The Problem With Progress

Words and music by Briyan Frederick
© Brian F Baker | Published by Blind Mime Music, ASCAP

Freyd: vocal, guitar
Riyan: keyboards
Additional sounds and mixed with Sunoai

This song began as a morning fiddle on the Alvarez acoustic guitar. I thought I would record myself and feed whatever came out into the Sunoai model as a cover but ended up extending it. It’s left in the song intro.

I wrote the lyric before generating anything. I looked around my desk for some inspiration for a title; I’m not quite sure how progress popped into my head, but the lyric started with the title out of thin air and as the lyric evolved it became another song of social commentary. After writing first two lines, the word “fate” reminded me of the title of Art Garfunkle’s album Fate For Breakfast and remembering the back cover with a photo of Art a little haggard looking and the smaller tag line, “Doubt For Dessert.” So the last two lines in the verse are a nod to that.

The Problem With Progress

While we eat our cake
What’s in it clouds our fate
When what’s for breakfast
Doubts dessert’s mistakes

While we eat our cake
And laugh about the past
Like fools we do not ask
Until it’s far too late

The problem with progress is
When strings are pulled and puppets dance like this
There’s very little chance
The master cares to glance
At what’s in it for the puppet class —
That’s you…
And me (Unfortunately…)

While we eat our cake
Growing fatter by the day
Having it and eating too
Ignoring all the work to do

The problem with progress is
When strings are pulled and puppets dance like this
There’s very little chance
The master cares to glance
At what’s in it for the puppet class —
That’s you…
And me (Unfortunately…)

The problem with progress
Is its outcome is manifest
Through the flyover leftovers
It forgets

While we eat our cake
What’s in it clouds our fate
When what’s for breakfast
Doubts dessert’s mistakes

The problem with progress is
When strings are pulled and puppets dance like this
There’s very little chance
The master cares to glance
At what’s in it for the puppet class —
That’s you…
And me (Unfortunately…)