Selling the News

Album: Vice Versus (2011)
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Songfacts®:

  • This biting, largely spoken-word poetry slam finds frontman Jon Foreman coming close to rapping. He told Christianity Today magazine: "I've always loved the Dylan songs and Johnny Cash tunes that where spoken word is an integral part of the song, and so this is my first venture into that."
  • The song is an angry examination of a media-mad nation. Said Foreman to Christianity Today: "The beauty of song is that you can tell the truth, and sometimes you get fed up with the way it is. If you're well adjusted to injustice, then it's time to become maladjusted. One of the beautiful things about art of any kind is that it's a great outlet to vent these frustrations and maybe try and change things for the better.

    In the old days, whether it was Dylan or Lennon or Joan Baez, they called them protest songs. Is this the same type of thing today? Bob Dylan didn't like the term 'protest songs.' But yeah, there is something to be said for standing up and saying, 'This isn't correct. This isn't right. This isn't true. This isn't beautiful. This isn't honoring to your fellow man.' And I don't have any other way to express these things in an eloquent way, so it's going to come out in song."

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