Your Attention Please

Lyrics here. Sorry, no video.

Primrose was one of those songs that I didn't really "get" even after going over the lyrics. I wish I could find a link for you all to see, but I stumbled upon an interview where Jeremy lays out what he was thinking when he wrote this song.

It was somewhat of a response to Bill Clinton being elected in 1992. The way Jeremy put it, there was all this adulation coming from celebrities and everyone thinking that the country was going to be perfect now that he was elected (sound familiar?). Pent-up frustration led to an overflowing and outpouring of all hopes and dreams pinpointed on this one elected official.

I was only 15 during that election and I can remember that in a "straw poll" in art class I picked Ross Perot over Bush and Clinton. I didn't really follow politics at that time or any other time really over the next 10 years or so. It didn't interest me and it's probably why I couldn't pick up on the themes in this song. I didn't even really know the difference between right and left wing, Republicans and Democrats, liberals and conservatives. But today I get it.

Relevant would be the key word to describe "Primrose" today. There is definitely more to this song than a right vs. left, our team is better than your team anthem. People still think that just getting the right person in office will solve all of our problems. But the key here is that "we will all face God someday" and not just our elected officials. We cannot fool ourselves into thinking that by pinning our problems on a left-wing donkey or right-wing elephant that we have somehow absolved ourselves of any of the blame. Abdicating our responsibility is not we are called to do.

By the same token, elevating a single person to savior status is also unbecoming, to say the least. The primrose view can overtake us and we give up our responsibilities by saying, "It's OK. He/she will take care of everything." Even though "they" are telling everyone that everything is OK, what are we finding out for ourselves? More timeless lyrics from Mr. Post.

What about the music behind the lyrics? This song is fairly straightforward (for Sceva) in its structure although it does take an instrumental journey after the verses and choruses are sung. Everything sonically marches toward the point that this song is trying to make: "Look at whose looking glass you're looking through before the primrose view overtakes you." There is no doubt left about what they want you to take away from this song.

Find out for yourself!