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about
Puritans was fun to write because it allowed us to explore the theme of people seeking to deceitfully control the behavior of others "for their own good." This noble conceit ends up being the justification for terrible acts, like witch burning, maiming humans, the Inquisition, jail sentences for consensual crime, and missionary zeal that leads to cultural destruction.
Musically, the song developed from a major 7th pattern our guitarist Kurt Barabas played on the guitar that led us to a minor 9th sequence that just seemed big. On the chorus, we were shooting for a lovely church choir sound as the well-meanings voices reflect on the "virtue" of their beliefs that crush others, but only for the "right reasons". Last, but certainly not least, we integrated a funky vamp-outro that we all just loved playing. "Practice what you preach" sort of sums up the whole lyrical theme of the song.
lyrics
Seeing themselves, like all do gooders do
Crusaders for good, sorting vice from virtue
From a thousand church pews
The Puritan ghosts haunt us still
From cabinet posts up on capital hill—it flows down
No dancing tonight, no incandescent lights
No gambling allowed, no raw milk from a cow—you might die
Gonna keep you safe (gonna keep you well)
Gonna stop the stuff (we don't like ourselves)
We can legislate (morality)
And incarcerate (for any old thing)
Bully the sheep with laws and virtuous schemes
The end justifies the harshest of means
The guardian class, it seeks to control
What we can do and what we should know—they push down
Protecting us all even from ourselves
Cause only Mother knows how to keep us well—we bow down
Gonna save this place (no wood burning fires)
We'll clean up this town (no sex that’s for hire)
You get no right to die (you must live in pain)
No matter how you try (we will run the game)
Curfews at night, we got drug wars to fight
Food laws galore, until you can't feed the poor
Practice what you preach
Don't you live in the dark age
Churchly arrogance
As your building the next cage
If love is all it takes
Why you filled with so much rage
Is is turn the other cheek
Or branding the next "A"
credits
released October 27, 2017
Steven Rogers, Kurt Barabas
