Song Premiere: Mack Hooligan’s “Your Goddamn Walls”

Listen & Watch Song Premieres
Americana Highways presents this premiere of “Your Goddamn Walls,” the title track from Mack Hooligan’s forthcoming EP, which is bundled with a “B side” second EP The Wrecking Life.  “Your Goddamn Walls” is John Faye on drums, bass, percussion, vocals, effects; Mack Hooligan on vocals, guitars, and percussion;  with Eleanor Garrison on harmony vocals.
Backed by his 14-year old daughter’s youthful yet ethereal high harmony vocals, Hooligan has tapped into the frailty of human defensiveness on many levels.  All manner of people have walls: friends, lovers, or even parents.  On another layer, societies and nations wall off others.  “Last time I checked you were made of flesh and blood…  were way above your pedestal.  Why can’t you live here with the rest of us?”  Suspenseful guitar buildup and pleading vocals with wrenching harmonies render “Your Goddamn Walls” an irresistible earworm.

Though the title might suggest that the song addresses topical political issues, it’s actually a very personal song. It’s about my struggle to deal with a certain type of personality: people who are cold and remote, and who try to erect walls around themselves so that it’s impossible to get to know them or understand their view of you, even if you interact with them regularly. Surprisingly, quite a few friends who have heard the song have remarked that they could definitely relate to it, as they have had a relative or friend who treated them with that same kind of disdainful remoteness. Apparently (and sadly), a lot of folks have also had to deal with the resulting emotional damage that kind of personality can inflict on others. So the song ponders the question: *Why* do people of that personality type feel they have to treat others with such heartless haughtiness? Is it because they’re afraid of recognizing (or admitting) their own frail humanity and fallibility? I don’t know the answer to that question, but the song tries to imagine its way to one, in the hope that understanding the need driving the behavior can lead to forgiveness, compassion and healing. — Mack Hooligan

 

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