Oh, here comes trouble[1]Penultimate track to TV on the Radio‘s 2014 album Seeds–which has also, curiously, been their last one to date. They had been, at one point, one of the premier Indie crossover bands of … Continue reading
Put your helmet on, we’ll be headed for a fall[2]“For all things must fail…”
Yeah, the whole thing’s gonna blow[3]I don’t write “prophets” facetiously, because this song has sure felt prophetic since 2014. Given all that’s happened politically, environmentally, economically, even spiritually in the solid … Continue reading
And the devil’s got my number
It’s long overdue, he’ll come looking soon[4]I’ve mostly been focusing so far on large-scale historical troubles thus far; but even in the best of times, we still have grief, illness, death, decay, and all of our sins catching up with us on … Continue reading
Yeah, the whole thing’s gonna blow
Oh, here comes trouble
These people talk too much, need to shut ’em up[5]“…let all the earth keep silence before him.” -Habakkuk 2:20
Yeah, I’d rather be alone[6]“And he withdrew himself into the wilderness, and prayed.” -Luke 5:16
Can you, can you feel that rumble?
All this borrowed time, it’s been running out[7]“therefore, I beseech of you that ye do not procrastinate the day of your repentance until the end; for after this day of life, which is given us to prepare for eternity, behold, if we do not … Continue reading
It’s the ending of the show
But I know now, yeah[8]And now the cause of these our embarrassments, or the cause why they did not send more strength unto us, we knew not; therefore we were grieved and also filled with fear, lest by any means the … Continue reading
Yeah, I know now, yeah[9]“…and he had faith no longer, for he knew, nothing doubting.” -Ether 3:19
Everything’s gonna be okay (I’ll be okay)
Oh, I keep telling myself[10]Hoping for everything to work out isn’t mere delusion or head-in-the-sand faux-optimism, but a very real and necessary strategy for resistance and survival. Pessimism and cynicism are tools of … Continue reading
“Don’t worry, be happy”[11]Obvious allusion to Bobby McFarlin’s cheesy ’80s hit “Don’t Worry, Be Happy”–a track that is typically dismissed as grating and annoyingly peppy–though that … Continue reading
Oh, you keep telling yourself[12]“faith is things which are hoped for and not seen; wherefore, dispute not because ye see not, for ye receive no witness until after the trial of your faith.” -Ether 12:6
“Everything’s gonna be okay” (I’ll be okay)
Oh, I keep telling myself
“Don’t worry, be happy”
Oh, you keep telling yourself
“Everything’s gonna be okay”
Oh, I’ve changed my number
Wore disguises and went undercover just to
Just to hide away from you
All my ghosts came a’ calling
Making noises ’bout a promise I had broken[13]This stanza feels less like a dispute with an ex-lover than a cry to the Almighty Himself (which sometimes can be one and the same). Like Jonah sailing to Tarshish, we try to sail as far away as we … Continue reading
Oh, I’m gonna be lonely soon
Oh, here comes trouble[14]Not to be confused with “Troubles,” the CD bonus track on their 2011 album Nine Types of Light; don’t know why they used the same song title twice, but whatever.
Put your helmet on, we’ll be headed for a fall
Yeah, the whole thing’s gonna blow
And the devil’s got my number
It’s long overdue, he’ll come looking soon
Yeah, the whole thing’s gonna blow
Everything’s gonna be okay (I’ll be okay)
Oh, I keep telling myself
“Don’t worry, be happy”
Oh, you keep telling yourself
“Everything’s gonna be okay” (I’ll be okay)
Oh, I keep telling myself
“Don’t worry, be happy”
Oh, you keep telling yourself
“Everything’s gonna be okay”
Everything’s gonna be okay
Everything’s gonna be okay
Everything’s gonna be okay
Everything’s gonna be okay
Everything’s gonna be okay[15]But here’s the thing: everything really is gonna be okay, in the long run, no matter how despairing it feels in the moment, no matter how much it feels like we’re just kidding ourselves. … Continue reading
References
| ↑1 | Penultimate track to TV on the Radio‘s 2014 album Seeds–which has also, curiously, been their last one to date. They had been, at one point, one of the premier Indie crossover bands of the 2000s (up there with Arcade Fire, Animal Collective, The Strokes, or Modest Mouse) for a solid decade; they played on late night television, collaborated with David Bowie, appeared on magazine covers, were widely reviewed, award-winning, critically acclaimed; but then followed it with another decade of near-total silence. It’s not like they haven’t been engaged or aware of what’s going on; lead-singer Tunde Adebimpe released a protest song in 2020 about “killing Nazis,” and keeps teasing that TVOTR is working on a solid album of similar songs, ones adapted for our present moment–but that moment keeps slipping on by.
Of course, it’s not like the anxieties of our present moment have ended or anything; an anti-neo-Nazi album would be just as timely now as four years ago, or even eight. Nevertheless with each new year that passes since 2014, one can only speculate as to where their writer’s block is coming from. Is this what it felt like when the prophets fell silent? |
|---|---|
| ↑2 | “For all things must fail…” |
| ↑3 | I don’t write “prophets” facetiously, because this song has sure felt prophetic since 2014. Given all that’s happened politically, environmentally, economically, even spiritually in the solid decade since, TVOTR was pretty spot-on to predict that “we’re headed for a fall” and that “the whole thing’s gonna blow.”
Or maybe it’s a cheapening of prophetic gifts to attribute it to things that require no prophetic gift to foresee. The cost of living has been outpacing average wages since at least the 1980s, long before “inflation” became a global hiss and a byword post-lockdowns; scientists were sounding the alarm on the climate crisis decades before the record-breaking wildfires began; any minority could’ve told you that white supremacism never disappeared from this country; preparations for the next global flu pandemic had begun clear back in 2002; Russia first invaded Ukraine in 2014; Israel vs Palestine dates back not only to 1948, but to Abraham, Isaac, and Ishmael; and etc. For that matter, has there ever been a moment in human history when you couldn’t have said “here comes trouble” and “things are gonna blow” and not have been proven mostly right? Not that I’m trying to downplay our present troubles, mind you—on the contrary. The Book of Mormon, remember, is a record of two ancient American civilizations that were totally wiped off the face of the earth; we also believe The Book of Mormon was written specifically for our day. It is also codified into the official name of the Church that these are indeed the last days, when “the love of many shall wax cold. But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved” (Matt. 24:12-13). This, again, is why we must cleave unto charity, which never faileth, for all things must fail— and are failing constantly— |
| ↑4 | I’ve mostly been focusing so far on large-scale historical troubles thus far; but even in the best of times, we still have grief, illness, death, decay, and all of our sins catching up with us on both a collective and individual level. It’s long overdue indeed. It’s why we need to repent; it’s why we need the Atonement. |
| ↑5 | “…let all the earth keep silence before him.” -Habakkuk 2:20 |
| ↑6 | “And he withdrew himself into the wilderness, and prayed.” -Luke 5:16 |
| ↑7 | “therefore, I beseech of you that ye do not procrastinate the day of your repentance until the end; for after this day of life, which is given us to prepare for eternity, behold, if we do not improve our time while in this life, then cometh the night of darkness wherein there can be no labor performed.” -Alma 34:33 |
| ↑8 | And now the cause of these our embarrassments, or the cause why they did not send more strength unto us, we knew not; therefore we were grieved and also filled with fear, lest by any means the judgments of God should come upon our land, to our overthrow and utter destruction.
10 Therefore we did pour out our souls in prayer to God, that he would strengthen us and deliver us out of the hands of our enemies, yea, and also give us strength that we might retain our cities, and our lands, and our possessions, for the support of our people. 11 Yea, and it came to pass that the Lord our God did visit us with assurances that he would deliver us; yea, insomuch that he did speak peace to our souls, and did grant unto us great faith, and did cause us that we should hope for our deliverance in him. -Alma 58:8-10 |
| ↑9 | “…and he had faith no longer, for he knew, nothing doubting.” -Ether 3:19 |
| ↑10 | Hoping for everything to work out isn’t mere delusion or head-in-the-sand faux-optimism, but a very real and necessary strategy for resistance and survival. Pessimism and cynicism are tools of the devil, to keep you disengaged and lethargic. Hope is vital, because you have to believe that a better world is possible, before you can make a better world to live in.
Or, as our own Ether 12:4 reads: “Wherefore, whoso believeth in God might with surety hope for a better world, yea, even a place at the right hand of God, which hope cometh of faith, maketh an anchor to the souls of men, which would make them sure and steadfast, always abounding in good works, being led to glorify God.” |
| ↑11 | Obvious allusion to Bobby McFarlin’s cheesy ’80s hit “Don’t Worry, Be Happy”–a track that is typically dismissed as grating and annoyingly peppy–though that in turn ignores the fact that lyrically, the track is addressed to someone who is clearly broke, homeless, evicted, and alone. That is, McFarlin is advising the listener to “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” not as an insipid piece of Pollyann-ish sunshine, but as a concrete strategy for survival and resistance, as well. (Certainly both Tunde Adebimpe and Bobby McFarlin, as black men in America, understood on a bone-deep level how important hope is for survival and resistance.) Because again, if you do not hope for a better world, you cannot work to make a better world.
But what if, after all, you physically cannot make this world better, despite your best efforts? Even Moroni, when he was advocating for hope, did so only after beholding the complete and utter collapse of his own civilization, one that neither he nor his father was able to save–or was even worth saving (at least if Moroni 9 is to be believed). Nevertheless, even when the cause is irredeemably lost (for again, all things must fail anyways), still one must have hope then most of all. As James Baldwin famously said, “Not everything we face can be changed. But nothing will change until we face it.” |
| ↑12 | “faith is things which are hoped for and not seen; wherefore, dispute not because ye see not, for ye receive no witness until after the trial of your faith.” -Ether 12:6 |
| ↑13 | This stanza feels less like a dispute with an ex-lover than a cry to the Almighty Himself (which sometimes can be one and the same). Like Jonah sailing to Tarshish, we try to sail as far away as we can from the only One who cannot be hidden from at all–and like Jonah, we end up inside the belly of the metaphoric whale all the faster because of it. |
| ↑14 | Not to be confused with “Troubles,” the CD bonus track on their 2011 album Nine Types of Light; don’t know why they used the same song title twice, but whatever. |
| ↑15 | But here’s the thing: everything really is gonna be okay, in the long run, no matter how despairing it feels in the moment, no matter how much it feels like we’re just kidding ourselves. Maybe it all won’t finally be all okay till the next life. But then, to quote again Neal A. Maxwell, “Yes, we know that Armageddon is coming, but so is Adam-ondi-Ahman.” |