The opening really set the stage in my mind: it’s all about oblivion. It seems that we are living in a time where we are obsessed with the end of everything. Maybe it’s the result of social dysfunction, or an AI takeover. Maybe it’s the zombie apocalypse, but it sure seems like everywhere you look, the end is nigh. But maybe that’s just a vibe we’re carrying around. It might just be a frustration that, despite all the promises of technology, it really isn’t delivering. I recorded a version of this song with The Navigators, and it sounded like we were off to a great start, but the financial reality was that it was cheaper to record this entire album solo than it would have been to record one song with my band. Sigh. But as dark as the song gets- and it gets pretty dark- I wanted it to be hopeful. Maybe we are on the run, but our story is still being written.
So what’s going on? Are we, in fact, “zebras in captivity”? Are we so afraid? I know I often am. Not just for myself. I got kids! And I can’t afford to be a pessimist. So while it seems like I’m trying to outrace “the man,” I can’t ever lean on that excuse. It’s hard, because I’m not only a father expected to provide for my children, but I’m an artist expected to model the kind of choices that I would want them to make if they were in my shoes. But I truly believe that we’re closer than we think.
Which is why, from the end of the bridge to the end of the song, it’s nothing but hope. I’m on team human, which is why I believe that we all have that light in our eyes.
And if “Free-for-all” demonstrated that this is not a folk record, this song sure does. Not only does it have a bridge, but it also has a key change. Folk songs just don’t do that. And while we’re talking about the music, the song does not resolve. It hangs on what would normally be the penultimate chord. I do that a lot. A friend of mine was complaining to me: Dewey, how come your songs don’t all resolve? I was a little taken aback by that. I mean, I don’t know what his life is like, but I have a lot of unresolved things going on- some of which have been unresolved for decades. Although I have been coming around to his point of view. That’s why I did something I almost never do: I put two songs back-to-back in the same key. “Still on the Run” and “We Go Deeper” are both in the key of A. I did that as a kind of compromise. It’s as if the first chord of the next song resolves the unresolved. Not sure if he’ll be happy with that.
But seriously, I think that songs that don’t resolve imply that, on some level, they keep going. I do believe that some songs should leave you feeling that there should be more, but the more isn’t going to come from the song. It’s going to come from you.