WeFall

We fall
on our backs
on our faces
on our heads from above.
With an easy slip
with a gentle shove
by cold command
by blissful call
from a hidden fear
from a raging pride
we fall

We fall
in a blinding flash
in the blink of an eye
for a glance for a sign
for a pretty lie
stepping low or
walking tall
by an unplanned laugh
or a runaway tear
we fall

Wrong or right
to the ones with might
in plain view and
out of sight
for the sake of one
for the sake of all
for all we're worth
for so much less
we fall

And all the king's horses
and all the king's men
will never be able to
put us together again
and all the king's doctors
and all the king's lawyers
and all the king's scientists
priests and warriors just
prove one thing

We fall
fall free
fall fast fall first fall last
we fall
off the bottom stoop
off the highest mast
we fall
from a rubber band
to a cannon ball
from a brittle bone
from a lapse of thought
we fall

And when the nail is loose
and the wood is rotten
it's one foot down
and you're forgotten
we fall

When the mirror cracks
when the bubble pops
when the tightrope gives
when the trapdoor drops
experience informs
our wherewithal
without learning from
mistakes you make
you'll fall.

Mark's Notes:

This song was written at the Willowbrook Inn in Warwick, New York, in the winter of 1993.
It came out of pure inspiration, where your mind jumps track and suddenly, you are working on a different song than you meant to. Both the music and the lyrics were instantaneous and pretty much finished in one sitting.

I had spent a few weeks prior to this thinking about life in lyrical ways and I suppose it set in motion a momentum effect.

This song is about empathy, and the fact that we are all the same. That we are imperfect. So why do we condemn people for not living up to our expectations? There is some kind of forgiveness implied here by the common acknowledgement of the downward spiral in all of us. I felt I had dropped down deep into its philosophical zone.

Doc's contributions to the lyrics rescued the song a little from the plunge. I found it interesting. Doc is perceived as the more angry one, the most reclusive and anti-authoritarian one, yet somewhere in in all that he retains the sediments of the 60's idealism. Something that I never successfully acquired. My idealism came through Christianity, something I've since let go of, something I suspect I will never truly recover from.

I by default, became the harsh realist and Doc continues to hover somewhat above and our there. I think it is a better song for that and and much more accessible to people in general. In the end I think this is a collaborative version which will survive very well.

Doc's Notes:

At first Mark was a little bit apprehensive about the solemness of the theme of this song. He didn't want to bring a song on board which was too much of a downer. To my sensibilities, you could not get any more honest and straight forward than this. I could relate. He wrote the song about me, he wrote the song about everyone.

What is so disarming about 'We Fall' is the way Mark descends down through he deeply shaded layers of irony weaving his hushed word-play as tenderly, yet unsympathetically runs through a roster of our potential demises.

It's wonderful! Mark really has a great sounding voice and it's really showcased here. I didn't even want to try harmonizing for fear of breaking the spell. The melody is simply mesmerizing. I was however having pretty good luck of sneaking a bit of keyboards into most of our newer material, so I brought a little into the middle bridge and at the very end. I was very lucky to be a part of it.