BTB Breakdown #2

 The Flobots

DISCLAIMER: Remember, this is how "I" interpret the song. If you disagree or have a different point of view I'd be glad to hear it but don't bag on me for my opinion. For this song I decided to not look online for any help or research. This is purely my personal interpretation of what the song means to me.

 Title: Superhero
Artist: The Flobots
Genre: Hip-Hop, Symphonic Rock
[Song]
 

 Lyrics

We believed in love when love wasn't an option
She wanted to give birth
I wanted adoption
After days and days of conversation
We decided to go with fertilization
Then came baby showers and Lamaze classes
2 AM phone calls 1 Minute contractions
But then they whisked me away like Brigadoon
No domestic partners in the delivery room

But if I was a superhero I would break free
Wouldn't need anyone to come and save me
And you couldn't make me feel like I'm crazy
I would see my baby

If I was a superhero I would break free
And I wouldn't be imprisoned where ever you take me
I would change everyone who's trying to change me
I would see my baby

Life in an occupied land is hard
We pushed harder
Soon to be a mom
Him to be a father
Boys with guns at the checkpoint in Rafah
Wouldn't let me pass
When I said 'I need a doctor!'
I don't know the source of the passport errors
Or how four hours produced a miscarriage
But when it come to populations to disparage
Gaza is on the list right below gay marriage

There's something on my heart
There's someone on my mind
I never would have thought
That I could be so angry
But please give me the patience
Please give me the patience  

Breakdown

  If you hadn't known from previous knowledge, The Flobots are a political-activist group bringing to the public their personal opinions against government actions, on moral issues and laws, and ideas on third-world countries and controversial topics. This particular song addresses two main issues and touches lightly upon a third. 

   Also a little tidbits of not very significant lyrical points. A Lamaze class is just a class on techniques to have an easier birth by having controlled breathing etc. The Brigadoon refers to an album by The Ancestors, which has a Pink Floyd type sound and probably influenced the artist and whisked him away, metaphorically like the doctor. You can check them out here:

           Fertilization & Gay Marriage

  The intro stanza creates a setting of a man and woman deciding on how they would have their child. The mother wants to have a natural birth but the father wants to adopt a child, but they decide on having a child in the traditional fashion, sex [fertilization]. The baby is finally being born and then the father is taken out of the delivery room because he is not allowed to be in the delivery room. 

   Although this is a literal interpretation, I feel as if the Flobots intended to have a stronger impact on social issues through their music, and the last line, saying domestic partners, can alter the meaning of the entire passage. I believe this is more of the message that they were trying to convey:

   The setting is a controversial love between two women, therefore their love not being an option. They've decided that they want to have a child of their own and they have two options: one is to have the more feminine one fertilized and therefore have a birth; the other option is to adopt a child and raise it as if it were their own. The "wife" of the domestic partnership finally gives birth and the other woman is not allowed to view the birth because no one is allowed in the delivery room. 

     This possibly points to two controversial subjects, fertilization through sperm banks and same sex marriage. Being a political activist group, the Flobots therefore have the position to bring up these topics and their beliefs echo in the lines of being a superhero to break free from societal bonds and having and giving the freedom of personal beliefs, lifestyles, and decisions to everyone. They wouldn't be the ones seeming crazy because they would change everyone that's trying to change them. Therefore they would be the one's seeming right-minded against their current oppressors of personal choice. The philistine decision makers of the world would have their bondage on the public broken if he could become a superhero and make the decision for people to have their own decisions. Personally he would be able to change the law against  marital presence in the delivery room and therefore he would get to see his baby. This last line rings with an innocent tone because the power of a superhero would be used by him to not change and corrupt the world or to take control because of personal greed, but rather to just be able to see his newborn baby.

           Gaza 

    This is personally a more empowering and meaningfully significant stanza because it is probably one of the few more mainstream bands that I've ever seen address the topic of Palestine and the inhumanity of the checkpoints and Israeli control of the Gaza strip. Throughout this land there are numerous checkpoints that prevent innocent Palestinians from traversing their homeland. Here they face discrimination, unjustified stops, and inhuman choke-holds on daily passages and necessary traverses. They bring up an actual occurrence, a non-fictional example of the unlawfulness of the checkpoints, in which a pregnant mother was about to give birth and a checkpoint was between her and the nearest hospital. The Israeli soldiers at the checkpoint wouldn't let them pass through the checkpoint because it was against their orders. Perhaps it was their personal lust and hate against the Palestinian people that brought the cruelty upon the nearly new parents. However, more likely is the inhuman laws created by the Israeli government to control and suppress the Palestinian people. The soldiers are just the minions forced to uphold the laws and the real villains are those that created them and caused the death of a firstborn because of a ridiculous oppression of the innocent by the powers. 

   Though I may be biased on the topic, these are real unjustified societal bondages laid upon the people of Gaza and there is plenty of evidence that proves this. I've seen a documentary created by an Israeli woman talking about these actions and it was emotionally moving; the settlements, the laws, the unbelievable ways the people were being discriminated against, all happening in our world right now. Life in an occupied land IS hard, too hard for us, the ones that take daily actions for granted, to truly comprehend. I am guilty of this truly ungrateful occupation that we all have. 

    The fact that the Flobots have the courage and the power to speak out so powerfully about these topics is truly what makes their songs so moving and powerful. The lyrics are more meaningful and more significantly empowering than some of the party music we hear daily. Some momentary dosage of a deeper, darker reality is needed to remind us of how lucky we are and how, if we can't directly help those being suppressed, at least remember what they have to go through daily. If they COULD be superhero's then the suppression, the crimes, the violence, the unlawful actions,  the hatred, the wars, everything that hurts the innocent would all be changed by those who aren't being controlled or changed by others. Ultimately, the reward would be that they would all get to finally see their baby, whatever that baby might be: freedom, personal expression, or personal choice.

     Fin

   The closing stanza expresses the feelings from the perspective of Jamie Laurie, the singer and creator of The Flobots. He is personally angered by all the injustices in the world that need to be changed and acted against. He asks for the patience to wait for change, and for the wrongs to righted. 

This song isn't just a one of a kind song, the entire Flobot's album deserves the deference for its meaning and musical beauty. If you ever have the time listen to the entire compilation on their Myspace [check their album, Survival Story, HERE] or even purchase the album and support the band. Even torrent it, but as long as you listen to their messages. It truly is a meaningful and beautifully empowering compilation. 




Hope you enjoid yet another song synopsis. Hopefully this one was clear because I just wrote as I listened without correcting anything or changing ideas. Also, still have yet to recieve a comment and opinion on ANYTHING. Be a maverick, the first to comment !

With love
-rami