Theatre of the Mind

The melody and message for this song merged together as the concept evolved. A general distaste and annoyance had been mulling about in my head over the plight of modern advertising and its affect on our decisions. Several incidents had occurred to support my theory leading up to the writing of 'Theatre of the Mind' (formerly ‘The Emperors New Clothes’). I was tired of trickery, contrived substance and mindless consumerism of corporate products. It seemed as if so many people were obsessed with forcing their engineered self concept on others. You know that inauthentic attitude of ‘keep saying what you want people to think, and eventually they will have no choice but to accept it even though it may be utterly detrimental to their empowerment’.

I formulated the tune to express an impartial sense of humour to this all consuming cultural phenomenon. After I laid the basic structure of the song form, I sat in a pub down the road and through three baileys coffees and an ill stomach the first image was coined. ‘I sat their gazing at a coloured can of Campbell’s soup, and wondered why it was so cool’. I had been to see the Andy Warhol exhibition many years before and accessed the confusing world of the avand-garde of a previous generation for the first time. The essential conflict of ‘is it bull-shit or is it profound’ presented a moral challenge that will continue throughout my life. This song is to represent that luxury.

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