The United Dictators Of Mars - SONG

Only Fools

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Music: Pierce/Mody, Words: Harris

When mood strikes you do you grab the chance and wonder of your circumstance. You sit there quite comfortable as your music gives you an earful. Peace as you well know, is in the ear of the beholder. Shhh, listen to the rain fall down. Is there anyone who believes in what you are doing. How can one honestly be so shallow.

Acceptance, exception to the rule. Discretion to those whom play the fool. Eventually the weak will believe, the last in line will stand by. On and on the strong stand on. The first in line will survive.

Bright lights, center stage, you'll have your chance. No matter what it takes. Shhh, I can barely hear the rain. You'll stand there quite comfortable as your music gives them an earful. Now they all believe in what you are doing. Shhh, the rain has washed away.

The weak are only fools.

Many times when I expected someone to say No Shadow is their favorite song I've had them say Only Fools. I like to hear that because it's pretty complex and quite the trip but I think it's the best performed song on the album. I don't hear little things throughout the song that make me cringe. The song was written around the verse bass riff which I pulled from an infamous Billy bass tape- you know, the ones with 2 full sides of bass riffs and him screaming at himself in the background as he muffed a line and would start over for the up-teenth time. Actually, in fairness, I think he had been trying to sell this line to me in advance of giving me the tape so he knew it was his best one. Jeff was probably wiggin' out over the long intro but I'm glad he hung there. I'm not sure why I came up with the extended music in the beginning but once I tied back to the end I knew it was a cool thing to do. I played the intro and outro solos. Even once the song kicks in Jeff still has time to go get a sandwich and slam his head in the refrigerator door a few times before he's on call to sing. Todd and I would trade off the clean "ching" parts in the verse. Once the bridge and break section start- that part was taken from the instrumental I broke into 3 songs. I graciously allowed Todd the main solo and he did not dissapoint. Though as I noted before he never writes his solos in advance so for these long ones it can be a full afternoon. I was sitting downstairs at Jeff's house watching TV most of the afternoon while Jeff and Todd were upstairs tring to get "that take". Todd was getting all pissy and flustered then at one point it just came out and I remember listening intently for the train wreck that would ruin this beautiful solo and it never came- he nailed it. I ran up stairs screaming "you got it" and wanted to make sure they didn't do anything stupid- like do it over again. It's one of his top 2 solos (Comatose being the other from Archivon '93). I usually need to warm up to Jeff's arrangements but this one I loved right away- he seemed comfortable with it and the scratch tracks were all in key so it hit me properly. We played it live with the drum machine and I can tell you that whole bridge and break section was a chore to play. When Brian Blaine joined us as a drummer we attempted to play this but I programmed alot of reverse drum sounds that actually cued where Todd and I would trade off our parts and it never worked. We maybe gave it 2 rehersals and then shelved it for good. The song deserved better- it's a highlight.

I dig this song extremely. Tom and I were recently discussing how much we enjoy this song and the pride we have in calling it one of our own. This is a song that sets us apart from others. The time signature alone is like nothing else I know. Speaking of which, it was very difficult to apply what I had written to the song both in pre-production rehearsal as well as recording. We had to edit it all together to make something of it. Originally, my first reaction was to veto as my half cents worth. But I am happy to say that I heard something that sparked my interest. The structure is so very cool. Clean guitar, heavy guitar. You have intricate off time verses which melt into a somewhat mainstream pre-chorus to a mainstream chorus. What more could anyone ask for in creativity? So of course, the theme of the song had to be of itself! Well kind of. It is about staying firm to what you believe no matter what popular opinion may be. It is about survival and surmounting the changing times. Playing this song with an actual drummer would prove to be very difficult.

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