Doing The Right Thing

Album: Not To Disappear (2016)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • This song tackles the delicate subject of dementia and its debilitating, all-pervading effect on family. Vocalist Elena Tonra told Q magazine about the lyrical content: "It was one of those songs that just came gushing out," she said. "It was originally about my grandmother and how I feel about Alzheimer's and dementia, and how much her illness affects me. I was trying to see things from her perspective, but it does shift a bit to me talking to my mother as well, and the way that she must be feeling about her own mother."

    "It floats around a bit," Tonra added. "Maybe it's one of those things that I just needed to write about that. I probably didn't realize that until I had written it."
  • The video was directed by Iain Forsyth & Jane Pollard (filmmakers of the Nick Cave film 20,000 Days on Earth). The clip, which follows an old man who cares for a wife suffering from dementia, was the first in a trilogy of interlinked films the group worked on with Forsyth and Pollard after short story writer Stuart Evers adapted the narratives of three Not To Disappear tracks into screenplays. "We definitely wanted to make something that wasn't simply a music video but had a bit of a movie quality to it, so an approach that was maybe more about short movies," guitarist Igor Haefeli told Billboard magazine.

    "We shot them in about four days altogether all in a row in a small city in England," he added.

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

70s Music Quiz 1

70s Music Quiz 1Music Quiz

The '70s gave us Muppets, disco and Van Halen, all which show up in this groovy quiz.

Al Kooper

Al KooperSongwriter Interviews

Kooper produced Lynyrd Skynyrd, played with Dylan and the Stones, and formed BS&T.

Mike Campbell

Mike CampbellSongwriter Interviews

Mike is lead guitarist with Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, and co-writer of classic songs like "Boys Of Summer," "Refugee" and "The Heart Of The Matter."

Krishna Das

Krishna DasSongwriter Interviews

The top chant artist in the Western world, Krishna Das talks about how these Hindu mantras compare to Christian worship songs.

Chris Frantz of Talking Heads

Chris Frantz of Talking HeadsSongwriter Interviews

Talking Heads drummer Chris Frantz on where the term "new wave" originated, the story of "Naive Melody," and why they never recorded another cover song after "Take Me To The River."

Martyn Ware of Heaven 17

Martyn Ware of Heaven 17Songwriter Interviews

Martyn talks about producing Tina Turner, some Heaven 17 hits, and his work with the British Electric Foundation.