We Are The People

Album: Silent Cry (2008)
Charted: 25
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Songfacts®:

  • Lead singer and guitarist Grant Nicholas spoke to I Like Music about this song that talks of change and uniting: "Obviously it has a big anthemic trademark. I just sat down and wrote that song. The lyrics came at the same time as the melody, which is unusual for me. I just really liked the line 'We are the people'. I'm not sure if it is about a specific change, it's more about inspiring change in any way. There have been so many horrible things happening, particularly in the last three years. That was the time that I was writing the album. That track was clearly inspired by that time and the feelings it generated. I have started to think about the future a bit more now because I have two little kids. I know it sounds weird, but when you have kids you do think more about the future.

    That song is not meant to be a protest song, it is just meant to make people open their eyes and maybe just get on a bit more. It is a song about change. I suppose it is a call to arms in some ways, but not in a violent way. It is a song that I wanted to be big and anthemic. It was an unusual choice for a single but we felt that it represented the direction we want to take musically."
  • In the same I Like Music interview, Grant Nicholas discussed his songwriting: "I write on an acoustic. It is usually the melody of a basic song and then some La de da lyrics, or a guide lyric. With We Are The People, that line came as I was writing the chorus, I literally had that line, I didn't have all the lyrics. The lyrics for that came naturally. With some songs it can be a lot harder. It is often with the more poppy songs that it is difficult, because the lyrics have to rhyme etc. and you are always trapped. You try and make it cool and you are trying to tell a story. Sometimes I don't want it to be too abstract, although everybody gets something different from the lyrics. That's one of the things I like about music, that it can be open to interpretation."

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