. Tribes. Very much correct in her assessment of the situation. Witness the latest DNC debacle.........a gang that, from a position of supposedly neutral power, takes steps to rig the game for a member of their tribe. And that's just one instance on the political side of things......there are dozens of examples that could be sighted. So by intention or not, the lyric does capture the mentality of many in this world - we've got ours and you can't have it.

[MorrisrownSal]

I hear what you're saying there, Sal. There is no reconciliation in the lyric. Considering that perspective in light of recent events (and history) in America, it's pretty much correct. There is plenty of lip service paid to coming together and burying the hatchet, but it ain't happening. Tribes. Very much correct in her assessment of the situation. Witness the latest DNC debacle.........a gang that, from a position of supposedly neutral power, takes steps to rig the game for a member of their tribe. And that's just one instance on the political side of things......there are dozens of examples that could be sighted. So by intention or not, the lyric does capture the mentality of many in this world - we've got ours and you can't have it.

 

Agreed.

 

Anyways... I should have closed by saying "Great song Anne"

 

But I am moving to the Virgin Islands...

[blindboygrunt]

I don't think the person singing the song is Anne . The character in the song is one of millions with this particular stance but I don't think Anne is preaching in this song , but rather letting us into the mindset of the person singing.

 

And you know , the song could be sang by either side of the divide.

 

anne is letting us see that you don't need to be radical in your views to pick a side . But sometimes you have to pick the best of a bad bunch . Which is pretty much all any of us have to vote for anywhere in the world , one of a bad bunch .

 

I don't think Anne wants a big wall built

 

 

But I could be wrong

 

I hope no one ruins this thread with any nonsense .

[MorrisrownSal]

I hope so too Grunt. My intent was not to be political.

[Buc McMaster]

And, by the way, this is exactly what songwriting is suppose to be about: provoking thought and reflection. What those thoughts are will vary from listener to listener, but to stir emotion with a lyric is the aim of many writers. I personally enjoy this kind of exchange, without anyone inflaming things. Good work, Anne........mission accomplished.

 

(The Virgin Islands? Really?)

[kwalker201]

I hear what you're saying there, Sal. There is no reconciliation in the lyric. Considering that perspective in light of recent events (and history) in America, it's pretty much correct. There is plenty of lip service paid to coming together and burying the hatchet, but it ain't happening. Tribes. Very much correct in her assessment of the situation. Witness the latest DNC debacle.........a gang that, from a position of supposedly neutral power, takes steps to rig the game for a member of their tribe. And that's just one instance on the political side of things......there are dozens of examples that could be sighted. So by intention or not, the lyric does capture the mentality of many in this world - we've got ours and you can't have it.

 

 

That was really well said there Buc.

[AnneS]

You guys are the best, and I hardly know where to start.

 

Sal--thank you for your careful and kind response, but I believe we'd be allies on whatever crazy battlefield we're all waking up on. (In fact, I am thinking Canada...) Funny thing is, the other day when I trying to get the right sound for this song, I thought of you and nearly sent you a working draft, just to have you do your Garage Band magic with it. (Seriously, you would like singing this song...)

 

But actually, Stu has hit the mark; this song lets me (and anyone who partakes) in on the mindset of someone else entirely, someone whose politics I don't understand and whose experience of things I can't relate to, though I try. (For what it's worth, the person who inspired--if that is even the right word--me to explore this is the same person who inspired "Truest North." It is someone with a heart of gold and a child-like wonder for the natural world who, somehow, also sees the world from a totally different place than I do. But I admire this person, enough to not settle for my own eye-roll, enough to challenge my own ways of seeing things, enough to ask how these differences can exist in the best of situations.)

 

But I realize that if we say such things as "You don't understand; you're not blood" and if we decide we can't even have conversations because we don't believe there's a point in having them, well then, we are really screwed.

 

So I set out to explore how it is even possible for people to be so divided over "right and wrong" that they'll almost stop speaking. And I'm talking here about mentally-balanced, ordinary people (excluding for conversation's sake folks with actual psychological limitations and/or challenges). What is it about humans? Is there something innate that we should understand better?

 

I have been asked already whether the God and Country references really fit with the idea of alone-ness, but I am thinking that that is part of the point. No matter which side or sides any of us take, we all have access to the same symbols (crosses, flags) of the human institutions (religion and national politics) whose functions are, in great part, to make us feel safe from actual or perceived threats. But the first question is, what is the threat, what is the fear? My experience (conveniently backed up by my own observations) is that we all feel very much alone in the world and that our instinct for survival requires us to bond with a family, a tribe. So if, in spite of our tribal membership, we still feel threatened, is it because we feel alone anyway? If so, do we own it? Or do we blame someone else for it? Or...?

 

Anyway--yes, this song touches on something that, it seems, allows us to remember to talk, at least. Not to win over an argument, but to understand better. We are lucky, I think, because most of us experience music as a way of understanding ourselves and other people. So to that extent, I'll close by conveniently noting that, whatever differences of religion or politics--or choice of strings--likely exist between us, it appears we are bound together by song.

 

I'd beat a drum or two to celebrate that...

[MorrisrownSal]

"My experience (conveniently backed up by my own observations) is that we all feel very much alone in the world and that our instinct for survival requires us to bond with a family, a tribe."

 

Thanks for the thoughtful response Anne. Your quote above touched me. Can I share a very recent but psychotically disturbing anecdote?

 

Two weeks ago, I flew to Ann Arbor to spend a Friday night with my son. The plan was for us to drive Saturday morning to Columbus Ohio, spend the day and night with family, and on Sunday he would drive back top Michigan, and I would drive with family from Ohio back to NJ. Thats what we did. I boooked our Saturday night in a Marriott in north Columbus that looked nice enough.... not knowing that there was a convention going on called TrotCon. Google it if you are interested.

 

Short story is Trotcon is a convention for fans of "My Little Pony" - a little kid cartoon and toy thing. The attendees are "goth", physically unhealthy, rejects of mainstream culture. Half of them are disenfranchised teens and early twentyish folks that ... lets just say didn't or don't play sports, and are very ... lonely? It seems they have not many friends, or close family that cares for them. Somehow they found kinship in a "tribe" dedicated to My Little Pony. The other half of the attendees are what seem to me to be older versions of the same (as old as 50-ish), and ...disturbed.

 

It was really creepy, and I was very saddened, as I could only think "gee, how lonely these souls must be - without family or friends that care for them, that they lack such self esteem that their way to find comfort is to bond via TrotCon."

 

I couldnt get out of there fast enough. Sorry if some of you are TrotConners and I have offended you.

 

So yeah... Belonging and Tribe-ing is a need.

[blindboygrunt]

Hey , I'll have you know that the my little pony convention is a wonderful weekend and one that I look forward to attending every year !!

[Buc McMaster]

Short story is Trotcon is a convention for fans of "My Little Pony" - a little kid cartoon and toy thing. The attendees are "goth", physically unhealthy, rejects of mainstream culture.

 

Whoa. There are indeed some strange tribes out there, huh. Never heard of this one so I did a little poking around and found this: A Little Scary

 

It seems that part of being tribal is being judgmental of other tribes, and that I reckon is human nature. But how far that judgement goes defines the lines between acceptance, suspicious tolerance and outright hostility. History if full of examples, from one end of the spectrum to the other. We are an odd lot, we humans.

[Lars68]

Wow, Anne, this song is amazingly good and I think the lyrics are outstanding. Your lyrics reminds me of the song below (but yours is even better).

 

http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/brucespringsteen/wetakecareofourown.html

 

This is my favorite one of your songs so far. I am a real sucker for minor keys. If you bring it to the studio, I think you should leave it just as it is. No need to add anything.

 

Lars

[EuroAussie]

Yes, late to the party, but I really enjoyed that Anne, interesting to read the replies from the board and many valid and insightful comments.

 

I would add by saying when listening to this track, your style oddly reminds me of Morissey from The Smiths in that like the Mozz you have an ability to write about a depressing topic but deliver it in an upbeat manner. The Smiths and Morisseys writing were brilliant at that where kids and adults were tapping away and singing happily about topcs such as alienation, depression and stepping infront of a bus. Anyway, its a real skill to be able to have that and I think it needs it to balance the content subject wth the melody.

 

I also like it when you strum, it gives the song more energy and Id like to see more strumming songs from you Anne.

 

Looking forward to hearing the studio version, just dont forget to take your gun with you to the studio, just in case ..

[fortyearspickn]

"The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation

And go to the grave with the song still in them."

Thoreau

[kidblast]

good Annie!

 

My originals band is working on the tracks for one I wrote, called "harms way" it's in a similar vein but it's hard rock. I'll share it when we're done... which we hope is sometime in august.

[MissouriPicker]

A bit late showing-up, Anne (on the road a lot the last few days). I like this and see absolutely no problems with it. We write what we feel and what we know. You've got to be who you've got to be. "Tribe" is an excellent title for the song. Human beings are naturally tribal. We are most comfortable with people we consider like ourselves. That comfort level might be the same religion, same nationality, same color, same school, same city, neighborhood, sports team, etc. It's all tribal. The violence in The Middle East revolves around centuries-old tribal hate. I really feel the hopelessness conveyed in your song. I think it's real and sincere. Our "tribe" is where we likely feel most "at home" and where we also feel most alone. Humans are never going to all sit around campfires, hold hands, and sing songs. It's not what we do. It's simply not on our DNA. We've always been tribal, along with all implications. Our tribe is our human family and potentially our downfall................. Good song. Reminiscent of and just as appropriate as Barry McGuire's "Eve of Destruction." [thumbup]

[AnneS]

Our "tribe" is where we likely feel most "at home" and where we also feel most alone.... We've always been tribal, along with all implications. Our tribe is our human family and potentially our downfall.

Yes, Larry- I do believe this is what the song uncovers. Well said, sir-thanks.

 

I'm headed into the studio soon-watch this space.

 

And thanks, everyone, for the discussion and for the listens.

 

Drumbeats, heartbeats...being alive is interesting, ain't it?

[MorrisrownSal]

Hmm Anne... I guess you are right...

Tribes.

http://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2016-07-29/in-u-s-politics-the-tribe-comes-first

 

[flatbaroque]

Well done Anne.Another well put together song.There's always something to get the imagination working in your stuff.