[00:00:00] Welcome to Strung Out, the podcast that looks at life through the lens of an artist. Your host is the artist, writer, and musician, Martin LaUrence McCormack. Now here's Marty.
[00:00:16] Hey everybody. Glad to have you with us and um, it's a rainy overcast day here in Chicago and as you can tell, uh, I got hit. With a major summer cold. So I'm going to do a brief podcast, at least for this round and, um, uh, try to get some rest because, uh, the month of August is going to be probably one of the busiest ones for myself personally, and as well as for the band Switchback and, um, that bears good news for anybody that's following in the band, the release of the album, Red or Blue.
[00:01:03] Thankfully and happily, we are getting some great reviews. Uh, the album is starting to get picked up by playlists. And these days that's where it's at. Uh, Spotify, some other people with their own websites and other podcasters talk about the albums that they like. They talk about the bands they like, and it's great.
[00:01:33] It's immensely gratifying to get some wonderful reviews over some of these albums, uh, uh, well this album and over some of these songs. So I'm not going to talk too much. What I would like to do is just kind of showcase three songs from the album and, uh, those of you that are watching this will just listen to it while you watch it.
[00:02:03] And the first one is the title track, Red or Blue. Now, one of the funny things about being in a songwriting partnership is each guy has his own idea of how that song was written, or who said what, especially if it's a guy like Brian and myself, being two very obstinate Irishmen, admittedly. So, all I can give you is just my version of events, and, uh, Brian has his.
[00:02:40] And in the end, it really doesn't matter too much, but the song was written a couple of days after we were playing in Kentucky. There was the incident in Charlottesville and we just couldn't get over the fact that on the radio, as we were heading up through Tennessee into Indiana, uh, there was a local radio station, right wing guy talking about the people of Charlottesville.
[00:03:21] And. I never heard of this guy before, but it just kind of struck me that, uh, this was pandering to some degree, this idea of like, let's just stoke up people, get them angry and, and, uh, that's the Brian and I got talking to him, uh, about that and that's how that song came about was we both felt like enough was enough that.
[00:03:50] Back in the day, when we were younger, you hardly ever talked to religions or politics. It was totally taboo because you wanted to have friends. And this whole idea of, uh, adversaries is very unique from clashes in the past. Historically. The reason I say that is because there are certain people on both the left and the right that profit from getting you worked up.
[00:04:27] So that's what the song's about, kind of, uh, just, I never was red or blue. I was always told to vote for the person, vote for the policies. So let's give a listen and see if, uh, you concur. Red or blue.
[00:04:58] Day or two after Charlottesville,
[00:05:06] rolling down the interstate,
[00:05:11] tuned in. A guy from Louisville
[00:05:17] fearing hate.
[00:05:29] They know just what they do.
[00:05:35] Raking in the bucks, running up some muck. Talking up the red old blue.
[00:05:47] Mr. Congressman in Washington
[00:05:55] Where are you taking your cues?
[00:06:00] You want me to see the enemy Thinking that I might be you When you're on TV, it's plain to see You're taking a narrow view
[00:06:23] Your true master disaster. Paintless. Red or blue?
[00:06:34] Red, blue.
[00:06:38] I never was red or blue.
[00:06:45] Red or
[00:06:50] the?
[00:06:58] Tired of the red or the blue.
[00:07:17] A cheerless anger puts us in danger.
[00:07:23] People are forming ranks. It's the Pandora's box. They unlock. And from all the way to the bank.
[00:07:39] The enemies of democracy. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
[00:08:03] Yeah. He's from the united. We could provide better than the red or blue. Tired of the red or blue.
[00:08:31] Hello, I'm Polly Chase, here with artwork by Marty McCormick. This is titled Dream. It's an 8 by 10 pen and ink drawing. Be lovely in an office or child's room. Anywhere you need inspiration to let go and see where your dreams can take you. To inquire about pricing and to view other pieces of Marty's artwork, go to martinmcormick.
[00:08:56] com. Thank you. And we're back. The second song that I want to play is called, uh, What I Know Now. And this song was a song that really came about in the basement. of my house here in Chicago. Uh, Brian had been working on a little, uh, guitar riff that you hear throughout the song. And it struck me very much like a Simon and Garfunkel kind of vibe.
[00:09:33] And the song pretty much wrote itself. Um, and for whatever reason, it just felt like In the pronouncing of, had I know, had I know, had I known back then, just didn't feel right to me. It just felt better for me to kind of throw a D on node. And, uh, it just sang easier for me. And it was a little more folksy, I thought.
[00:10:06] And, uh, it's very lightly treated. Thank you. You know, but had I know it back then, had I know it back then, a little more conversational. And that's really why that was written that way. And uh, I think too, subconsciously, it, it touches a little bit on our career. You know, we, we've been at it for almost 40 years now and it's been a great career.
[00:10:40] It's been hard. But the thing that really hits me about it. When we talk about our career, uh, Brian and I both kind of feel that had the chance came up again, probably would do it again. And it's an odd business and fate can be very fickle. And that's what you have to live with and deal with and accept.
[00:11:08] Not everybody gets to be Taylor Swift, or Bruce Springsteen, or whoever. And it's wonderful those people achieve their success. But in the meantime, there's a lot of people out there working hard, and I've talked about it before. But this really goes for anybody right now. I have a lot of friends that are maybe in jobs that they feel like it hasn't been the best, but that job is used to maintain the relationship or keep things going.
[00:11:45] And we tend to get hoodwinked by, again, what social media wants us to feel is the right things in life. And these days, what that is, is being rich, being famous. That's our religion these days. So, this song kind of just pairs all that away down to the deathbed kind of thinking of things. And, um, it's a powerful song in its simplicity.
[00:12:29] That's my feeling. So let's give a listen to that song right now. And you are very patient and kind. And hauling along with an under the weather murty on this issue of Strung Out. We'll be back after this song and break.
[00:13:01] Had a note back then.
[00:13:08] What I know now. Had a note back then. What I know now, had
[00:13:22] I known back then, had I
[00:13:33] known back then, what I know now.
[00:13:55] Well I had good times,
[00:14:01] had bad times too. Made mistakes.
[00:14:13] Quite a few. Had an old back then. Had
[00:14:26] an old back then.
[00:14:36] What I know now. Well
[00:14:47] it goes to show.
[00:15:20] If I had the chance,
[00:15:27] I'd dance the same tune. If I had the chance,
[00:15:37] I'd still ask you. Had a note back then, Had a note back then, Had a note back then, Had a note back then, How'd I know back then, what I know now?
[00:16:34] Hey, wanna show your support of Martin's artist endeavors? Buy me a coffee is an online site that makes supporting Marty easy. In just a few taps, you can make a payment of any amount and no account is needed. You can also decide to become an ongoing supporter. Go to martinmcormack. com and click on the words Support Martin.
[00:16:57] Let's help Martin keep it all capital.
[00:17:06] Let's end with a bang. This song was the song that was written as we drove south to a gig in the St. Louis area.
[00:17:19] And the group Tears for Fears had just come out with a new release. And if you were anywhere in the nineties and you were a duo, you really looked up to these guys. I, I thought their songwriting, their everything was just so, so darn good. You know. Who wouldn't want to have written Everybody Wants to Rule the World?
[00:17:47] It's just a great song. It's just, it's just a great song. And they have that nice, healthy, British sense of, of brooding, I think. Well, this, this new song kind of was there looking at the grave, I guess. And, uh, it was post pandemic. Very dark, I thought. It's And, uh, Brian and I were talking about it as we're driving along and I'm like, um, we gotta, we gotta lift up people's spirits.
[00:18:22] People need to feel happy and able to get out there and dance. And then Brian reminisced about, you know, his family and how you would put together a party and you would roll up the carpet, you know, move the tables out of the room. That's it. And, uh, my brothers and I, we did that when we had our band and we, you know, in Chicago and everything got cleared out and people came from miles.
[00:18:48] We didn't even know who the hell some of these people were, but it was fun. And that idea of self made fun and the idea because of self made fun, you have the power to create your own joy. And that's really what that's about. And if you really wanted to look at it. At least from my perspective, that's what, for me, my life has been about, trying to create joy for others by working hard to be joyful myself.
[00:19:21] In full confession, I'm a person that, uh, I know in my family, depression and melancholy runs about, uh, you know, three miles deep. So, that can be a daily struggle. Especially if you feel as an artist that you're not appreciated for what you do. It's extremely difficult, but I'm not alone. And there are those days, and I have to remind myself that this is every time I paint, every time I sing, every time I lift up the guitar, that's my last chance to do something like that joyfully.
[00:20:09] And that is really what the crux of this song is. And that's why we put it right at the top of the album. And if you study the lyrics, you're going to see, uh, how we talk about. We've got to pick ourselves up by bootstraps. And then there's a little bit of that odd switchback humor. We, uh, we threw in, uh, hear the robin sing its song.
[00:20:34] Well, the dance in the living room alluded to Baby Robin, and when we recorded that song years ago, Mike Kegler, when he was recording us, our engineer, great friend, he had such a laugh on that. He thought, who, who writes lyrics with Baby Robin? Um, we do. Guilty as charged. So we kind of snuck that Robin in.
[00:21:01] Will there be another album with Robin? Remains to be seen. So, again, I thank you for your patience, for listening to my voice. I apologize that this is coming out a day later. I do have some great interviews, fingers crossed. I'm not going to announce them yet. Uh, because I've been trying so hard to get these guys, these, these individuals.
[00:21:24] And hopefully they will come through. And hopefully I'll be a much better voice. I have to get my voice back because I've got an album to deliver to all you guys. Please check out the new Switchback website. My friend Jim Sundberg, uh, rescued us from, uh, a very just tired looking website. We had that website going since the pandemic, and Jim, uh, has been, along with his wife Karen, a great friend of the band for years.
[00:21:56] Really a brother to, uh, Brian and myself. And, uh, a weird brother, but a brother. And those are the best, the Weird Brothers. So uh, Jim, Jim is coming through for us as well as a lot of other people who have stepped up to help us, uh, throughout the years. So when you do make joy, you guys, you have to remember those people that are your allies in making joy.
[00:22:25] And I'm going to let you listen to the song because I can feel my nose draining. So that's it. Thanks for listening. We're going to listen out on this and I will see you soon. God bless.
[00:22:55] Can't have what we had What's
[00:23:02] gone for good, ain't all bad
[00:23:08] A new world, for the brave
[00:23:14] Pulled from the ruins, what to save Been
[00:23:21] on the dead for so long
[00:23:27] Hear the robber, sing a song It's time to explore It's
[00:23:54] in him or Climb aboard the wild ride
[00:24:06] Learn to listen on the inside
[00:24:11] Born with gifts we don't deserve Hit the sun Roll up the carpet Fix the table and chairs Everything's a little Nothing to fear Play some music, everybody dance. Ooh, our last chance. Consider the source. Let the madness run its course. Lose your temper, gain control. Open up your heart.
[00:25:14] To a kindred soul.
[00:25:19] Don't surrender to the night. Shine the light. Roll up the carpet. Deep with chest. Think to listen. Nothing to fear. Play some music. Everybody dance. Our last chance. Cop it. Roll up the carpet. for listening. For more information about this show or a transcript, visit us at www. aclu. org.
[00:26:36] Visit Martin mccormack.com While there, sign up for our newsletter. See you next time on Strung Out.
[00:26:49] So some wrong pain we feel makes no sense at all. The Swan song was a part of the deal was no good Call. Giving out Joy, giving out that.
