Stop The Noise: Joywave – “Like A Kennedy”
Joywave
“Like A Kennedy”
What an interesting song. This is not exactly your happy-go-lucky song, even though the melody and music is poppy. The lyrics to this song are not even close to being poppy (check the lyrics at the bottom). Joywave is Daniel Armbruster: Vocals * Paul Brenner: Drums * Joseph Morinelli: Guitar * Benjamin Bailey: Keyboards/Guitars, and they’ve been around, making a splash and a great impression at the festivals around the country. Though the song sounds political, Armbruster tells it like this:
“I think a lot of people will probably try to fit this song into some type of political narrative,” says Armbruster in an exclusive Audio Commentary (streaming song alongside the song HERE), “but that’s really not the point. It’s a song about complete exhaustion and media burnout. It’s an anti-chaos song. Every screen you walk by DEMANDS your attention. Everything is BREAKING NEWS in all caps. It’s a really difficult time to think about the mundane small-scale things that have been the focus of human existence until very recently. I don’t think people should check out, but I think it’s beneficial to at least zoom out and not take the bait every time. It feels like everything is designed to keep us enraged 24 hours a day. We deserve a little sanity.”
I just love this song. The keyboard with Armbruster plaintive voice overtop, then the wonderful additions of the rest of the instruments, building in cadence to underscore the lyrics. And Joywave is so correct: we need to unplug from the media and listen to music. And Joywave is a damned good place to start.
My head is swelling like a Kennedy
I won’t be afraid,
I won’t be afraid I’m spilling on my Jackie next to me
She hopes for the best,
but I’m losing faith
Are they gonna bomb us all?
I don’t know
Do you think they’ll build the wall?
I don’t know
My TV’s talking to itself again
Do we shoot ‘em all dead?
Or should we let ‘em all in?
Reporter stops me in the street and says
They’d love to get a quote,
it’ll only take a sec
Are they gonna bomb us all?
I don’t know
Do you think they’ll build the wall?
I don’t know
Do you think they’ll take it all?
I don’t know
I just want to be fat and old
And happy
