Can We Stop the War Machine?

Is there a switch that we can flip?

My Dear, peaceful Fauxs,

I sometimes think of the song “Down by the Riverside,” and wonder, did the people who released this recording and made a bundle of money off it really think humanity was going to turn off the War Machine because of the good feeling this song conveys?

Can a song really change anything?

Is there anything we can do to stop the War Machine?

Is it an evolution thing?

Have we not evolved sufficiently to flip the switch?

Are we even capable of ending war?

Are we all on the same page that George W. Bush was a disgrace for this country?

Do we need a new party to stop the War Machine?

---

Egad, I’ve been toying around with this song for so long that I’ve just got to get this version out there now!

I first made a 4-track cassette demo of this song in 2001, and somehow, with the help of Faux Wayne¹, it morphed into “Sugar Sure is Sweet²,” which was released in May of 2003 on the Faux Jean full-length, “Dead Lover.”

But it started as a plaintive, anti-war jam.

Twenty years ago.

And so this past December, I decided to revisit the original and see if I could croon a version spontaneously into existence without too much fuss.

I set up a simple click beat then sang and played guitar simultaneously into a single microphone in GarageBand.³

I added some synth and keys.

I then exported a rough mix to listen to in the car and on my AirPods.⁴

That is the version that I’ve uploaded here—a rough mix that will likely change a bit by the time a full-length album of new material comes out (still hoping for 2022, but it’s looking dicey).

It’s by no means perfect, but if I can get my kids to walk around the place singing “Can We Stop the War Machine?” instead of “Watermelon Sugar” for a day or two, I will consider this a step in the right direction.⁵

And so this will be track 7 of “From the Mixed Up Files of Mr. Matthew T. Schindler, Vol. 1,” which is shaping up into its own little thing here, week by week, hour by hour.

I am grateful you are along for the journey!

OX&C,

Faux Jean

p.s. Did I tell you I went to Comic-Con?

Here are the lyrics:

Can We Stop the War Machine?

Spring pushed down today

I saw her in the rain on the tar of

Your balcony

But then later on walking home on grass

(then later on walking home)

Later on walking home on grass alone

My mood was so August to Autumn

Then you looked in my eyes

And “Babe,” you said

“I’m so glad to be alive!”

and I’m glad we’re not dead

And here were are

So just living

And so it is hard to be giving

To the war machine

Can we stop the war machine?

Can we stop the war machine?

Before we go, may we evolve

To the point where we can

Turn it off?

War machine is here and I know

Why you cry at night I know

Let’s go…

Can we turn off the war machine?

Is there a switch we can flick?

To turn it off the war machine

Is it at the ballot box?

1. Faux Wayne played bass in the Faux Jean band at the beginning of this century.

2. A song about something else completely!

3. I used a Blue Yeti Pro. I do dream of upgrading to a Neuman U87 someday…

4. I’ve realized that music sounds better on my AirPods when I push my earlobes forward, but then I look like this:

5. My kids are sitting to my right as I write this, and they are reading the new books we picked up at the library yesterday. And I have to got to say, thank God for libraries! What an amazing resource!