American Man
FEiN Little Homes opener: guns, Bible, TV church, beer, daughter says no: mind your own business; then wallet, surgery, meds, homeless woman with a book.
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ISRC QZ2QB1600001 (soundexchange)
Track one on Little Homes (May 31, 2016), the FEiN opener, co-written by Luke Walton and Brandon Woodward. SoundCloud demo. It sets the LP’s logic in miniature. Each verse hands the American man a different authority (papa, the Bible, the church he watches on TV, the wallet) and every one of them tells him what he already wanted to hear. Guns are an inheritance because papa told me so; the televangelist gets the tithe because the screen told me so.
The chorus is the whole record’s permission slip: mind your own business / won’t do no good to shame the man, with shame deflected up to fathers and down to children but never owned in between. By verse two the self-improvement turns clinical: a reference photograph for surgery, a steady stream of lethargy to medicate, now I’m feeling whole.
Then the door of the little home. A woman with a cardboard sign tries to sell him a handwritten book and he doesn’t look: I told her no, lady no. The song exits where it entered, on mind your own business, with nothing resolved. It leads into #Grownupz, and points ahead to the Scoobert political songs like My Friend, Scoobert. FEiN names American denial plainly here, years before the bedroom-pop mask.
Written by Luke Francis Walton and Brandon Michael Woodward (FEiN). Produced and recorded by FEiN at Tiny Giant; engineered at LMU; mixed and mastered by Frank Rosato at Woodcliff (Discogs). Brian Robert Jones, bass (album). Luke Walton, oil can percussion, synth programming.
Lyrics
I'm an American man, Who likes to pretend, That I like guns in everyone's hands, In both hands, Papa told me so. I'm a perverted mess, Who needs to confess, That I have stayed with a couple of girls, Beautiful girls, Bible told me no. I'm a generous guy, Every dollar that I, Earn helps the church I watch on TV, God'll love me, screen told me so. I'm just a good ole boy, End of day I enjoy, An ice old beer or a dozen of them, I'm lost again, Daughter tells me no, Daddy no. Mind your, Own business. I live this life the best I can. Mind me, I say it, Won't do no good to shame the man. Mind your, Own business. Child live this life the best you can. Mind me, I say it, Won't do no good to shame him. I made a good ole choice, Now its time to rejoice And treat myself with the money I made, I'm getting laid, wallet tells me so. I'm about to become, Some kind of a hunk, I've got my reference photograph, No one will laugh. Post surgery. Eee. I met a generous Guy, Who likes to supply, A steady stream of leth argy, Medicate me. Now I'm feeling whole. I saw a cardboard sign, She wanted money for wine. And tried to sell me a handwritten book, I didn't look. I told her no. Lady no. Mind your own business.