I can't speak for the rest of the world but in the UK we have a big problem with certain sensationalist newspapers. Headlines and stories specifically designed as click-bait to make more money for the newspaper, support whichever political agenda they are in alliance with - at whatever consequence, irrelevant of whether its old news or fake news.
One way politicians control large groups of people is to get them scared and make them feel threatened. Find a group of people different to your target voters and paint them as the villains, create division and unite the voters in some solidarity of hate for that different group. You don’t have to look far for examples of this… Modern day USA with Trump and Muslims or in the UK with
UKIP against immigrants or Hitler with Jewish people. It’s a repeated pattern throughout history that is still happening all around us. I’m sure in the UK, you can nip out to the newsagents and pick up a copy of the
Daily Mail to see an example right now of the types of stories and language they use to turn you against your neighbours.
I haven’t travelled around the world anywhere near as much as I’d like to, but the more I do travel, the more I realise that despite are cultural differences/upbringing, we are the same underneath. We want to feel intimacy, understood, a sense of being part of something, to protect our loved ones and we want to laugh too.
Thanks to the wonderful and vibrant Annee Patrice for singing on this one and travelling across London twice to come and record - we met at a gig about 5 years ago now but have stayed in touch since then. This song was written as part of
FAWM in 2017; started and finished in one day. I had a whole bunch of brainstormed lyrics before settling on the final format; one of those included repeated "mantra" style lyrics. I dropped that hook in the end but the name 'mantra' stayed in the title.
Mantra For The Lost
Some are safe, some are in danger
Some believe it's nature/nurture
Some are privileged, some out of favour
Some are friends, we think they're strangers
Some cast love over fear and hating
Some are stubborn, some change their behaviours
Some choose now, never or later
Some will fail, to be greater
Less hope, less motivation
Less money, less chance of education
Less religion, less isolation
Less fear, less insulation
More reading, more stimulation
More variety, more immigration
More cultural integration
More understanding, more liberation
In the old days they used to say that
It was the end of times back then
It’s not the end of times yet
But how close are we gonna get?
In the old days they used to say that
It was the end of times back then
It’s not the end of times yet
But how close are we gonna get?
In the old days they used to say that
It was the end of times back then
It’s not the end of times yet
But how close are we gonna get?
In the old days they used to say that
It was the end of times back then
It’s not the end of times yet
But how close are we gonna get?
In the old days they used to say that
It was the end of times back then
It’s not the end of times yet
But how close are we gonna get?
Mantra For The Lost (Feat. Annee Patrice) was written, performed, recorded and produced by Web Sheldon and features vocals by Annee Patrice. Mastered by Dave at Dragonfly Studios, Bristol.
