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Here's the first single from the Penelope's Thrill second album, "Message on the Moon," which will be released on April 11.
"Things Are Falling Down" is an upbeat song paradoxically about global warming and climate change. The infectious reggae-infused bass line and scratchy guitars make the listener perk up and listen...and eventually realize what the song is about. So it's a bit of sugar to get people to come to the table and think about the mounting crisis we're all facing...and maybe dance off some of their stress too.
Cover painting is "Amor Fati" by Kelli Hoppmann, my favorite artist who also happens to be from Madison. Big thanks to Kelli for permission to use her paintings on the singles and the album.
In fact, Kelli's paintings played a big role in the gestation of the new album. A few years ago, my wife and I bought one of Kelli's paintings that featured a moonlit woodland scene with phantasmagoric characters (like the "Amor Fati" painting above). That painting, which is titled "August Night," greets me each morning as I come downstairs. Eventually, it served as the inspiration for several songs on the album, including the title track, "Message on the Moon," and “August Night,” which is a song about the painting. A main theme of Kelli’s paintings is metamorphosis, which is also the main theme that runs through the songs on Message on the Moon. All six of the singles from the album also feature cover paintings by Hoppmann. (All those singles are now up on Bandcamp, Spotify, etc, and will be uploaded here as well.)
On this track, I play a vintage modified Stratocaster, a classic 60s Telecaster, and a Gretsch hollowbody--a combination I particularly like.
LYRICS:
“Things Are Falling Down"
Words & Music by Timothy Walsh
Half a minute and you won’t be here.
Half a minute and you’ll be gone.
Make your fictions so you don’t have to know our days are numbered.
Take your pictures and post them online.
Make your mixtures of rum and coke.
Maybe you just think it’s all a joke, but the seas are rising.
Make a million so you won’t know.
Play some music on your stereo.
Shop online to preserve your status quo while the world is crumbling.
CHORUS:
I don’t say the things I know.
I don’t say I won’t go—looks like things are falling down.
When I would take you down,
when I would bring you round—seems like things are falling down.
Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall.
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.
Now we’re fragile as eggs if you recall the way that story ends.
Jake was nimble, Jake was quick
when he jumped that candlestick,
but Jack and Jill are feeling sick about the way we’re going.
Cinderella had it right, but Rapunzel gave delight
when she lowered her hair from the tower top (where is our ladder?)
CHORUS
I remember going to the islands, lounging there on the sandy bay,
but now those islands have washed away beneath the waves and…
Now we scuttle our dreams and future.
Now we huddle on the rec room couch
while our conscience says, “you’re such a slouch,”
and the trees are whispering.
PRECHORUS and CHORUS
- Genre
- Alternative Rock