“I Want To Work Less”… it feels like something I’m not supposed to say. It’s wrong that one must work more and more and more just to scrape by. The overall vibe of people these days… it feels like everyone is exhausted. It’s weird how the accepted numbers for how much things typically cost are just so much higher. Everything feels expensive. But it’s not the thing itself that’s happening that is hard to handle. It’s the collective mood of society. The mood is feeling like things are bad and getting worse. I see it in so many faces, and I hear the undertones in casual conversation. I feel like I need to go read something upbeat and humorous.
It’s like if society slowly stopped believing in Santa Claus, but on a sliding scale where the youngest don’t believe in him at all and the oldest are die hard believers and the last to become disillusioned. Santa Claus represents the notion that you can work a humane number of hours and live a decent life. This song is for those who don’t believe.
The whole song isn’t about me, it’s kind of about a lot of people I’ve had conversations with over the last couple of years. The one line that is definitely first person, “there’s pressure in my throat from too much stress”. That happened once when I picked up a second job. I had a lot of debt I was trying to pay off, and while working the second job, my throat would get tight. It was the worst sensation. I was pushing myself to the brink, and my body was reacting. I needed to work less.
Outside of song stuff, I found a demo of a song that now sounds finished to me. Like a sketch in a notebook but I’m into it. So I think I might have a new song a lot sooner than normal. And of course, I think finally coming around the bend, is Bear Factory. It’s coming, I promise.
To you, the person reading this right now, you are appreciated. I feel honored to have the opportunity to share music in this way.