What About Me

Album: Spinning North (2023)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • In "What About Me," Tano Jones hits on the idea that we all have a lot in common, from the baby in the bayou to the girl in the short skirt standing on the red dirt.

    "I was wrapping my head around this idea that there are forces not only in our country but certainly in the world that look to divide folks and divide people, and it's been going on for quite a while," he explained on the Songfacts Podcast. "As I started to write that song it went down this direction relative to the idea of me versus we."

    "'What About Me' is a misnomer," he added. "It should be 'What About We.' I believe that we're all much more similar than we are different. I believe that we all want love, we all want wellness, whatever that means to us. And then I feel that we all work very hard, we all put forth a tremendous amount of effort for those that we love, whether you're single and it's for a parent or a grandparent or a neighbor; whether you have children; whether you have a spouse; whether you have an aunt or an uncle. So many of us work for others and for the wellness not only of ourselves, but providing for others. I feel in my heart that there's a true nobility in this idea that we all want wellness, we all want greener grass and a bluer sky."
  • Tano Jones, leader of The Tano Jones Revelry, had the idea for this song in 2020 before COVID hit. Once the pandemic started, he fleshed out the tune with his collaborator Andy Patalan from the band Sponge. He released the song as a single in 2023 and included it on the group's album Spinning North a year later.
  • When Jones presented "What About Me" to his co-producer Andy Patalan, Patalan told him it wasn't finished. This sent Jones on another musical journey that led to some ideas about generational struggle. Sure, we were dealing with a pandemic, but other generations had to deal with the Spanish flu, the Great Depression, and two world wars.

    "That's really what the D section presents, and really what I present in that tune," he told Songfacts. "We've gotten great feedback from around the world on it, which is really cool. We were given this geography on the rock, and I feel it's our responsibility to tend our garden. So for me, that D section is basically a call to Gen Z and other generations about looking after each other, and that's the work that we need to do to go forward."

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Angelo Moore of Fishbone

Angelo Moore of FishboneSongwriter Interviews

Fishbone has always enjoyed much more acclaim than popularity - Angelo might know why.

Amy Lee of Evanescence

Amy Lee of EvanescenceSongwriter Interviews

The Evanescence frontwoman on the songs that have shifted meaning and her foray into kids' music.

Joe Ely

Joe ElySongwriter Interviews

The renown Texas songwriter has been at it for 40 years, with tales to tell about The Flatlanders and The Clash - that's Joe's Tex-Mex on "Should I Stay or Should I Go?"

Tim Butler of The Psychedelic Furs

Tim Butler of The Psychedelic FursSongwriter Interviews

Tim and his brother Richard are the Furs' foundation; Tim explains how they write and tells the story of "Pretty In Pink."

Matthew Wilder - "Break My Stride"

Matthew Wilder - "Break My Stride"They're Playing My Song

Wilder's hit "Break My Stride" had an unlikely inspiration: a famous record mogul who rejected it.

Steely Dan

Steely DanFact or Fiction

Did they really trade their guitarist to The Doobie Brothers? Are they named after something naughty? And what's up with the band name?