One morning somewhere in 2018, I was just about to get in the shower when a groove appeared in my head. By the time I had exited the shower I had all the lyrics for both verses. Later that day I went into the studio and wrote the chorus.
As we began writing Kartoon World I suggested this song as a good fit. James had always liked it and it seemed to fit with Magic Money Tree. Later on we ended up with too much material but for some reason this song stayed.
The lyric 'hold on' kept coming back and it seemed to me that this was a theme in many people's lives… they were just holding on. A lot of these lyrics are self-explanatory and they seemed to flow without too much thought. I simply liked the sound of some words and intentionally made some fit where they didn't quite work!
I had in mind Peter Karrie (Phantom of the Opera) to voice the middle section. I had previously recorded an album and he would slip into voices. This section would be his rather old-fashioned New York Jew, who simply couldn't stand anything in the world anymore. He even rants about credit cards and mobile phones!
It remains a song I am quite proud of and being the first song written for Kartoon World it became something of a blueprint for a new Korgis style - more syncopated and rhythmic than anything the band had done before.
This is how The Korgis version ended up.
https://youtu.be/BETNmUKoVJk?si=0g2270kTa7cD2mQW
One step forward 2 steps back
just a breath away from a panic attack [aren't we all?]
there’s a horde of lawyers on your back [you know the ones that call you up?]
trying to hold on, can you hold on [re-iteration becomes a catch line]
One step forward 2 steps left [perhaps subconsciously thinking 'clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right]
wrap it up with red tape and tax it to death
thirty thousand junk calls making me deaf
can you hold on please? [re-iterations but with a different meaning]
This is the life, stupid and blind
Here is the life that we are living
if this is the life, then stand up and fight for love
the love you should be making? [unashamedly Lennon]
if this is the life
One step forward 2 steps back [a straight repeat of this line as another catch]
gamble with your life put it all on black [sometimes a tough decision is like that]
Funny how the rich get the bigger stack [when are we going to close the wealth divide?]
to hold on, to hold onto [re-iteration]
One step forward 2 steps right [Gerry Rafferty again]
never gonna beat this this hypocrite [a squeezed rhyme that I love!]
nothing that you touch seems to turn out right
but you hold on
Chorus
All the bankers in their greed
Politicians in their pens
Dictators on the make
Distorting religion for their own endS
Staring at Your mobile phone
Buy it on your credit card
Everyday a thousand children die
And you think your life is so hard?
This is the life, stupid and blind
Here is the life that we are living
if this is our time? then where can we find
all the love we say we’re giving?
now is the time, to put down the knife,
and ask, whose is the life you’re taking?
if this is the life, then stand up and fight for love
The love you should be making?
if this is the life
THIS IS THE LIFE x 1000000
Here is what the song sounded like as I wrote it…
https://youtu.be/SHGlS0UWie4