Song picture
Nation of Victims
Comment Share
Free download
We are responsible for ourselves.
singer songwriter guitarist lover berg fighter champlin
Artist picture
Political rock with 70s influences and an angry folk approach.
I've been playing guitar forever, and sometimes seem helplessly lost in the 70's. I am old enough to not understand the music my kid listens too, which is pretty bad because as a kid I couldn't understand why my parents didn't like my music. After several high school band disasters with names like Umm and The Polish Disco and Blues Band I graduated to playing in several college near disasters, including The Weebles (we fell down) and The Necroids (existential punk rock), and The Mods. Most of the gigs I do now are solo in nature, and if I need a band I have a small cadre of musicians I can draw from. My writing tends to lean toward the political, but it is always personal. The best piece of advice I ever got was to write about what you know. I use folk influences and elements of seventies rock. I tend to be blues based when playing electric guitar and more folk based on the acoustic guitar. I am forced to be a multi-instrumentalist when recording, and find I enjoy branching out. I also play Irish Bouzouki, dulcimer, bass, and drums.
Song Info
Genre
Rock Rock General
Charts
Peak #1,027
Peak in subgenre #220
Author
Stephen Berg
Rights
2005 by Stephen Berg
Uploaded
April 22, 2009
Track Files
MP3
MP3 4.0 MB 128 kbps 4:22
Story behind the song
This is a song that I struggled with a lot, and the lyrics changed a lot. I don't want to sound intolerant. We do need to take personal responsibility for our actions, and this song touches on things that really annoy me. Drunk drivers annoy me. There is no excuse. Domestic abuse annoys me. It annoys me when the person with the power can physically harm someone and somehow feel they are the victims. Lastly, there are people that love to victimize, and yet still feel that they themselves are worthy of pity. It took me a long time to get the guitar sounds I wanted, and this is pretty garage-ey but still clean.
Lyrics
You're a victim, you know I hear you say You say nothing here is your fault, so you push the blame away You got drunk and smashed your car last night You know the bartender, he didn't do you right You know he let you have one more for the road You're a victim, you know I hear you say You say you didn't mean to hurt her But she makes you feel that way You put the blame on somebody else And displace the guilt away from yourself You say you don't know what it was that you are doing The victimization of America, it takes the blame away No one here to blame but someone else For the things you do or say But we can't help ourselves anyway We're a nation of victims You're a victim, you know I hear you say That's why you gotta feel the hurt It takes your blues away You've got to make your mark by dishing out pain Then blame the world again and again As you wallow in your pain and your grief and your self pity
Comments
Please sign up or log in to post a comment.