The Memory Hole

I first encountered the concept of “the memory hole” right here on MetaFilter, in the often highly-charged but always revelatory political discussions surrounding the FPPs of resident MeFite muckrakers like y2karl, homunculus, and others.

This song is for all those among us who revolt against the basic psychological impulse to avoid looking the uglier aspects of reality and human nature squarely in the face, those who won't settle for less than truth when holding those in power to account, no matter how tempting it is to retreat into our paternalistic fantasies that the powerful can be trusted to keep our best interests at heart or that we might someday be welcomed into their club.

Many forgotten or overlooked incidents from recent history that I learned about either directly or indirectly from MetaFilter (like the coincidental suicides of two miners who had raised safety concerns in the aftermath of the Sago Mine explosion back in January 2006) also informed the creation of this song.

So, since this song began life here on MetaFilter, I figured this should also be the first place I shared it with the world.

The Memory Hole

They'll drown you out.
They'll cover you with white noise
until the signal's blotted out.

They'll wash you down
the memory hole, leave you
spinning round and round.

'Cause you whistle-blowers need to learn
to keep your mouths shut
and you teenage mothers need to learn
to keep your mouths shut

or there's someone who'll be glad
to shut 'em for you
and then make it look like an accident.

They'll drown you out,
no matter how loud you might try
to shout.

They'll drag you down
make you slap yourself in your own face
like a clown.

'Cause you whistle-blowers need to learn
to keep your mouths shut
and you teenage mothers need to learn
to keep your mouths shut

or there's someone who'll be glad
to shut 'em for you
and then make it look like an accident.

(Om mani padme hum...
Om mani padme hum...
Om mani padme hum...)

'Cause you whistle-blowers need to learn
to keep your mouths shut
and you teenage mothers need to learn
to keep your mouths shut
and you union workers need to learn
to keep your mouths shut

or there's someone who'll be glad
to shut 'em for you
and then make it look like an accident.

posted by saulgoodman (4 comments total)

awesome. the verse bass against the the chorus guitar = great counterpoint.

the canned drums could use a bit beefing up, but they're by no means bad. I like the idea of how you did them during the verse a little better than the execution, but that's about the only criticism i can give this.
posted by es_de_bah at 4:40 PM on April 23, 2008

thanks for the feedback es_de_bah! (i was starting to worry i'd sucked all the oxygen out of the thread with what in retrospect seems kind of too heavy a song description.)

i'm actually just starting to get the hang of working with my (relatively) new drum machine. this was one of my first attempts at trying to replicate the way i might have played the song on an actual kit. i'd really prefer to be able to get behind a real trap kit again for this one, but for now i just have to make do. i'll give your suggestions some thought when i come back to this one though.
posted by saulgoodman at 6:30 PM on April 23, 2008

whoa--i just realized listening to this on desktop speakers changes everything... ah well, it is still just a rough mix.
posted by saulgoodman at 1:30 PM on April 25, 2008

ah hell--this is the wrong mix completely. is there anyway to get a post removed? mods?
posted by saulgoodman at 1:47 PM on April 25, 2008