My Mind Is For Sale

Listen while you read:  Jack Johnson

Well, I heard the blinker's on
I heard we're changing lanes
I heard he likes to race
I heard that six or seven words he likes to use
Are always in bad taste
And I heard that Monday's just a word we say
Every seven times around
And then we pin the tail on Tuesday
Watch those strings go up and down
And the elephant in the room begins to dance
The cameras zoom into
His mouth begins to move
Those hateful words he uses

I don't care for your paranoid
Us against them walls
I don't care for your careless
Me first gimme gimme appetite at all

And all the real estate in my mind is for sale
It's all been subdivided
Divided into reasons why
My two opposing thoughts at once are fine
The residue from the price tag
On the tip of my tongue
The words don't come, they go
How many likes I gotta get
Before I know the truth
And the truth is
Season three will be a great reason
To forget all about reality's
A slippery slope
Watch the TV scream and shout it

I don't care for your paranoid
Us against them walls
I don't care for your careless
Me first gimme gimme appetite at all

Now I heard the blinker's on
I heard we're changing lanes
I heard we need more space
I heard that six or seven words are in bad taste
It's absurd to believe that we might
Deserve anything
As if it's balanced in the end
And the good guys always win

I don't care for your paranoid
Us against them walls
I don't care for your careless
Me first gimme gimme appetite at all

~  Jack Johnson

All the Light Above It Too is Jack Johnson's first album since 2013. "My Mind Is For Sale" was released as a single back in July, but the entire album came out just a week ago. The video linked above was filmed with Johnson's iPhone, using his kids' blocks to build and break down walls. "It was the cheapest video I ever made. $0." And obviously, the rocks that he uses to build cairns on the beach added nothing to the cost. Watch it. It's cool.

If you picked up on the political theme of the song, you can pick up your prize at the end of this blog. Johnson doesn't hide his distaste for our Dear Leader, and yet the song sounds, in typical Jack Johnson fashion, upbeat and cheerful. If you missed the references to changing lanes, six or seven words he likes to use, pin the tail on Tuesday, strings go up and down, elephant in the room, and us against them walls, you might think the song is just another life-is-good-in-Hawaii Jack Johnson song. It's not.

My two opposing thoughts at once are fine appears to be a direct reference to George Orwell's concept of "doublethink" in 1984.  Johnson would not be the first one to connect the current administration to the dystopian society of Oceania. The Ministry of Truth has become the new normal in our White House. The cameras zoom into / His mouth begins to move / Those hateful words he uses.

You may have noticed that the lines of the song seem to run into one another in a rather clever way. Possibly a jab at someone's inability to complete a sentence? Or a thought? I feel like we've been living in fragments and run-on sentences for too long. Nothing makes any sense anymore. Together, maybe we can knock down those bad taste words, lest we become just another block in the wall.

But that's a song for another day.